“I was never insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched.”(Poe) For 8 years Nigel Pratten suffered from Huntington’s disease, something he had always said he would kill himself before enduring. When given the opportunity Nigel swallows heroin no being physically capable of injecting it, and slips into a coma. His mother is with him while he does this and suffocates him before the drug kills him, not wanting him to suffer. It was her way of fulfilling her son’s final wish. Is mercy killing justified? Lily’s mother had passed when she was a baby, and her father, Nelson Berry, hadn’t wanted her until she was 14, when he gambled her away to Jim Willis. Determined, her grandma tried to get her adopted, unfortunately, no one wanted …show more content…
He abandoned Lily’s mother after she found out she was pregnant with Lily. Lily is as inexperienced in life as a young child and Nelson tries to take advantage of her because of that. He and his sister are morally Corrupt. Nelson’s character seems to represent all men in the story. He sees his daughter as an object as he gambled her away to Jim Willis. Overall, Nelson it portrayed as nefarious.
“The Lord will take care of her.”(Freeman) Old Woman Magoun says this early on in her conversation with Nelson at the door when he comes for his daughter. Her face was described as that of a prophetess. She knows she won’t let Lily be taken by Nelson no matter what she has to do. This introduces the idea that Old Woman Magoun might do irrational things to do what she thinks is best for Lily.
Another example of old woman Magoun’s irrationality is when Nelson came to their home telling her he was taking Lily. Old Woman Magoun responded to him saying, “You can’t have her,”(Freeman) This response proves that her love for Lily made her brave. Nelson is an intimidating man, but Old Woman Magoun wasn’t afraid to say this to him. Although her fighting was fruitless, being as though she had no legal right to Lily, it was still a show of her courage that she argued with him at