ot bring up the subject because it was improper to talk of war at Shady Hill. John found himself being restricted by a town standard. Upon arrival back at the Weed residence, John noticed a very attractive young girl watching over the kids. John is very vulnerable at this point because of the stress that has overcome him, so he finds the girl as a release for his stress by falling for her. That night John brought Anne Murchison home. He dreamt of the girl all night. Here, John is threatening his martial life and his family life by falling for this girl, but he doesn’t realize this; all John sees is a new youthful life with this young girl in which he may leave his past life behind.John bought a bracelet for Anne; he thought that he’d found the love of his life...again. He returned home from town just before leaving for another party, and Anne was standing in the hallway. John ran to her and kissed her but was cut short by the viewing of Gertrude, the town nuisance if you will. In this scene, John wanted to express his never-ending love to Anne, but he was interrupted. This left John with only the thought of bringing Anne Murchison home, after the party, for the remainder of the night. The Weeds returned home, and John found that Anne had already left. He was heart-broken and once again overwhelmed with stress. Only to make things worse, the next day Clayton Thomas stopped by to deliver some money and informed the Weeds that he was engaged to Anne Murchison. This put a huge dent in John’s dreams. Later on, John and Julia get in an argument about an insult that John threw at Mrs. Wrightson earlier. This argument almost ended the marriage. All of these events are building the story up to a final climax. The events get more repetitive as the story gets closer to climax.In reaction to Clayton’s recent engagement, John very selfishly spread rumors about Clayton so that to prevent him from getting a jo...
