1ENGLISH
Introduction
In this section brief review of the facts associated brief review of the facts and issues that
will help one to decide on the fact if Johnson is guilty of murdering his wife Mae or not has been
conducted. The character Johnson is the protagonist of the short story “Like a Winding Sheet’
written by Ann Petry. Being an African American individual he is being subjected to racism in
his social life to the extent that has resulted in trauma (Petry). At his workplace, he has been
verbally abused and racially discriminated by the forewomen due to arriving late at night. After
completion of his shift, he visited a restaurant where a white waitress told them that they are out
of coffee. In spite of the fact that remains a higher possibility that the statement from the waitress
is genuine and this is not an act of racial discrimination, Johnson believes this is on account of
his race. The two events triggered an uncontrollable anger in Johnson. When he reached home,
he had been casually mocked by Mae. The frustration of Johnson and the impact of rude racism
make his aggressive and being unable to control his anger, he beat Mae so hard that it result in
her death.
Discussion
It can be clearly understood that a good number of factors are associated with the aggressive
behaviour that Johnson has displayed over Mae which resulted in such a fatal scenario.
According to researchers, in the short story “ Like a Winding Sheet”, the author has chosen not
to develop the female character fully while still using them as a major part of the story. this ha
been done by the author with the help of describing their appearance as well as their rank in the
society. In the initial portion of the story, the character of Johnson from the beginning has been
depicted to be a loveable husband who truly cares for his wife, Mae (Coleman). In the first part

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Ann Petry - Like a Winding Sheet (Overview - Part 4)

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