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Martha Hale, wife of the man who discovered Mr. Wright’s death, along with Mrs. Peters, the wife of the local sheriff, are key characters to this story. Running parallel to each other throughout the story, they are central to the story line, and they alone allow the story to develop. Although the theme of the story is about Minnie Wright and not intended to be about the two women, their influence in the story ultimately results in the fate of Minnie Wright. The women’s influence to the story is almost accidental. Neither one of them meant to find evidence against Minnie, they were just there to pack up a few things for her and be done with it. Their curiosity and wonder arose when they find certain things in the Wright’s home that seems peculiar and out of place for the Minnie Foster they had known twenty years prior to her marriage to Mr. Wright. Martha Hale seems meticulous in keeping her household, "She hated to see things half done…" (18), so seeing the disarray that the Wright’s house was the beginning to understanding that Minnie was unhappy. Because of these and other details the women find in the Wright’s home (i.e. the unfinished quilt with the horribly sewn square, the broken birdcage) they take on both "g