She cleaned the house first.

April 5, 2009 8:48 PM

Short story about a woman who cleans the house before killing herself?

Can anyone help me identify a short story that I read in college... it's been 20+ years so I'm afraid the details have been lost to time and my shoddy memory.

As I recall, it was about a woman who, very deliberately and thoroughly, cleans her house- before the shocking twist, she kills herself.

I probably have the exact wording of the quote wrong, but I've always been fond of a line that went something like- 'Every woman in the world understands why she cleaned the floor first'.

It's also possible that this line wasn't in the story itself- it may have been something that the editor wrote in his introduction. But the woman in the story definitely cleans the floor before offing herself.

There may have been something in there about wearing her Sunday best, too... but it's hazy.

Sorry, I know this is sketchy. Any clues / possibilities would be appreciated, thanks!

PS- The line just wanders through my mind whenever I mop. And while I do not enjoy mopping, no fear, it will not drive me to suicide.

posted by GuffProof to Writing & Language (12 answers total)

....I think it was part of a chapter from Clarissa Pinkola Estes' WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES. Perhaps the story you're recalling is actually from her book, because in one chapter she does indeed tell of a woman who cleaned the house and then killed herself (I believe that the backstory was that she was a somewhat genteel lady who married a farmer and tried to squelch her inner self, but then after many years just couldn't take it any more).

That "every woman alive" quote is DEFINITELY in Estes' book.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:58 PM on April 5, 2009

Oh, and the "Sunday best" may allude to what she used to do before she was married -- she'd get dressed up and go window shopping; a frivolous little something, but it was something that made her feel like HER, so when she stopped doing it life just sucked and that's why she dressed up in her Sunday best before killing herself.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:59 PM on April 5, 2009

Argh, I totally know this. I feel like it may be an Adrienne Rich or Sylvia Plath poem.
posted by sweetkid at 9:01 PM on April 5, 2009

Response by poster: Good possibilities, both of you- thanks! I definitely had to read a lot of Plath for class... and my old roommate had a copy of 'Wolves' on the shelf, so it's possible I read it there.

Wow, haven't thought about that in a long time. I must look up a copy!
posted by GuffProof at 9:11 PM on April 5, 2009

I read this too. When I've reflected back on it, I've always attributed it to a Sylvia Plath story I read in first year Lit. However, I cannot find anything via Google to support this.
posted by acoutu at 9:19 PM on April 5, 2009

While it doesn't quite fit your description, being a play and all, it also sound quite similar to Marsha Norman's Night, Mother, where jessie makes sure everything in the house is settled before committing suicide.
posted by JauntyFedora at 12:09 AM on April 6, 2009

Yeah I agree with JauntyFedora. 'Night, Mother' was the first thing that popped into my head when I read your description.
posted by TheOtherGuy at 1:20 AM on April 6, 2009

Also, it's the opening scene of the pilot to the TV series DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.
posted by musofire at 5:04 AM on April 6, 2009

Although the character is male, that's also the opening scene of the film Wristcutters: A Love Story.
posted by burnmp3s at 8:44 AM on April 6, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks, all!!!

I've had that line in my head for years and years. Great to know where I picked it up.


I had no idea that 'Woman cleans, then woman kills herself' was such a commonly repeated theme in literature. Or life.

This has been both enlightening, and a little depressing.

I suggest that we all let those floors go for awhile! :)
posted by GuffProof at 10:14 AM on April 6, 2009

I recently read the same thing in an article about an elderly woman who legally (in her country, with medical supervision) killed herself. Her son told her, Mother, you don't need to bother with that. But she had some powerful inner need to get everything cleaned up before she departed.
posted by exphysicist345 at 6:24 PM on April 6, 2009

In Northern England, there's some anecdotal evidence (through writers and comedians like Alan Bennett, Ernie Wise etc.) of housewives who, when forced to move out of their terraced houses before they were demolished, spent the last few days cleaning it from top to bottom out of simple pride.
posted by almostwitty at 12:25 PM on April 7, 2009