Mary Maloney- murder in the 2nd degree

Background

The backround of this story is set in the time period of the 1950s when men had a superiority against the women in the household and in society. Men were the ones who held jobs and made the money for the couple and the women were responsible for housecare, homelife, and tending to their husbands. Mary Maloney was expecting a child and was under a lot of stress. She was without her husband each day for long hours while he worked, and she was forced to spend time alone. When her husband Patrick decided to divorce her for another women, it left Mary feeling hopeless because a single mother was treated harshly in society. They had a hard time creating a stable life for their child and themselves and often struggled economically. So, it makes sense why Mary Maloney was left in such a state of shock and wrongly killed her husband in the heat of the moment.

Analysis

Before Mary was thinking this, her husband, Patrick, informened her that he was divorcing her and leaving. Mary, who was deeply in love with Patrick, was in a state of denial that this was happening. She planned to forget it all and act like it was a dream.

Claim Reference

This quote shows how upset Mary was that her husband was leaving her. It shows how she was so in love with Patrick, that she refused to accept his news. It shows how Mary had planned to act like nothing happened, which would mean she had no original intention of killing the man. The idea wasn't even in her mind at this point. Because of this, the murder she commited should be considered second degree.

Backround/Claim

After being delivered the life-altering news, Mary is in disbelief and goes about her everyday routine and decides to ignore how her life is shattering apart. She tries to cope by convincing herself it was all her imagination. So she started to do what she would have normally done had this day been like any other. So, she went to the basement to grab something to make for dinner. By chance, she grabbed a lamb leg, which consequently was used to kill her husband.

Connection to Claim

This passage accurately enforces the point that Mary Maloney commited murder in the second degree because it shows that she did not intentionally choose something from the freezer that she could use forcefully toward her husband. It was ironic that she happened to choose a lamb bone which was basically a large club-like object, which she did use to kill Patrick.

Context

This quote was when Mary came home to see her husband laying on the ground and she finally had to come to terms that his death was real- nonetheless at her own hand. That must have been very traumatizing for her and she kind of broke down. I suspect this is where she began to go kind of crazy as we infereed since she giggled at the end of the story of her husband's death although it was nothing to laugh about. Mary says that "no acting was necessary" which shows that she really did feel remorse and regret and was tearing herself apart with grief.

Analysis

This quote backs up the fact that Mary Maloney did not plot the murder of her husband, Patrick. She did not look forward to, or enjoy killing him. The quote states, "all the old love and longing for him". This shows that in all the years she sat around and waited for Patrick to come home, doing nothing but assisting to his needs, she loved and longed for him. Another part of the quote states, "she began to cry her heart out." This part of the text shows that she really did feel upset about what happened to Patrick. She is not a psycho hung up on murdering people.