Never to be told, Spoon River
The narrators of ‘ Spoon River Anthology ’ are in a unique position – though dead, yet they are given one last opportunity to speak. But even the dead have their own purposes; whether it be the revealing of a murder (as in ‘ Amanda Barker ’), anguish at an injustice (‘ Doctor Meyers ’), or the lasting power of love (‘ William and Emily ’). The dead must have their say. One would imagine that being dead would lend itself to objectivity and truth. What need is there for the dead to lie? Throughout the Anthology, however, Edgar Lee Masters makes it abundantly clear that as in life, so in death. Death doesn’t make us honest. ‘ Ollie McGee ’ is a bitter woman. She would have us believe that her husband, ‘ Fletcher McGee ’ treated her horribly mean while she was alive so that now, in death, she gains some satisfaction from his continued misery. Though lying in her grave, she is able to somehow observe her husband and relish his decline, noting that he too will soon die. This, she says, i...