Spoon River Anthology · Chapter
Elsa Wertman explained
Elsa Wertman, a German peasant girl, recounts her experience working for Thomas Greene, who sexually assaulted her.
What happens
Elsa Wertman, a German peasant girl, recounts her experience working for Thomas Greene, who sexually assaulted her. She became pregnant, and Mrs. Greene, who was childless, adopted the child to conceal the affair. Elsa later married Gus Wertman, but at political rallies, she silently yearns to acknowledge that the eloquent speaker, Hamilton Greene, is her son.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy and Corruption
Thomas Greene's abuse of power and the subsequent cover-up, including bribing his wife with a farm, expose the moral corruption beneath respectable appearances.
Unfulfilled Lives and Repression
Elsa's lifelong silence and repressed desire to acknowledge her son at political rallies illustrate a life of unfulfilled longing and emotional suppression.
Characters to notice
- Thomas Greene
Thomas Greene is the employer who sexually assaults Elsa Wertman and later gives his wife a farm to keep silent about the affair.
Key passages
“He stole into the kitchen and took me Right in his arms and kissed me on my throat, I turning my head. Then neither of us Seemed to know what happened.”
He entered the kitchen and forcibly embraced and kissed me, and afterward we both acted as if nothing had occurred.
Describes the assault and the subsequent denial of its significance.
“But—at political rallies when sitters-by thought I was crying At the eloquence of Hamilton Greene— That was not it. No! I wanted to say: That’s my son! That’s my son!”
At political rallies, onlookers believe I am moved by Hamilton Greene's speech, but in truth I am weeping because I long to declare that he is my son.
Reveals Elsa's hidden anguish and her unfulfilled desire to publicly claim her child.