After the ordeal, Morton’s wife realizes surprising things about how she felt about her family that is husband and son. On their way home, Mrs. Morton comes in touch with her feelings, “she feels something heavy and inescapable, more than failure and more than the aftermath of a terrible ordeal” (Line83-89). The book narrates that she knew whatever she was going through was “something to do with her and Morton, something personal, familiar and essential”, (Line.87). Morton’s wife makes three significant discoveries, first, changes in how she feels and perceives her husband, secondly her change and attitude towards their son Larry and an altered view of the bully.
At the beginning of the story, Morton’s wife is happy with her family. In the first ten lines of the story, the author narrates how she, her husband, and son were happily enjoying the Sunday afternoon sun, “It was a warm afternoon, and Morton was reading the times with one arm flung around his wife’s shoulder”. The casual pose in the couple reflects a loving and happy relationship. Mrs. Morton likes the scenario so much that she longs for them to do it again, she acknowledges “it feels so worthy”, (Line.9) and “they must go out in the sun more often”, (Line.10). The smile on Mrs. Morton’s face is a sure sign of a happy family.
At the beginning of the story, Mrs. Morton is comfortable and pleased with her life, marriage, and child. In the third line of the story, Morton’s wife sighs contentedly. This means that she is happy with the relationship she has with her family. Also, lines 9-10 imply the fulfillment she feels about her husband, child, and family at large, she almost “smiles at her well-being”. Morton’s wife respects her husband. Confronted by the bully, she looks upon Morton for defense. She keeps quiet and waits for him to respond to the threat from the bully. Line 41 narrates, “When she got scared, she looked up at her husband”.
From the illustrations, it is thus understandable that Mrs. Morton is happy with her marriage.
Change of attitude towards the Husband
The confrontation between Morton and the bully changed the attitude of Morton’s wife. There is a shift in attitude from adoring her husband to one of hate. Immediately after the incident, she felt a heavy burden in her heart (Line.84). A burden not inclined to the incident, but one that had to do with her and Morton (Line.87). This hatred is because Morton failed her; he was unable to defend his family before the bully. She feels that Morton is timid and that his rationality could not protect them. She admits that force had conquered reason, (Line.86). Morton’s wife finds out that she is unhappy with her husband. She expected Morton to accept the challenge and fight for his family; instead, he turns away from the bully and gathers his family together, so they can go home. Morton’s wife was anxious about the fight that she did not call for help.
Morton’s cowardly behavior was a disappointment to her. Mrs. Morton at the end of the story shows anger and discontent towards her husband; she is no longer happy. I think she regrets her marriage. She feels Morton is weak and spineless as compared to the bully, shown by her use of the bully’s words, to respond to Morton’s threats. She asks him, “him and who else?” (Line.16). Morton’s wife also discovers that she is disrespectful of her husband. She stubbornly replies “of course”, when Morton tries to explain the incident to her. The use of two short words is a sign of disrespect and arrogance as portrayed by Mrs. Morton’s attitude (Line. 97). This means that she does not care for explanations, and she is content in her thoughts towards the ordeal. Another example of disrespect appears when Morton’s wife asks him “you and who else?” regarding disciplining their son.
Morton’s wife has an acute change of perspective towards her husband’s attitude at the end of the story.
Change of attitude towards the bully
Another surprise she encounters is her liking for the bully. At the beginning of the story, the bully did not appeal to Morton’s wife. Mrs. Morton does not like how the bully looks, and neither does she like his character. She describes him as big and exaggerates the amount of space he takes up on the bench. Mrs. Morton’s disregard for the bully is shown by how she describes his action, especially his hefty spitting. Mrs. Morton is also scared of the bully, she trembles at the knee when he approaches and looks up to her husband for support (Line 42).
Although at first she and detested the bully, and found him large and disgusting, (Line.24-26); at the end of the book she admires the bully to extend that she feels embarrassed walking past him, and she even fakes confidence before him (Line.75-82). Her initial anger evaporates after the incident; she uses some of his words against her husband. She finds the bully’s strength and victory over Morton appealing.