A bad housekeeper
The young attorney wants to wash his hands but he notices that the towels are “dirty." That makes him assume that Minnie Wright is “not much of a housekeeper." Then the man “kicked his foot against some dirty pans under the sink,” which convinces him even more that Minnie is lazy. Everything looks neglected, dirty, or “broken." This imagery is supposed to show how filthily the house looked inside, but this is interpreted differently by the men and the women: the men ignorantly assume that Minnie is a bad housekeeper, while the women see that not only was Minnie interrupted by something, but she also has straitened conditions imposed by the miserly John.
A lonesome-looking place
The place where the Wrights’ house stood looks “very lonesome," especially on that “cold March morning." Frankly speaking, it “had always been a lonesome-looking place." The house is situated “down in a hollow, and the poplar trees around it were lonesome looking trees." This imagery is supposed to convey a depressed feeling that will only deepen as the women step inside and see what kind of life Minnie was leading—and why she might have been pushed to murder her husband.
The Sheriff
Mr. Peters looks like an ideal “sheriff." He is exactly that kind of man “who could get himself elected." He is “a heavy man with a big voice, who was particularly genial with the law-abiding, as if to make it plain that he knew the difference between the criminals and non-criminals." This imagery is supposed to convey a feeling of confidence, a sense that he is officious, stern, uncompromising, and sees things in black-and-white.
The dead bird
The dead bird is a striking bit of imagery for several reasons. First, Glaspell relates how the women find it in a very suspenseful fashion. The box is pretty and harmless, but inside, there is something shocking. Second, the bird has clearly been killed, which adds another level of horror to the situation. Third, this image establishes why Minnie probably was the murderer of her husband.
