30 pages • 1 hour read
Lucille FletcherSorry, Wrong Number
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1943A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Communication in Relationships
One of the primary themes in Sorry, Wrong Number is the importance of communication in relationships, and the dangers of miscommunication. The telephone in the play acts as a symbol for this theme, and Mrs. Stevenson’s relationship with the phone soon proves to represent her relationship with Elbert. Mrs. Stevenson once found the phone reliable; it was her way of reaching people when she was isolated in her room. Now, she is experiencing difficulties with the phone for the first time, just as she is having trouble connecting with her husband for the first time. She is dependent on him and refuses to believe that he would leave her all alone. When she receives the telegram from Western Union declaring he won’t return before tomorrow afternoon, she cries, “Oh—Elbert, how could you?” (19), expressing feelings of betrayal that may indicate he has motive for planning her murder. The wires crossing, getting the busy signal, and finally receiving the telegram all allude to the deterioration of a relationship based on a breakdown of communication. Mrs. Stevenson’s struggle to communicate effectively extends beyond her marriage, with deadly consequences.
A major factor in the miscommunication between Mrs. Stevenson and everyone else is her incessant need to put herself before all others. Her frustration with the operators is demonstrative of her irritability and impatience. When the first operator fails to dial the wrong number, Mrs. Stevenson belittles the young woman. She says, “Oh, why are you so stupid?” and demands that she try to “make that same mistake again—on purpose” (9). Her fear of being left alone leads her to tell Sergeant Duffy that he should search the whole city for the killers, saying “I’m very near a bridge, and I’m not far from Second Avenue. And I know I’d feel a whole lot better if you sent a radio car to this neighborhood at once” (14). Sergeant Duffy scoffs at her assumption that she is the only one to live near a bridge by Second Avenue, when there are dozens of places this could be in any of the boroughs of New York City. Even though Mrs. Stevenson turns out to be right, her selfish attitude leads people to disbelieve her, and inhibits her ability to communicate effectively with those around her.
Isolation and Apathy
Lucille Fletcher reveals one of the play’s major themes in her preface. She writes, “It is life itself which Mrs. Stevenson tries so frantically to make contact with over her telephone […] Only by doing this will her lonely, neurotic personality be outlined for the empty thing it is” (5). Fear of being alone is at the heart of this play, and the protagonist must face isolation in both its physical and emotional forms. This innately human fear is a common and relatable experience, which ultimately makes Sorry, Wrong Number an even more effective thriller.
Mrs. Stevenson’s physical isolation is something that cannot be helped. She is unable to leave her bed, and it implied that she has been “since [she] took sick twelve years ago” (15). Though the details of her condition are not disclosed, and it is never discussed if her caretakers (her husband and her maid) attempt to or are able to take her out of the house, it is inferable that the physical isolation and confinement to her room is out of Mrs. Stevenson’s control. Her disability has created a lonely life for her, and the lack of change in scenery is starting to affect her as well. After she receives multiple phone calls in a row with no one on the other line, she grows more panicked. Emphasizing how she feels unable to soothe herself, Mrs. Stevenson says to herself, “If only I could get out of this bed for a little while. If I could get a breath of fresh air—or just lean out the window—and see the street” (16). Though for most of the play Mrs. Stevenson has been rude to others out of her nervousness about the murderers, in this moment, Fletcher engages the reader’s sympathy, suggesting that Mrs. Stevenson’s isolation is also at the root of her impatience and disagreeable nature. The stage directions describe Mrs. Fletcher as “Storming […] Wildly […and] Growing hysterical” (17). These descriptors contrast the calm, cool, and collected (if somewhat distracted) operators and policeman. Fletcher suggests that when society is complacent to the pleas for help from women, those women often end up as victims. They are victims not only of violence, but of the silence and apathy of humankind.
Selfishness Versus Civic Duty
One of Mrs. Stevenson’s main arguments for tracing the wrong number is that it’s her “civic duty […] to apprehend those dangerous killers” (10). She uses this line on the operator when she is initially disconnected from the wrong number. The tactic is used again when she phones the Chief Operator. She is agog that she has to go through the detailed police procedure to fulfill her human responsibility of reporting the murder scheme. Annoyed with the Chief Operator, she says, “You mean to tell me I can’t report a murder without getting tied up in all this red-tape?” (12). Mrs. Stevenson’s selfishness and sense of civic duty are directly at odds in this moment, as she angles to perform her duty in the manner that is most convenient to herself. Eventually, she relents and phones the police.
Mrs. Stevenson begins the phone call with Sergeant Duffy by saying that she’s been “trying to trace the call down [herself], but everybody is so stupid […] in the end, [they’re] the only people who could do anything” (12). In a way, she is trying to perform as a responsible citizen who wants to report a potential murder out of ethical conviction. It is only when Sergeant Duffy interrogates further that the truth is revealed. As Mrs. Stevenson is speaking about wanting the city to be safe, she puts an extra emphasis that she wants “radio cars to watch out, especially in suspicious neighborhoods like [hers]” (15). She wants a policeman to check out her area, even though she acts as if she couldn’t possibly be the intended victim. Her motivation for calling is rooted in her fears about her own safety, not her concern for the safety of others.
In Mrs. Stevenson’s case, selfishness seems to win out over civic duty, and none of the characters are able to help her, or even attempt to do so. This is seen in each “little vignette of human nature” (5) that happens in the play. Some characters, like Sergeant Duffy, are too distracted to listen to her. Some of the operators are merely oblivious. Others (like the hospital receptionist) are forced to prioritize certain civic duties over others by their employers. Mrs. Stevenson’s own selfishness, while certainly not responsible for her death, does not help matters as she makes her case to the people on the phone. All of them are able to see through her and know that underneath the care for this mystery woman is the fear that the mystery woman has been her all along.
