Question

What tragic news does Patrick give Mary at the beginning of the short story? How do you think this impacts her emotionally? How does she react?

Answer 1

Patrick implies in the story that he is leaving Mary and that he will make sure that she will be well taken care of. She reacted to his news with shock as she didn't expect the news since she had just made him comfortable at home. This impacts her emotionally as her husband is suddenly saying that he is going to leave her but she doesn't know why he's going to leave her. Mary doesn't know if and what she has done wrong to make Patrick want to suddenly leave her and this might bring shock, sadness, and anger to her.

Answer 2

Notice Patrick reiterates almost apologetically that it's 'kind of a bad time to be telling' Mary whatever he has just told her. Here, he is referring to giving Mary bad news while she is pregnant with their unborn child.

Step-by-step explanation: