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A Jury Of Her Peers Summary

Decent Essays

In the short story A Jury Of Her Peers, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters uncover the horrible truth behind the murder of Mr. Wright. During the story the women find out that it was Mrs. Wright who murdered Mr. Wright. Although Mrs. Wright claimed to be asleep during her husband's murder, she did indeed have the motive to murder Mr. Wright as evidenced by the broken bird cage, slaughtered canary, and the errant quilt patch. The first clue that the woman find is the errant quilt patch. While going through Mrs. Wright's house they find a quilt, and on closer examination notice one quilt patch off from the rest. Mrs. Peters states, ““The sewing, All the rest of them have been so nice and even—but—this one. Why, it looks as if she didn’t know what she …show more content…

Hale and Mrs. Peters stumble upon an empty bird cage with a broken hinge found by Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale. Upon examination Mrs. Peters says “Look at this door, It’s broke. One hinge has been pulled apart.” The words “pulled apart” show us that the hinge broke, not from wear, but rather from force. The fact that someone would be rough when opening a bird cage shows us that there was a attempt to harm the bird. During a conversation Mrs. Hale says to Mrs. Peters “I should think she would’ve wanted a bird!” This shows us two things. First, it demonstrates that Mrs. Wright held the canary in high value, and it was therefore extremely likely that someone else killed it. Second, it shows us that she would have been very upset, as also demonstrated by the previously discussed quilt …show more content…

In Mrs. Wright’s kitchen tucked away the women find a small little box. In the box they find a dead canary. Mrs. Peters says “‘Somebody wrung its neck,’ Mrs. Peters looked from the dead bird to the broken door of the cage.” Now we know that someone killed the bird. When Mrs. Hale says “No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird,” she reveals the culprit in the bird’s killing. Referring to the bird as “a thing that sang,” she continues that “ [Mrs. Wright] used to sing. He killed that too.’” Mr. Wright killed the bird out of rage because, like his wife’s, its jovial nature annoyed him. Now we know that it was Mr. Wright that snapped the cannary’s neck. The death of the one thing that meant a great deal to her would have been sufficient motive for

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