In the final lines of the story, Elizabeth shifts from ruminating on her husband's death to performing the mundane tasks of daily life. The narrator moves into Elizabeth’s mind in this moment, helping readers understand the emotions beneath this shift and using personification in the process:
They covered him with a sheet and left him lying, with his face bound. And she fastened the door of the little parlour, lest the children should see what was lying there. Then, with peace sunk heavy on her heart, she went about making tidy the kitchen. She knew she submitted to life, which was her immediate master. But from death, her ultimate master, she winced with fear and shame.
The narrator personifies life as Elizabeth’s “immediate master” (to whom she submits) and death as her “ultimate master” (from whom she winces “with fear and shame”). This poetic language is meant to capture how Elizabeth—like most people—is afraid of death. Though, earlier in the story, she seemed to be able to face the inevitability of death—when her husband’s dead body was unexpectedly carried into her house—here she decides once again to turn away from this truth. Life is her "current master" because she is living, and therefore must manage the tasks of daily life (like tidying the kitchen and taking care of her children). In this moment, Elizabeth makes the sensible choice, knowing that, while she can avoid her mortality for now, one day she, too, will face her husband’s fate.
