Minnie Wright is a victim of domestic abuse. While there is no evidence that John Wright physically harmed his wife, there is plenty of evidence that he emotionally and psychologically abused her. The first piece of evidence is Wright’s character. Mrs. Hale describes him as a “hard man . . . Like a raw wind that gets to the bone.” She would not care to “pass the time of day with him,” and she does not think that a place would be “any cheerfuller for John Wright’s being in it.” Even Mr. Hale notices that John would likely have cared little about what his wife would think about the party telephone or anything else.

The second piece of evidence lies in the change in Minnie Wright. Mrs. Hale mentions several times that the young Minnie Foster was a happy girl, always singing, wearing pretty clothes, and generally spreading cheerfulness about her. Minnie Wright is no longer like this. In fact, according to Mrs. Hale, John Wright put an end to Minnie’s singing and, by extension, her happiness. She is a lonely, shabby woman now, and she rarely socializes. She does not even belong to the Ladies Aid, Mrs. Hale remarks, supposing that “she felt she couldn’t do her part.”

The third piece of evidence is the canary incident. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters easily infer what must have happened. The birdcage’s door is broken, its hinge pulled apart as if someone had “been rough” with it. The canary itself is dead, tucked away in a box and wrapped in silk. Its neck is broken, twisted all the way around by a violent act. The women realize that John Wright must have killed that bird in an outburst of cruelty. He seems to have metaphorically twisted his wife’s heart along with the bird’s neck, for, as the women know, Minnie must have loved that bird and its song. The attack on the bird was an attack on Minnie, too, an act of abuse that was probably just one more in a long chain of misery that seems to have stripped Minnie of her identity and happiness.