Connor Beatty

ELA 30-1
Period 3

The Shining Houses

Summarize:

This story begins at Mrs.Fullertons house. Mary, her neighbor, is listening to

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
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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

keeping a disaffected heart means not settling for an undesirable solution.

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
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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

decisions are influenced by compassion.

- 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
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ELA 30-1
Period 3

compassion. This compassion is the motivating factor of Marys decision to abandon her

communitys views and support her friend instead.

- I cant sign that.

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

they were full of self-assertion and anger.

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
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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

that. But we have to think of the community.

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

exploitation of the power of the majority.

- 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

Marys persuasions useless.

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.

- I dont think we have the right. We havent the right.

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

consequences of neglecting the communitys values.

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ELA 30-1
Period 3

- They admired each other in this new behavior as property-owners as people who admire

each other for being drunk.

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.

- But remember shes been here a long time

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

her morals alive and to herself.