Mrs. Wiggins

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of graphic violence, racism, physical abuse, and illness or death.

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Monroe crafts a story that follows the classical tragic structure, where Maggie moves from good fortune to devastating loss. How does this tragic arc compare to other works you’ve read that employ similar structures, such as Greek tragedies or Shakespeare’s Macbeth?

2. How did the author’s direct, dry narrative voice affect your experience as a reader? How did it shape your understanding of the narrator as a character? Of the novel’s sensibility? 

3. How does the novel use humor and irony to offset its tragic elements? Which scenes or specific moments struck you as humorous? What was your reaction to this combination of humor and tragedy?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. What aspects of the unconventional marriage arrangement between Maggie and Hubert challenge or affirm your views about what makes a marriage successful?

2. Maggie’s fierce devotion to Claude drives many of her decisions throughout the story. She struggles constantly between protecting him and allowing him to make his own choices, even when those choices seem harmful. Have you ever experienced a similar conflict between loyalty to family and respecting someone’s autonomy?

3. Reputation and appearances shape nearly every character’s behavior in Lexington. In what ways do concerns about reputation influence decisions in your own community?

4. What relationships in your life have surprised you by crossing boundaries you didn’t expect, like the friendship that develops between Maggie and Mrs. Dowler across racial lines?

5. Maggie takes justice into her own hands when legal and social systems fail to protect her. She rationalizes her murders as necessary acts of self-defense and protection of others. How do you think people should respond when official channels don’t address serious wrongs?

6. Economic pressure limits many characters’ choices in the novel. In your own experience, have you observed how financial stress affects the decisions people make about relationships and family?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Jim Crow segregation provides the backdrop for all the characters’ experiences, limiting their opportunities and creating constant threats. How do the systemic inequalities depicted in the novel connect to ongoing discussions about racial justice today?

2. How do you think society’s attitudes toward domestic abuse have evolved since the 1930s, considering the intimate partner violence several characters experience with few resources for escape?

3. The Great Depression setting allows Monroe to explore how economic hardship affects marginalized communities disproportionately. Maggie’s family experiences both the general economic pressures of the era and the additional burden of racial discrimination that limits job opportunities. How do the financial pressures shown in the novel compare to struggles faced by families today?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. How does the transformation of gumbo from a symbol of nurturing into an instrument of death underscore the novel’s tragic trajectory?

2. What forms does justice take in the novel, and how do Maggie’s murders raise questions about how to define personal justice in the context of systemic injustice?

3. Character foils appear throughout the novel, particularly in contrasting Maggie with Daisy and Jessie. How do these contrasts illuminate different aspects of Maggie’s personality and choices?

4. Classical tragic structure guides the plot, where the protagonist’s fatal flaw leads to their downfall. What do you identify as Maggie’s tragic flaw, and how does it drive events toward their conclusion?

5. Monroe chooses to tell this story through Maggie’s first-person narration, allowing readers to hear events directly from her perspective. This narrative technique creates intimacy between reader and protagonist while also revealing the gaps between Maggie’s self-perception and her actual behavior. How does this narrative choice affect your understanding of her motivations and moral reasoning?

6. In what ways does arsenic represent both power and danger in Maggie’s world? As an unruly form of power that can turn against its user, how does it symbolize the novel’s ideas about power and justice?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. What different path might Maggie’s story have taken if Claude had never encountered Daisy or had heeded his parents’ warnings about her earlier?

2. Write a short scene from Daisy’s perspective that reveals her motivations for manipulating Claude and her true feelings about their relationship.

3. If you transplanted Maggie’s story to today’s world, what modern circumstances might create similar pressures and moral dilemmas for a character like her?