Martha's aunt
How was Lily Mortar, Martha's aunt, related to Maratha specifically? Was she her mother's sister or her father's sister, or her mother's brother's wife?
sharewho knows...its not really important to the story. otherwise i would think it would be important to the story. they have different last names, so it's possible that its any of the three. i dont think martha's aunt is married, though, so its likely that its her mother's sister.
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Thank you for your reply. However, since Martha's aunt's name was MRS. Mortar, that would mean she was married and perhaps a widow or divorced in the story. You mentioned you did NOT think she was married, but she was at one time because of the MRS. before her name. Thanks again for your answer.
shareNotwithstanding the dismissive comment that it's "not really important to the story", I think it certainly gives an entirely different color to the Martha-Mortar relationship if Mortar is a blood relative (parent's sibling) rather than a relative by marriage (the spouse of a parent's sibling). To so coldly and selfishly disregard the welfare of a relative who has given you generously given you room and board is bad enough -- if the niece is the child of your sibling, that makes it the more horrific.
shareThat's a really great point... I think that it's really likely that she is a blood relative. It would be of great interest considering their relationship... Didn't Martha call her "Aunt Lily"? I'm not sure about the time period, but would it have been acceptable to call a non-blood relative by his or her first name? Gets you thinking, doesn't it?
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The casting of Miriam Hopkins is genius as she played the part of Martha in the original screen version of this story titled These Three. The lie told about them was different in These Three and it had a happy ending (no suicide in those days!, but I liked the Hepburn-MacLaine remake which was more true to the original story.
share