How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
HALE: [...] I said, I'm going to see if I can't get John Wright to go in with me on a party telephone. I spoke to Wright about it once before and he put me off, saying folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was peace and quiet—I guess you know about how much he talked himself [...] (10)
Here, we get at the root cause of Mrs. Wright's isolation. What is it? Her husband's love of isolation. He's the kind of dude that doesn't want anybody up in his business. When you think about it, is that really such a crime? Maybe, if he'd married another isolation junky like himself, he wouldn't have ended up at the end of a rope.
Quote #2
MRS. HALE: (examining the skirt) Wright was close. I think maybe that's why she kept so much to herself. She didn't even belong to the Ladies Aid. I suppose she felt she couldn't do her part, and then you don't enjoy things when you feel shabby. (158)
At this point, Mrs. Hale hasn't quite opened her eyes to how lonely and isolated Mrs. Wright was. In this line, she puts the idea out there that Mrs. Wright was too cheap or just didn't have the money to go out and hang with the other ladies. The play leaves some things mysterious here. Did Mr. Wright not allow his wife to go out? Did he not allow her to buy nice clothes so that she was actually embarrassed to be seen in public? Was she just too depressed to go out and make friends? The world may never know.
Quote #3
MRS. HALE: [...] She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that—oh, that was thirty years ago. (158)
Now Mrs. Hale paints a pretty picture of social Minnie Foster was when she was young. Notice how the play uses the image of her singing in a choir to show just how un-isolated she was. There are few things that are more communal, right? This image of the happy, outgoing Minnie Foster is night and day to what we're told about the lonely, depressed, and murderous Mrs. Wright.