Another reason of why the bird cage is empty is that the bird got sick and died. They finally agree that Minnie Foster used to have bird. The consideration is
that Minnie Foster was like bird herself. She used to sing in a church. She wore pretty dress, but kind of timid and fluttery. Mrs. Hale realizes the change of Mrs.
Wright after the marriage. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters here can see the life of Minnie Foster though the bird cage as a symbol.
3. Climax
The climax of this play occurs when the women are finding the real answer of where the bird had flown. The women think about what makes Minnie
foster feel better because they know that Minnie Foster had been through a hard life. They then consider taking the quilt with them and bringing it to Minnie
Foster so that she will have something good to do. While searching the sewing thing Mrs. Hale finds a red box. She firstly guesses that there is scissors in it. The
thing inside it is shocking. They find a dead canary inside the pretty box. The dead canary with the scars around the neck is found in the box. It seems like
somebody had wrung the bird’s neck. MRS. HALE: jumping up But, Mrs. Peter-look at it It’s all-other side to.
MRS. PETERS: Somebody-wrung-its-neck. [their eyes meet. A look of growing comprehension of horror. Steps
are heard outside. MRS HALE slips box under quilt piece, and sinks into her chair. Enter SHERIFF and COUNTY ATTORNET.
MRS PETERS rises.]
. lines: 320-326 Knowing how the bird is killed just like Mr. Wright, the two women trying
to figure out what is really happened. The horror here immediately stopped by the men who come down from upstairs. The County Attorney asking about the bird
cage and Mrs. Hale says that the cat got it. Here, Mrs. Hale is making a lie. By what she gets before, we know that the dead bird is found in the pretty box. By
this expression we can catch that actually the women have known the truth and the motive of this murder. Mrs. Hale dares to make a lie and Mrs. Peters who is
said married to the law says no words but, they are still afraid to ensure their self that the motive of the murder is because John Wright kills the bird. They try to
find the logic again together. These are the logics that the women assume in order help them accepting
the fact that they actually have expected before. The first is the statement of Mrs. Peters about her kitten. There was a boy who wants to hurt her kitten and that
makes her so mad that she is going to hurt the boy. MRS PETERS : in a whisper When I was a girl—my kitten—there was a
boy took a hatchet, and before my eyes—and before I could get there—cover her face an instant If they hadn’t held me back I
would have—catches herself, looks upstairs where steps are heard, falters weakly—
hurt him. lines: 346-349 Mrs. Peters implicitly feels the same way as what she assumes Mrs. Wright feels.
The bird and the kitten here is not considered as animal anymore. They are just like human that Mrs. Peters thinks Mrs. Wright is fond of. From that utterances,
we can conclude that Mrs. Peters strongly thinks that Mr. Wright had killed the bird so, Mrs. Wright killed him too but, she does not have heart to say it directly.
Mrs. Peters just says an analogy of herself in the same position with Mrs. Wright. On the other hand Mrs. Hale is more straightforward to state her
assumption that John Wright killed the bird so Minnie Foster killed him too. She says that Wright Mr. John Wright would not like the bird, a thing that sang.
Then, Mrs. Peters tries to ignore the fact again by stating that they still do not know who killed the bird. Mrs. Hale speaks more straightforward. She said that
she knew John Wright, so she assures that it is possible for John Wright to do that. Not only that, Mrs. Hale also adds more information to support her argument.
MRS HALE: her own feeling not interupted If there’d been years and years of nothing, then a bird to sing to you, it would be awful—
still, after the bird was still. MRS PETERS: something within her speaking I know what stillness is.
When we homestated in Dakota, and my first baby died—after he was two years old, and me with no other then— lines: 360-364
Both Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters lament over the stillness that Minnie Foster felt. Mrs. Hale understands that the bird has filled the empty heart of Minnie Foster.
After a long time of nothing without any children and she has a bird with her, a thing that can sing and fill the silent. The bird must be so meaningful to her. Mrs.
Peters also states her feeling of stillness after her first son died in Dakota. She is left with no child and she feels the stillness.
After those things, they realize Mrs. Peters says that the law has to punish crime. Crime here means the things that Minnie Foster did, killing her own
husband, John Wright. She actually has the empathy to Minnie Foster but the reality that they should face is that Minnie Foster has to be punished because of
murdering his husband. Mrs. Peters cannot stand for that reality. According to her, the act of killing the bird which is done by John Wright is a crime too, but no one
is going to punish that. MRS HALE: not as if answering that I wish you’d seen Minnie Foster
when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang. a look around the room Oh, I wish I’d
come over here once a while That was a crime That was a crime Who’s going to punish that? lines: 369-372
