Mrs. Wiggins

Content Warning: This section depicts sexual assault, anti-gay bias, anti-Black racism, lynching, intimate partner violence, graphic violence, murder, termination of a pregnancy, and death by suicide. The source text uses the period-specific term “colored” to refer to Black characters and employs period-specific language to describe sexual orientation, mental health, and intellectual disability.

Several characters in Mrs. Wiggins demonstrate that a positive reputation and appearance of respectability hold critical value in the world of the novel. Maggie’s character arc illustrates how maintaining status or the status quo can feel more important than living according to certain principles of virtue, morality, or practical use.

Maggie’s investment in her status and reputation in the neighborhood is due to the lack of status she experienced as a young woman whose parents weren’t respected because of their habits or professions. She appreciates the social elevation of marriage to Hubert even more because of the contrast it poses to the teasing and insults she received from her peers, not to mention a reprieve from the sexual abuse by Mr. Royster. Hubert places the same value Maggie does on upholding appearances, but for the opposite reasons; he comes from a respected family that the community looks up to, and he fears the secret of his sexuality will destroy that reputation and harm his relationships, especially with his family.