For John, the party-line telephone was more than an unnecessary expense; it was a threat to the 'growing sense of exclusivity and possession' . . . . Minnie was his alone" (Smith 180). 2. This image is significant here because of its relation to the question of justice which unfolds at the end of the play where Mrs. Hale learns that the "greater crime . . . is to cut oneself off from understanding and communicating with others, and in this context John Wright is the greater criminal and his wife the helpless executioner