Short Fiction · Chapter
Alone explained
The narrator returns to the alley a year later to find Mrs.
What happens
The narrator returns to the alley a year later to find Mrs. Bossert, now free from her husband's suffering, has fallen into alcoholism. He initially judges her harshly but eventually understands her profound loneliness and the depth of her love and sacrifice for her deceased husband.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Sacrifice
Mrs. Bossert's love for her husband is revealed through her years of care and her use of insurance money for his funeral flowers.
Isolation and Alienation
Mrs. Bossert's profound loneliness after her husband's death is the central emotional force of the chapter.
Suffering and Oppression
The chapter depicts the ongoing suffering of Mrs. Bossert, now through alcoholism, following years of caregiving.
Characters to notice
- Mrs. Bossert
Now a widow, she has descended into alcoholism and is found drunk and disheveled, mourning her husband's death.
- Nathaniel
The narrator, who returns to the alley and confronts Mrs. Bossert about her drinking, later realizing his own lack of understanding.
Key passages
“All—for the love—o’ him.”
Everything she did was out of love for him.
Mrs. Bossert explains her drinking as an expression of love for her deceased husband.
“Oh—I'm all alone.”
She cries out in her loneliness.
This moment reveals the depth of her isolation and prompts the narrator's change of heart.