Dolores Claiborne

The police find Joe’s body a week later. Selena returns a few days before the discovery after learning her father was missing. She confronts Dolores, asking if her mother had a hand in his death. Dolores lies to her daughter, but confesses to her interrogators that after that conversation, “the coldness started to come in,” and the relationship between them became strained (285).

After the discovery of Joe’s body, an autopsy is performed. Dolores is called to the constable’s office to speak with the county medical examiner, Dr. McAuliffe. Suspicious of Dolores, the doctor questions her about the bruises on her neck, her decision to buy Joe alcohol, and why she didn’t hear Joe’s dying cries as he lay in the well. Fearing that McAuliffe believes her guilty of Joe’s death or at least unresponsive to his yells for help, Dolores asks if he thinks “[she] pushed [her] husband down into that well” (296). Her direct and aggressive response persuades the coroner to reframe his line of questioning. When the constable steps in to defend Dolores from the accusation that she might have hit Joe with a stone as he tried to escape the well, Dolores sheds a tear. The interview ends and despite his questions at the inquest, McAuliffe cannot pin the death of Joe on Dolores. “Death by misadventure” is the verdict, although Dolores notes that over the years, rumors have circulated about her possible role in Joe’s death.

While Dolores got away with Joe’s murder, she relates that many aspects of her life changed after his death, some for the worse. In particular, she worries about Selena, now 44, who lives in New York, never visits her mother, and may have a drinking problem. Dolores took her maiden name again and continued to work for Vera.

At last, Dolores begins to discuss the final day of Vera’s life. Despite her periods of forgetfulness, Vera experiences what Dolores describes as a “bright day” (314). The two women sass each other while Dolores hangs the laundry in the yard. Suddenly, Dolores looks up and notices that Vera is no longer in her wheelchair. She hears Vera scream her name, claiming the dust bunnies are coming for her. Dolores runs to the house and finds Vera standing part way down the front stairs. Before Dolores can reach her, Vera falls.

Haunted by the memory of Joe’s fall and the similarities between Vera’s and Joe’s calls for help, Dolores has difficulty functioning. She goes to the fallen Vera, who, knowing she is dying, asks Dolores to end her suffering. After kissing Vera’s hand, Dolores heads to the kitchen and grabs a rolling pin, but when she returns to Vera, Dolores notices that the older woman is already dead.

At that moment, the mail carrier arrives to find Dolores holding the body of Vera. The rolling pin on the stairs seems suspicious to him as does Vera’s ability to walk to the stairs. He demands Dolores call the police immediately. She does and provides a statement before returning to her home.

Dolores’s empty house and the memories of her children haunt her. Little Pete died fighting in Vietnam, after which “the life went out of the house” (334). Dolores muses that while Joe Junior never felt an attachment to his family home, Selena continued to mentally live within the house. Mourning Vera and her lost family members, Dolores cries herself to sleep and wakes to a call accusing her of murdering Vera. After dreaming of Vera, Dolores wakes to the sound of gunshots and sees a group of men who yell that she is a murderer and should leave the island. She decides to “make a clean breast of everything” (342).