# Mrs. Bossert — Short Fiction character guide

> Mrs. Bossert in Short Fiction by Voltairine de Cleyre.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0000-a-rocket-of-iron

## Snapshot

A collapsing heap of rags in a chair, Mrs. Bossert whines 'Alone' as King Alcohol claims her last spark of intelligence.

## Who they are

Mrs. Bossert sits sunken in a chair while the narrator watches the gray vacancy move inward toward the last dull red point of fire in her eyes, and hears her shudder with an inhuman whine: 'Alone.' Behind her gathers the midnight specter with royal, malignant eyes — the Monarch of human ruins, the murderous Bridegroom of widowed souls, King Alcohol. The narrator mutters that it is as well that way as another, leaves the money on the table, and goes out into the wild rain where the wind whines the same word through the lashing, leafless trees.

## In the story

### [At the End of the Alley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/at-the-end-of-the-alley)

The widow living at the end of the alley, found drunk and in despair.

### [Alone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/ii-alone)

Now a widow, she has descended into alcoholism and is found drunk and disheveled, mourning her husband's death.

### [The Old Shoemaker](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/chapters/the-old-shoemaker)

The frightful old woman who lives with the shoemaker, scrubs floors, drinks beer, and has been with him for eighteen years of suffering.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/characters/mrs_bossert
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_55_se/characters