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.