Question

Why does Mrs. Slater make a fuss over mourning dresses and how can they outshine the Jordan's ?

Answer 1

Mrs Slater was making a fuss over mourning dress because she wanted to outshine her sister in wearing mourning. Since there was a kind of rivalry between the sisters as to who had better dressing sense according to the situation, Mrs Slater thought her sister, Mrs Jordan and her husband would not have got enough time to arrange mourning dresses for them at such a short notice. She had already arranged half mourning dress for herself and her family. She was expecting she would make her sister feel small for not wearing the morning. However, she was in for a shock! Her sister had not only arranged completely new mourning dresses for herself and her husband, but she was also wearing all the required accessories with the mourning dress. Mrs Slater herself felt small for looking so dull in her half morning. Then she gave her sister the excuse that they had ordered their mourning dresses, which were being readied.