The Widow's Might by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Detailed commentary and analysis by Claire's Notes of 'The Widow's Might' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Stories of Ourselves: Cambridge iGCSE

The three adult McPherson children have reluctantly assembled at the family ranch in Denver, Colorado for their father's funeral and the reading of the will. They don't really want to be there as they didn't have a very warm and affectionate childhood but a sense of duty has been drilled into them their whole lives. The three of them discuss the 'problem' of what they are going to 'do' about Mother in her absence. None of them really wants the bother or expense of looking after an 'elderly' and 'broken' woman and they try to shift the responsibility from one to the other. Their mother, dressed in a long black cloak and veil, finally makes an entrance - and drops a bombshell that no one sees coming.