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“The Absence of Emily”– Jack Ritchie
Character List
Albert: 1st Person Narrator
Emily: Albert’s current wife
Millicent: Emily’s Cousin
Amos Eberly: Attorney
Mr./Mrs Brewster: Servants/Butler
Cynthia: Albert’s late wife
Millicent Emily
Tall Shorter than Average
Spare 20 lbs. overweight
Determined Amiable disposition
Intelligent No claim to intelligence
Dominant to Emily Easily dominated
Cares heavily about public image
Plot Summary
The story starts out with a high level of suspicion. Albert, the first person narrator, answers a phone call from someone who claims to be his wife, Emily. Millicent, Emily’s Cousin, listens in. Albert claims it is impossible for Emily to be calling and hangs up. Millicent asks who the phone call was from, and Albert claims it was a wrong number. Millicent, intelligent and dominant over Emily, is suspicious about Emily’s alleged whereabouts in San Francisco. John claims Emily is visiting friends there, but Millicent know that Emily does not know anyone from that area. She also does not believe that Emily would leave for that long without saying good-bye and telling Millicent where she is, because Emily is said to be “under Millicent’s thumb. She is very suspicious that Albert has done something to Emily and is hiding it.
Millicent then begins to question Albert about his previous wife, Cynthia, and her mysterious death. John was the only witness to his late wife’s death by boating accident. She appears to be very suspicious of John. She begins to ask Albert what Cynthia’s estate and what was left to him. Albert refuses to tell Cynthia what his late wife had left for him upon her death.
Later, Amos Eberly, the attorney, claims to have seen Emily. He says that she was wearing a lilac dress with a belt and a gauzy light-blue scarf. Albert claims that this is “impossible” and that it had to have been someone else. Albert begins shaking, and Amos becomes very suspicious of Albert’s odd behavior and certainty that it could not possibly have been Emily.
The following day, Albert leaves to go get groceries. Out of the corner of his eye, Albert believes he sees Emily. “When I looked up, I saw a small, slightly stout woman across the street walking toward the farther end of the block. She wore a lilac dress and a light blue scarf. It was the fourth time I’d seen her in the last ten days. I hurried across the street. I was still some seventy-five yards behind her when she turned the corner. Resisting the temptation to shout at her to stop, I broke into a trot. When I reached the corner, she was nowhere in sight. She could have disappeared into any one of the dozen shops.” Millicent catches Albert running, and when she asks what he is doing he says, “I was merely trotting to get my blood circulating. A bit of jogging is supposed to be healthy, you know.” Albert appears to be panicked and determined to catch this person. When Millicent catches him, he becomes very defensive and his response is very odd.
When Albert returns home, Millicent is there, and she is going through Emily’s closet. She says to Albert, “Don’t tell me that Emily went off to San Francisco without any luggage.” Albert claims that Emily had packed very lightly and he then thinks to himself, “I surveyed the contents of Emily’s closet. How would I dispose of her clothes? Probably donate them to some worthy charity I thought.”
At 2 A.M. Albert is woken by the sound of a piano playing. It is Emily’s favorite sonata. He checks, and nobody is playing the piano. He acts frightened, and when he encounters Brewster, the servant, in the hallway Albert claims that he was the one that was playing the piano. Brewster says, “I didn’t know you played piano, sir.” Albert responds, “Brewster, there are a lot of things you don’t know about me and never will.”
Albert returns back to bed, but he cannot sleep. It is 3 A.M. and Albert goes to the shed that contains the gardening tools. Grabbed a shovel, and began walking. He then states, “I was nearly there when I stopped and sighed heavily. I shook my head and returned to the shed. I put the shovel back into its place on the rack, switched off the lights, and returned to bed.”
Millicent is there in the morning, and she claims that Albert has received a letter from Emily. It reads, “Dear Albert, You have no idea how much I miss you. I shall return home soon, Albert. Soon. Emily.” Albert says that it is not Emily’s handwriting, and it is a note from his aunt in Chicago. Millicent does not believe that Albert has an aunt in Chicago, and that he is acting very suspicious.
Well past midnight, the telephone rings. Albert answers, and the person on the other end claims to be Emily. Albert calls them an imposter. Albert argues with the mystery person, and then hangs up the phone. Albert returns to the tool shed, grabs the shovel, begins counting his paces, takes eighteen steps, turns ninety degrees, takes eighteen more steps, and begins digging.
Five minutes later, Albert hears a piercing whistle, and he is standing in the beams of a dozen flashlights. Albert recognizes Millicent. Millicents states, “You had to make sure she was really dead, didn’t you, Albert? And the only way you could really do that was to return to her grave.” Albert responds by saying, “I am looking for Indian arrowheads.” Millicent then introduces the people around her and says, “Miss Peters. She is quite a clever mimic and was the voice of Emily you heard over the phone. She also plays piano. And Mrs. McMillan. She reproduced Emily’s handwriting and was the woman in the lilac dress and blue scarf.” Millicent’s staff as well as Albert’s staff members, Amos Eberly and the Brewsters, were also present and involved in the scheme. They had Albert under 24 hour surveillance. There were also detectives present with shovels, and they began digging where Albert had been digging. Millicent accuses Albert of almost digging Emily’s body up the night before to ensure that she was still there.
Albert was put under “citizens arrest,” and the detectives begin to dig six feet into Emily’s alleged grave, but they do not find anything but and Indian arrowhead. Albert smiles and says to Millicent, “What makes you think I buried Emily?”
Conclusion
Albert ends the story with his account for what actually happened. Albert quickly became aware of Millicent’s surveillance and maneuverings, and he began to play along. “There were times when I thought I overdid it just a bit– wiping at nonexistent perspiration, trotting after the elusive woman in the lilac dress, that sort of thing– but on the other hand I suppose these reactions were rather expected of me and I didn’t want to disappoint any eager watchers. These brood trips to the dell had been quite a good touch, I thought. And the previous night’s halfway journey there, with the shovel over my shoulder, had been intended to assure a large audience at the finale twenty-four hours later.” Albert knew what was going on the entire time, and had managed to trick 19 people into believing he had killed and buried Emily in the back yard.
What were his motives? Albert pondered, “Defamation of Character? Slander? Conspiracy? False arrest?” He would threaten to sue Millicent for a large sum of money. However, he knew with Millicent’s concern for her public image the matter would never reach the court system. She would be the laughingstock of her peers, and she would attempt to keep the matter as private as possible. Albert would now be able to blackmail Millicent to get money whenever he desired if she wanted to keep her reputation untainted.
At the end of the week, Albert receives a phone call from Emily. She says that she is coming home, and makes sure Albert hasn’t told anyone where she was the last four weeks, especially not Millicent. He says he told Millicent that she was visiting friends in San Francisco. Emily says, “Oh, dear. I don’t know anybody from San Francisco. Do you suppose she got suspicious?” “Well, maybe just a little bit,” Albert replied.
Emily then goes on to explain that she lost 30 pounds. She was at a weight loss retreat, and did not want Millicent to know for she would make fun of her if she were to fail at her weight loss goal. Emily then says, “I suppose I’ll have to get an entire new wardrobe. Do you think we can really afford one, Albert?” Albert then thinks to himself, “We could now. And then some.”
The conclusion also contains a random tangent regarding Albert’s first wife Cynthia’s death. It is a perfectly legitimate story, clearing the reader of any suspicion that Albert had something to do with her death.
Elements of a Mystery
Unexpected Ending: One of the biggest shocks in “The Absence of Emily,” was the ending. Typical to majority of the works in the mystery genre, there is a “twist” or unexpected ending. However, the unexpected ending makes the “The Absence of Emily” not so much a mystery, rather an cleverly crafted story that I found quite humorous. Though the ending does not follow the typical guidelines we have discussed as “mystery,” I still found elements of mystery incorporated. For example, I questioned Albert throughout the entire work. He is the narrator, and there was much uncertainty about his involvement in his wife’s “disappearance.”
Crime: Where is Emily? Was there even a crime committed? Had she been murdered? In this particular story, it is unique in the sense that we are not entirely sure there was even a crime committed. We have a suspicious character, Albert, who acts incredibly guilty, so the reader can assume that there was a crime committed, but they can not be entirely certain. The most unique part is that the only crimes being committed are within the conclusion. Millicent has the possibility of being charged with defamation of character, slander, conspiracy, or false arrest. Albert then combats these crimes with the crime of blackmail. The entire story is essentially crime free until the resolution.
Victim: Almost every mystery has a victim. Here however, Millicent ends up being the victim of blackmail in the end. We assume that Emily is the victim from the very beginning, but there is no actual crime committed against her. She leaves for a weight loss retreat at her own will. She is unaware of the entire scenario going on between Millicent and Albert. She has no knowledge that she was even suspected of being murdered by Albert. Our victim through the entire story really isn’t a victim at all.
Suspect/Suspicious Characters: Usually, there is a suspect that the author uses to throw off the trail of the actual criminal. Typically, the twist ending reveals the unexpected criminal, not the suspected criminal. Albert is the #1 suspicious character. He is actually the only suspect given to the reader throughout the entire story. Typical of any mystery, there is the “shady” character that is sometimes too obviously the guilty party. That is one aspect of this story that is rather unique. Albert is our prime suspect from the very beginning all the way to the very end. We aren’t given any other possible suspects. Almost every other mystery story I have read has contained multiple possibilities for the culprit.
Evidence: Below I have an entire section devoted strictly to evidence linking Albert to his wife’s alleged murder. Evidence is crucial in the mystery genre. The author uses evidence to provide clues and direction for their readers. Without the evidence pointing towards Albert, we would not have much of a story at all. Evidence creates the suspicion, suspicion creates the suspects, and the suspects create the story.
Incorporation of other genres: I think an important part of the mystery genre is the incorporation of other genres. For example, while reading In the Lake of the Woods, O’Brien incorporated aspects of the Romance Genre. There is a clear element of love incorporated in that mystery. In “Haircut” and The Big Sleep, the humor genre was incorporated in character traits and storyline. I am not entirely sure what genre I would classify “The Absence of Emily,” but I am not entirely sure that it belongs in the mystery genre. I think the cleverness or the story and the twist ending makes the makes the characters look incredibly foolish, therefore adding to the comic effect.
Sorting through the Evidence
What makes Albert the #1 suspect?
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Did Albert kill his wife, Emily?
All of the below segments are taken from the text to support that Albert is the number one suspect in the “disappearance”/possible murder of his wife, Emily.
Mysterious death of previous wife, Cynthia
Albert’s denial/panic of Amos Eberly’s alleged sighting of Emily wearing a “lilac dress with a belt. And a sort of gauzy light-blue scarf” (589).
Amos Elberly to Albert: “Are you ill or something, Albert? Your hands seem to be shaking” (589).
Uneasy/panicked feeling/appearance upon allegedly seeing his wife, Emily, who has disappeared: “When I looked up, I saw a small, slightly stout woman across the street walking toward the farther end of the block. She wore a lilac dress and a light blue scarf. It was the fourth time I’d seen her in the last ten days. I hurried across the street. I was still some seventy-five yards behind her when she turned the corner. Resisting the temptation to shout at her to stop, I broke into a trot. When I reached the corner, she was nowhere in sight. She could have disappeared into any one of the dozen shops” (590). Millicent catches Albert running, and when she asks what he is doing he says, “I was merely trotting to get my blood circulating. A bit of jogging is supposed to be healthy, you know” (590).
Emily leaves for San Francisco without any luggage.
At 2 A.M. Emily’s favorite sonata is being played on the piano. He checks, and nobody is playing the piano. He acts frightened, and when he encounters Brewster in the hallway Albert claims that he was the one that was playing the piano. Brewster says, “I didn’t know you played piano, sir.” Albert responds, “Brewster, there are a lot of things you don’t know about me and never will.”
3 A.M. Albert goes to the shed that contains the gardening tools. Grabbed a shovel, and began walking. He then states, “I was nearly there when I stopped and sighed heavily. I shook my head and returned to the shed. I put the shovel back into its place on the rack, switched off the lights, and returned to bed” (592).
Albert receives a letter that is apparently from Emily. He claims that the letter is not from Emily, rather his aunt in Chicago. Millicent is suspicious.
Albert receives another phone call from someone claiming to be Emily. Albert replies, “You couldn’t be Emily. I know where she is and she couldn’t– she wouldn’t– make a phone call at this hour of the night just to say hello.”
Later that night Albert takes a shovel and began pacing, “One, two, three four–” I stopped at sixteen, turned ninety degrees, and then paced off eighteen more steps. I began digging.”
1st Person Narration (Albert): “That evening, as I prepared for bed, I surveyed the content of Emily’s closet. How would I dispose of her clothes? Probably donate them to some worthy charity, I thought” (591). “I smiled. “Millicent, what makes you think that buried Emily?”” (595).
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