"a stroke of good fortune" by flannery o'connor
As she climbs the first flight of stairs, she recalls her mother and the eight children she had. Four of the eight children were killed at a young age, and according to Ruby her mother "got deader with every one of them," (66) and Ruby did not want to be as ignorant as her mother, and have children. Ruby views maternity as something not worth going through, all the doctor visits and the screaming, but most of all, she was afraid of aging. Aging is one thing that Ruby seems to be afraid of the most, and recalling her mother's life, and how she seemed deader with every child that was lost, effected Ruby's view on maternity, especially Rufus's birth. Rufus "had caused her mother to scream all night long, turning her into an old woman." (57) This quote by Margaret Whitt says it best, the experience of child birth is an aging one, and that's the last thing that Ruby wants to do, is get old. After Ruby's recollection of her mother's life, she has to take a break on the stairs, and as she sits down she sits on "nine inches of treacherous tin," which was Hartley Gilfeet's toy pistol. At this time Ruby starts to get nauseated and breathless and thinks of possible excuses of why she is sick like this. She first comes to the conclusion that it could be heart trouble, but it couldn't be anything permanent. She was fat and her color was good, and Bill Hill, her husband liked her that way, but he seems more happy than usual and she doesn't know why.
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