twice before taking the life of Alicia, the very woman who saved her from poverty in the mill village, in order to get what she wants. Taking away somebody’s life is bad enough as it is, but taking away the life of a mother-in-law who has not only saved her from poverty and opened new opportunities for her but has also shown her nothing but kindness through the years shows how wicked Ruth is and how she is willing to do just about anything to get what she wants.
Still in an attempt to gain control of the house, Ruth lets Hebe go out with a greedy and ambitious boy knowing that the boy will convince Hebe to marry him, also knowing that Paul, her husband, will die at hearing the news. Her evil and wicked ways at an attempt to gain full control
Her attempts at taking away the lives of family members have not stopped. To show just how ambitious she truly is, she has even found a way of making sure that her ambitions will be fulfilled even when she has died. Having not wanted Yancey to be the one to inherit Fox’s Earth and knowing very well that being the older of the two remaining siblings, Yancey is the one who will inherit Fox’s Earth, Ruth finds a way of eliminating Yancey even after she herself has dies. She does this by using Yancey’s own weakness against her. Ruth knows that the older of her two granddaughters has been suspecting that she is a wicked, evil woman since she was a teenager. She also knows that if Yancey knew all the things she has done, especially taking away Paul, her grandson’s life then she will get very upset. She also knows that when Yancey gets upset, she gets seizures that could even kill her. Ruth counts on this and hopes that when Yancey finds out, seizures will kill her. To do this, she makes a package and places notes of all the bad things she has done and gives out orders that when she dies, the package is to be delivered to Yancey. This action right here shows that Ruth has reached the point of desperation; her ambitions should be fulfilled no matter what. Once again, Anne Rivers Siddons has shown how ambitious Ruth is.
Anne Rivers Siddons has used the plot to portray the theme of ambition. She has used is to show the protagonist’s
The characters
The characters in Fox’s Earth are made such that their relationships with Ruth show how ambitious she is or their personalities are such that Ruth can carry out her plans to show how ambitious she is. Anne Rivers Siddons therefore uses these characters to portray the theme of ambition.
Rip is a maid at Fox’s Earth and her job is to take care of the Fox children. Her character is made to care for and love the Fox children so much that although she know almost all the bad things that Ruth has done, she keeps the secrets because she thinks it is her duty to protect the children and she know very well that Ruth will fire her if she gives away her secrets and she won’t be able to protect them from Ruth’s evil ways if she is fired. Ruth takes advantage of this and uses Rip as her ally. Since Rip’s character is that of a loving and caring woman, the act of taking advantage of her and chasing away the man she love who makes her happy makes Ruth seem even more ambitious. The fact that she deliberately hurts the woman who takes such good care of her only daughter simply because she wants her own ambitions to be fulfilled makes her seem even more evil and