The $30,000 Bequest

Basically, this couple who is fairly well-off in their small town are contacted by an old, ill uncle Tilbury Foster and told that if they make no mention, attempt no contact and do not show up at the funeral, then they will inherit $30,000. At this point the couple begins planning, the wife planning on how to invest and the husband planning on how to spend the money they expect to come into shortly. I thought it was interesting the the Husband was named Saladin, but called Sally and liked to shop and spend money on extravagant things. While the wife was named Electra, but called Aleck and handled all of the financial matters, used a level head and wanted to invest their money to work for them. The gender roles seem to be reversed from what we view as normal or traditional. Any way, the couple begins planning what to do with the money and who their daughters can wed as they move up the income brackets (in their minds). The uncle dies early int he story, but the couple do not find out since it was pushed out of the small town newspaper and they continue planning both investments and spending. The wife finds different investment options and follows them as if they have already received the money and are making earnings off of it. After 5 years of planning and making themselves into multimillionaires, the market suddenly drops and they truly are distressed, until the husband points out that they have actually invested yet and that they have learned to be wiser for when the $30,000 if truly theirs. Through coincidental circumstance, a citizen of the uncle's town comes by and mentions Tilbury by the phrase, "Land, it's tough as Tilbury Foster!-as we say." and the couple carefully inquire of the uncle. At this point they are told that the uncle has been dead for 5 years, but did not have a cent to his name. His town had to cover the cost to bury him. After 5 years of planning and imagining a great future, this cruel bit of news crushed the couple's mental state and sent them into shock. They remained in shock and could only mumble incoherent partial phrases as two more years passed. Just before death took them (on the same day) the husband tells a warning of the greed that brought him misery and says that in the uncle there, "was no generous spirit, no pity, no-"

This story serves as a warning to how slippery a slope greed is. The couple began by only making small compromises of their morals and beliefs, but as time went on they continued to slide further and further into the depths of greed and eventually their own personal hell.

I do wonder why the uncle chose to lay this cruel act on his only surviving relatives. Toward the end the husband mentions that they had done him no wrong, yet earlier in the story it mentions that the husband tried to contact the uncle to make amends years ago, but would not make that mistake again. Was he just a miserable old man who wanted others to be just as miserable? Was he wronged by the family as a whole, many years ago and holds a grudge against those who were not even involved? Or was it not meant to be so cruel- he died within a week of the letter and it would seem much less cruel and more like a practical joke if they had found out then.

Like I mentioned before, the gender rolse seemed to be completely switched and I'm not sure why Mark Twain does this. I have to wonder whether Twain looked at other stories or tragedy and misery and noticed that it is almost always the woman's fault (all the way back to the very first story of tragedy - Adam & Eve. In this role reversal, it seems to be more like the man is causing a lot of the fantasies of wealth and then is more accountable for their eventual fall.

There are quite a few references to religion that make it worth noting. As the the couple imagined more wealth, they slowly turned away from their faith, but only inwardly - they still went to church and the wife wanted to build churches with some of their money, but in the privacy of their own home and minds, they stopped observing the sabbath, they thought about drinking and even had champagne (before they were for temperance!) The couple slowly made new excuses and exceptions for anything they wanted to do, even if they knew they should not.

I think that the point of this story is not only to be aware of the slippery slope and greed, but also to realize that nothing in the future is definite. If you close your mind to any other possibilites, when changes occur, they will definitely rattle you.

We see people struggle with these problems on a regular basis, and with credit cards so easily available, most people don't stick to imaginary spending alone. Also, you'll hear people talk of losing a job they've had for 20 years + and now they have no idea what to do and sometimes no identity, because they never expected changes or uncertainty. There are parts of this story that have the reader imagining along with the couple, imagining all the luxury items and new houses, you really hope that they get the money, but all along you have a good idea it won't work out. It wouldn't be very interesting if it did.