How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
STAGE DIRECTIONS: The kitchen is the now abandoned farmhouse of JOHN WRIGHT, a gloomy kitchen, and left without having been put in order—unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf of bread outside the bread-box, a dish-towel on the table—other signs of incompleted work. (1)
A Midwestern kitchen. We are knee deep in Americana, folks. This play is set in the heart of a home in the heartland of America. However, we can't help but notice that something is wrong with this particular kitchen. It's gloomy, messy, and freezing cold. Could this represent that something is wrong with the heart of America as a whole?
Quote #2
HALE: [...] We came along the road from my place and as I got here I said, I'm going to see if I can't get John Wright to go in with me on a party telephone. (10)
Here's a sign of the times. Yes, in America's olden days, people sometimes shared telephone lines between households. Oh, the horror. If you don't believe us, check out this creepy old AT&T video in which marionettes lecture us on party line etiquette. Think about the ways the state of technology drastically affected the lives of Americans at the time.
Quote #3
HALE: [...] I said, "How do, Mrs. Wright it's cold, ain't it?" And she said, "Is it?"—and went on kind of pleating at her apron. (20)
Nothing transports us directly to a particular region more than hearing a little of that region's dialect. In these lines, we get a good example of the Midwestern dialect that Glaspell laces throughout the play. She probably knew the sound of it really well since she was from Iowa, and here she uses the sounds of her home region to add authenticity to the play.