52 pages • 1 hour read
Mary MonroeMrs. Wiggins
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapters 1-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “1917-1936”
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: This section depicts sexual assault, anti-gay bias, anti-Black racism, lynching, intimate partner violence, graphic violence, murder, termination of a pregnancy, and death by suicide. The source text uses the period-specific term “colored” to refer to Black characters and employs period-specific language to describe sexual orientation, mental health, and intellectual disability.
On a cold night in January 1917, Maggie and Hubert, who got married that afternoon, discuss how to find a man to get Maggie pregnant. They believe that having a baby will make theirs look like a “real” marriage (3), but Maggie detests the thought of having sex with anyone, and Hubert, who is attracted to men, refuses to have sex with a woman. Maggie is 17, Hubert is 20, and they have known each other since they were children. They both want a child, but Maggie needs time to reconcile herself to the idea of having sex with a man she doesn’t know. They agree on finding someone outside their town of Lexington, Alabama, and discuss the possibilities while in bed at their home.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary
Maggie doesn’t want to do anything to ruin her relationship with Hubert; for one thing, he is her only close friend. Her father abuses alcohol and her mother was previously a sex worker, and Maggie has received criticism and teasing her whole life because of that. Maggie reflects, “I never asked a lot of questions. I just listened to my folks, other grown folks, and tried to get through life with as little discomfort as possible” (9). She believes caring for a baby will make her happy. Hubert, too, says he always wanted to be a father and won’t mind that the child is not biologically his. He suggests they find a man with a medium-brown skin tone, like Hubert’s, so people won’t think Maggie was “fooling around with ‘another man’” (9). Maggie worries that a strange man might turn aggressive and suggests that, if the first plan doesn’t work, they pay a young couple to have a child for them. Neither of them would prefer to remain childless.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary
Maggie feels lucky to have Hubert as their families are, in her estimation, from two different worlds. Her father was orphaned as a child and her mother was born after her mother was raped at age 13. Both were raised in an asylum for orphaned Black children, though they did not meet and marry until they’d both left the facility. During a period when they were apart, Maggie’s mother could not support herself with her wages from cleaning houses and picking cotton, so she turned to sex work. The two later reconciled and married but faced less-than-ideal living situations as Maggie’s father was frequently unemployed due to his alcohol use. Maggie has no other blood relatives.
Hubert was raised in a large family considered “wholesome and upstanding” (14). His father, Leroy Wiggins, is the reverend at First Baptist Church and works as a butler for the mayor’s brother. Leroy has several white friends who treat him with respect. Clarice, Hubert’s mother, is a talented hairdresser. Hubert’s Uncle Roscoe is one of two Black undertakers in Lexington, and having lost his wife and child, Roscoe has indicated he will leave his business to Hubert.
When Maggie was seven, one of her father’s friends, Mr. Royster, began sexually abusing her. He paid her a nickel each time he raped her and told her he’d pay more when she became more experienced, like her mother. When she was 11, Royster got her pregnant. His response when she told him was, “I got a family and I’m in the church. You ain’t about to ruin my good name!” (15). He gave her a drink that made her miscarry and thereafter took care not to impregnate her.
Despite this ongoing assault, Maggie engaged in normal activities for a girl her age and became friends with Hubert. When she was 12, Hubert confessed to her that he liked boys. Maggie only knew of one other man in Lexington who was gay. After he was attacked and beaten, the man left town. Hubert trusts Maggie with his secret and feels relieved to confide in someone, but is afraid he, too, will be attacked if his preference becomes known. Maggie told Hubert she was being abused by Royster, and Hubert declared that they would look out for one another.
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary
A month ago, after Christmas, Hubert suggested he and Maggie marry. He believes marriage will make him appear “as normal as every other man we know” and will make people stop looking down on Maggie (19). He makes clear that the marriage would not involve sexual relations. Maggie feels it’s a privilege to be part of the Wiggins family. Ma Wiggins includes her in activities, and other women around town begin treating Maggie with respect. Jessie Tucker, a popular woman, invites her to go shopping. Jessie lives a few blocks from Maggie with her husband, Orville. She helps Maggie find a job at the restaurant where Jessie works. Jessie loves to gossip and she tells Maggie people are wondering what Hubert sees in her. Maggie replies that she and Hubert are very happy together, in the bedroom and out. Jessie wants a child and speaks of consulting a hoodoo (23), which Maggie fears is risky. Jessie forecasts a wonderful life for Maggie and Hubert, and Maggie says with confidence he will never leave her for another woman.
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary
Maggie serves Hubert dinner and admits she is bored waiting around the house for him. He suggests they begin their plan that weekend. Maggie knows Hubert is seeing several men and doesn’t mind as long as he’s happy with her. They decide to visit Toxey to look for prospects.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary
Maggie attends Friday night Bible study at the house of her in-laws. She thinks they are good-looking people, and she is comfortable around them because they ask about her parents, Jasper and Jeannette, without continually bringing up “my daddy’s drinking or my mama’s past” (30). Maggie is nervous about the evening ahead and anxious to get Bible study over with. Hubert nearly hits a deer while driving, which rattles them both. They find a roadside bar in Toxey, and Hubert takes Maggie inside and buys drinks. The next week, they try a different bar on Sunday night, and someone approaches Maggie only when Hubert leaves her side. She suggests that, from now on, Hubert waits in the car or lets her go out alone.
Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary
Jessie visits to tell Maggie and Hubert the gossip about a newlywed neighbor who was caught with another man visiting her house. Her husband left her, and Jessie wonders how the woman will pay her bills. Jessie confides that her mother told her not to associate with “them kind of women” as “that kind of behavior is contagious” (39). Jessie teases Maggie about wanting to look good for Hubert. Maggie visits her mother-in-law to get her hair done, and Ma Wiggins mentions she tried visiting while Maggie and Hubert were gone, then suggests they should dress more conservatively for Bible study. When the next Bible study is canceled, Hubert arranges to go out with his “friend” (43), and Maggie doesn’t press for details.
Part 1, Chapter 8 Summary
Maggie goes to a bar she’s heard about in Needham. The attention she gets embarrasses her and she says her name is Louise. She meets a man named Scotty who looks “like a real good candidate” (46). She goes outside to his car and has sex with him. Maggie does not enjoy the encounter, and Scotty expresses dissatisfaction as well.
Part 1, Chapters 1-8 Analysis
Irony is one of the operative literary devices of Mrs. Wiggins, and Monroe introduces several levels of it right away, especially in the initial conflict of the narrative. Far from being a conventional young couple who are in love and talking about building a family, Maggie and Hubert are discussing ways they can enlist a stranger to secure a pregnancy for Maggie. Each desires a child for conventional reasons of affection—both display nurturing tendencies in their character—but they also want to produce a child to make their marriage appear like a traditional heterosexual arrangement, believing it will minimize any skepticism toward their relationship.
Right away, this conversation introduces The Value of Appearances and Reputation via the difference between the outward appearance that Maggie and Hubert present to the world and the actual conditions of their relationship, which will provide an ongoing tension throughout the novel. This difference provides for moments of humor as well, for instance when Maggie assures Jessie that Hubert will never leave her for another woman. While Jessie sees this as an example of Hubert’s devotion as a husband, Maggie’s statement also contains a level of irony. Hubert is indeed a devoted partner to Maggie, but he also has an attraction to and relationships with other men. Predictions of their happiness also prove ironic considering how the novel concludes. Jessie’s suggestion of consulting a hoodoo also touches on the women’s sensitivity about appearances and reputation. Maggie expresses concern not only about the efficacy of this spiritual tradition but also Jessie’s reputation if people discovered she consulted a hoodoo practitioner instead of relying on the publicly accepted and respected Christian beliefs the community values.
Maggie and Hubert’s unique arrangement also introduces the theme of The Dynamics of Intimacy, Abuse, and Secrets as they have a shared secret they feel compelled to protect. Projecting a conventional and socially acceptable appearance is valuable to Maggie because of the prejudice and scorn she faced as the child of a former sex worker and a man whose alcohol abuse is a matter of public discussion. Because her only blood ties are to her birth parents, who tarnished her reputation growing up, extended families like the Wiggins whom the community respects for aligning with its societal norms offer social redemption to Maggie. Such appearances are even more important to Hubert as he could face not just public contempt but physical violence if his sexual orientation became known. For these reasons, Maggie and Hubert’s relationship is a critical source of stability and safety for the characters, despite the secrets they harbor within their domestic sphere.
Maggie considers her marriage to Hubert a fortunate circumstance because it provides her with advantages she would not otherwise have had, including increased respect and standing in their community, opportunities for female friendships, an extended family circle, and a measure of financial security. The examples of her mother and Jessie’s friend demonstrate that it can be difficult for a woman to support herself independently on the wages available to Black workers. Marriage also releases Maggie from ongoing sexual abuse by Mr. Royster, an early and serious example of abuse in intimate relationships presented in the novel. Royster’s insistence that his rape and impregnation of a child cannot be made known because it will injure his standing in the church is a staggering instance of keeping up appearances, further developing the theme of The Value of Appearances and Reputation and the abusive nature of upholding it. Royster’s assumption that Maggie is sexually available because of her mother’s previous sex work contrasts starkly with the care, companionship, and communication that Hubert provides Maggie in their marriage—a consideration she values and wants to protect. While from the outside looking in, their marriage is an example of a conventional straight relationship, from the inside Monroe demonstrates the critical safety and protection—both materially and socially—it provides both partners.
As the first-person narrator of the novel, Maggie has a voice that is dry, direct, and distinct, and this dryness allows Monroe to touch lightly on many painful subjects, including the segregation and discrimination that Black residents face in their area of the South during the time in which the novel is set. This introduces the theme of Justice and Fair Treatment in a Divided Society, which will influence Maggie on a personal level throughout the book. In a further irony, though Mr. Royster sexually abuses Maggie, Maggie does not yet entertain any moral concerns about using a man to get pregnant; she does not consider the man’s knowledge or consent about fathering a child necessary, viewing the encounter as a necessary step to achieve she and Hubert’s goals of family-building. Despite this behavior, which other community members would see as subversive (evidenced by her parents’ later warnings about how it appears when she goes out alone), Maggie does behave in more traditional ways as a wife. Notably, she makes Hubert’s happiness her primary concern—the advice her mother and Jessie both give her, in different ways. This is just one of several ways Monroe uses irony to explore expectations around intimate relationships as her protagonist simultaneously adheres to and subverts against these dominant social scripts.
