Mrs. Turner Cutting The Grass Analysis

If you are reading this, I am sorry. You are probably bored right now, either judging the font used or the boring title. However, do not feel bad about it; it is human nature to judge. Shields makes this clear in her witty short short story, “Mrs. Turner Cutting the Grass”. Shields demonstrates the complexity of human nature through our nature to judge, our ignorance, and oblivion. Firstly, Shields demonstrates the complexity of human nature through our nature to judge. Shields first reveals this once the reader is introduced to Mrs. Turner’s cranky neighbour, Roy. This neighbour, begins judging Mrs. Turner based on her gardening skills. This is clear when he exclaims, that he “watcher her, imagining every poison will enter the ecosystem”

For example, “the things Mrs. Turner doesn't know (…) would make her want to kill herself” (p.147) The presence of this quote demonstrates that although Roy may not truly wish death upon Mrs. Turner his impulse to judge turns him into a different person. Following this, the reader is then introduced to another character who is concentrating on Mrs. Turner and her method of tourism. While Mrs. Turner is visiting Japan with her disruptive sister, a poetic professor could not help but judge them harshly, he begins writing a poem criticizing Mrs. Turner and her sisters called, ‘A day at the Golden Pavilion’ which is “read (at) faculty clubs, auditoriums and classrooms” (p.152) The professor and his poem reveal that judgement is something humans cannot control and it is usually caused by the believe that our personal way of doing something the only way it should be done. Shields then touches on the human superficial judgements when including high school girls and their shallow way of thinking. This is seen when the girls are “repelled by the lapped, striated flesh on her upper thighs (…) the enemy called cellulite, but the can’t understand why she doesn't take the trouble to

Shields proves this through the events Mrs. Turner has undergone and by the close-minded professor. The first act of ignorance is the first secret the readers learns about Mrs. Turner, the incident when she was nineteen in her hometown with a married man (p.148) This incident shows a lot about Mrs. Turner’s personality. The reader learns that when she got caught her first decision was to “creep out of the house at midnight and catch the bus to Winnipeg” (p.148) even though it is clear she does not have much money nor great navigation skills. Mrs. Turner’s impulse of leaving her hometown without a set plan is idiotic and clearly ignorant. Shields including this piece of information in the story not only represents Mrs. Turner’s ignorance but also represents to a certain extent the human impulse to act foolishly and ignorantly when under pressure. Later in the story, the reader learns further about Mrs. Turner’s ignorance by her incident in New York City including, leaving her baby behind, “she carried him all the way to Brooklyn Heights where the two houses large and solid (…) it was here she left her baby”(p.149) As the reader is first shocked by this, Mrs. Turner however, truly believes what she has done is the best conclusion she could of came up with. Shields including this passage is for the reader to gain deeper insight into someone’s ignorance and what is going on in their head at the