Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ELA 30-1
Period 3
Mrs.Fullerton explain her husbands disappearance. Mrs.Fullerton is reaching the age of being
elderly, and her home is described as self-sufficient and complicated. Mary and her son leave for
a birthday party after visiting. They pass through the recently-built, modern neighborhood. This
town was built in the remains of an old mountain city with different roads, names, and
communities.
Arriving at the birthday party, Mary tries to avoid a conversation about Mrs.Fullerton.
The other guests share their negative views of Mrs.Fullerton, and how her untidy home is unfit
for the modern, high-standard neighborhood. The men attending the party create a plan to
remove the home based on a by-law on their side. The guests began to sign a petition to have
Mrs.Fullertons house removed, leaving Mary to feel very uncomfortable and pressured. Mary
tried to leave the party without acknowledging the petition, but was asked to sign before she
stepped out the door. She refused to sign, explaining that she did not feel that kicking an old lady
out of her home was righteous. She and her son walk home.
Personal Connections:
The protagonist, Mary, makes the decision the stand up to her friends and neighbors and
disagree with what she believes to be an immoral action. She makes this decision knowing that it
may cost her reputation in the neighborhood, but she keeps her dignity. I would like to think that
I would make the same decision that Mary did in that situation. I would find it easier to live with
my decision knowing that I was morally justified. Friends and cliques can change, but regret will
Connor Beatty
ELA 30-1
Period 3
stay with a person for their whole life. Knowing that I wronged another person would never sit
well with me, so I would make the same decision that Mary did.
Mary had a personal connection to Mrs.Fullerton that influenced her thought process. I
believe that personal connections make people more likely to defend each other if they are being
treated unfairly. I had a close group of friends in Junior High School that ended up splitting
apart. After finding new friends, I found myself in conflict with a group that an old friend was a
part of. Realizing that it was wrong to continue conflict with my old friend, I spoke to them
about the situation. I decided to drop any issues I felt that I had with the group for the sake of
keeping a good relationship with my old friend. Had I ignored our past relationship and
continued the conflict, I would have experienced guilt for doing wrong. Because of a previous
personal connection, I chose to make peace with the other group of individuals.
When Mary said There is nothing you can do at present, but put your hands in your
pockets and keep a disaffected heart, she meant that when there is nothing one can do about an
unpleasant situation, the best course of action is to not react with any action, but keep your
disgruntled thoughts alive. Putting hands in pockets is a metaphor for taking no action. Hands are
associated with physical work, so they can do no work while in pockets. A person with their
hands in their pockets also often appears bored and passive. Disaffected means unsatisfied, so
Theme Statements:
In her short story, The Shining Houses, Alice Munro develops the idea that compassion
is a main factor in the way humans make decisions. The concept of empathy is taught at a young
Connor Beatty
ELA 30-1
Period 3
age, and is easily understood. People have a natural tendency to help and provide for those that
they have a personal connection with. Understanding a persons dreams, hardships, and
experiences sparks compassion and empathy. When this person is the subject of a debate or a
decision, instincts guide people to choose to support the person in their decision making.
- Im sick of looking at it and all but I dont want to see anybody in the poorhouse.
This quote shows Mary Lou, another party guest, questioning the act of removing Mrs.Fullerton
from her home. While she does agree that the home should not be allowed in the community, she
shows empathy and care for the human living in that home. This is an example of natural human
compassion shining through an otherwise care-free environment. In this case, Mary Lou is
satisfied knowing that Mrs.Fullerton will receive compensation for her home, and agrees with
the rest of the group. The fact that she made sure that her neighbor would be okay shows how
- Mary shook out her last cigarette and left it with her, saying she had another package in
her purse. Mrs.Fullerton was fond of a cigarette but would not accept one unless you took
her by surprise.
This small act by Mary shows compassion for Mrs.Fullerton. Mary is familiar enough with her
neighbor to know her habits, so she gives her a cigarette knowing that she enjoys them. This
small detail near the beginning of the story enforces the friendly relationship between the two
characters. This act of friendliness sets the stage for Marys decision to defend Mrs.Fullertons
desire to live in the community. The relationship between the two neighbors is one that sparks
Connor Beatty
ELA 30-1
Period 3
compassion. This compassion is the motivating factor of Marys decision to abandon her
Mary stands up to members of her community that are expecting her to sign a petition to remove
Mrs.Fullerton from her home. Mary has a personal relationship with Mrs.Fullerton and sees the
act of removing her as wrong. Mary standing her ground for her neighbor is an act of
compassion. Standing up to anyone, let alone a large group of people can be terrifying. The fact
that this difficult decision was lead by compassion shows that compassion is a main factor in
making decisions. It will override other factors because it is natural for humans to act with
compassion.
In her short story, The Shining Houses, Alice Munro develops the idea that power is
easily exploited when it lies in the hands of the majority. Because the majority of a group has
decision-making power if their views are aligned, their words will be put to action regardless of
the ethicality of the deed. If any individual in the majority desired something, (ethical or not),
and it fit with the views of the rest of the majority, it would take no effort to get their way.
- And these were joined by other voices; it did not matter much what they said as long as
At the birthday party, most of neighbors feel the same way about the effect of Mrs.Fullertons
home on the community. Because a majority feels the same way, they have the decision making
power to do something about it. In this way, there is no importance in what each person feels
Connor Beatty
ELA 30-1
Period 3
about the odd house, or thinks about the odd house, or even expresses about the odd house. The
decision to move Mrs.Fullerton out of her home will be made regardless. As long as the views of
Mrs.Fullertons home are similar, minor variations in thought will not affect the unity of the
majority. This property can be exploited by individuals that promote their small variation of
thought to the majority of the group. In this example, the majority want to remove
Mrs.Fullertons home from the community. However, some rude comments about Mrs.Fullerton
and her home are also mixed into the discussion because a member of the majority promoted
those ideas. Power exists because it lies in the hands of the majority, and the power is exploitable
because each person in the majority can add their own views, ideas, or twists to the communal
plan.
- Nobody wants to turn her in for the fun of it, Carl said. Its unfortunate. We all know
Carl supports the idea of removing Mrs.Fullerton by stating that her removal will be beneficial to
the majority of the community. While this may be true, his method of convincing Mary is
questionable. Just because a majority of people agree to do something does not mean that it is
ethical. Carl attempts to hide, disregard, or justify the unethical nature of his idea by reinforcing
the fact that the majority of the community agrees with it. This is another example of
- She could try all night and never find any words to stand up to their words, which came
at her now invincibly from all sides: shack, eyesore, filthy, property, value.
Connor Beatty
ELA 30-1
Period 3
Mary tries to logically explain her reasoning for defying the majority and advocating for
Mrs.Fullerton. Because the majority sees differently than her, their logic will outweigh hers by
numbers, regardless of validity. This is an exploitable advantage to being in the majority. The
group takes advantage of this by repeating their views in an overwhelming fashion, rendering
In her short story, The Shining Houses, Alice Munro develops the idea that an
individual's morals will take precedence over the desire to conform in a community. If a decision
has to be made between doing a wrong act to fit in, and refusing at the expense of inclusion in
the community, an individual will refuse. The guilt is not worth the acceptance of a community.
If the community promotes wrong acts, it is likely not a desirable group to be a part of in the first
place.
Mary says this quote in response to being asked to sign a petition to evict Mrs.Fullerton from her
home. Her belief that she has no right to commit such an act shows that it lies outside of her
morality. Mary is pressured by her neighbors to agree to the idea that getting rid of
Mrs.Fullertons house is best for the community. In this way, Mary is caught choosing between
her morality and conforming. Mary chooses to follow her belief system regardless of the
- They admired each other in this new behavior as property-owners as people who admire
Mary is observing the other guests validate each others feelings and opinions through communal
thoughts and experiences. She relates this to individuals that praise one another for getting drunk.
Marys morals do not allow for her to join or approve of her neighbors actions. The battle that
Mary is experiencing is one between her morality and care for Mrs.Fullerton, and her desire to fit
in with her modern, young neighbors. She could have let go of her personal values to be a part of
the self-fueling group, but she keeps hold of her beliefs instead. This is another example of Mary
choosing to follow her morals as opposed to conforming to the views of her community.
Mary says this quote to the other guests at the party in an attempt to sway them to allow
Mrs.Fullerton to stay in her home. Marys inner conflict of morality versus conformity is shown
in this passage. After saying this, she wishes she could think of words more sound and
reasonable than these. Mary has a natural desire to fit in with her community, so she tries her
best to appeal to the logical aspect of her argument instead of her unrelatable empathy for
Mrs.Fullerton. Unfortunately, her feelings are based on her morals, so she is unable to appeal to
her community without abandoning her ideals. After realizing this, Mary accepts that fact that
her views are not shared, but still refuses to conform to the desires of her neighbours, keeping