![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Makes us see her as a person, not just some walking petri dish. And if she didn't think she was a carrier, then why not cook? But then, what about those little hints she drops, like her uneasiness at preparing the fresh fruit slices her neighbor requests, but then doing it anyway? Surely that represents a guilty conscience, right? A niggling of awareness, of guilt, that she ignores? And if she had even an inkling that it was true, then I think we can call her guilty for that outbreak at the maternity hospital. I like, though, that Keane makes us explore that nuance, makes us care for Mary even despite this. She stresses time and time again that she'd never been sick a day in her life, so maybe she truly was not able to get her head around the fact that she was a carrier. Remember germ theory was not so engrained in our consciousness as it is now. She was a smart woman, but she was not a scientist. Let's forget the historical Mary here and focus on the Mary of the novel. In the novel, and, the article seems to say, in real life, Mary was never really convinced that she was a carrier. But once Mary knew, and cooked anyway, well, what can we make of that? Is she no better than a murderess? Perhaps that depends on Mary's own understanding of her status as an asymptomatic carrier. Soper and learned about her predicament, were purely misfortunes. Surely we can all agree the first outbreaks, before she met Dr. ![]()
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