Susan Glaspell 's A Worker For The Des Moines Dailey News

“A Jury of Her Peers” and “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell are the same stories, but in different literary formats. These stories are based on the stereotype of women in society in the early 1900s. The roles of women as anything other than homemakers were downgraded. The stories showed how men, of that time, never considered just how hard women worked doing all of the household chores every day. These stories showed women who were treated like children and have no meaning in the workforce or anything else besides serving the men. “A Jury of Her Peers” and “Trifles” share the same plot; however, “Trifles” is a play and “A Jury of Her Peers” is a short story. This makes the same story be told differently because of the genres of literature. A play is represented in a theatrical performance or on film. A short story is a story with a fully developed theme but significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel. It was easier to read the play rather than read the short story. However, the short story gave more content towards the story Glaspell was telling her readers by showing the point of view of both the men and women, while “Trifles” just explains the story.

“Trifles” and “A Jury of Her Peers” are extremely similar to one another. Most of the dialogue is taken directly from the play and placed into the short story. There are two main differences: the first is the difference between the titles and the second is the difference in characterization.

“A jury of her Peers” and Trifles are works of literature. In these works, they depict the murder of Mr. Wright. The men accuse Mrs. Wright to the murder of her husband, however are they are trying to find evidence to prove this. Both works are loosely based on the murder of John Hossack, which Glaspell reported on while working as a news journalist for the Des Moines Daily News. Hossack's wife, Margaret, was accused of killing her husband. However, Margaret argued that an intruder had killed John with an axe. She was convicted but it was overturned on appeal. In the play Trifles and the short story “A Jury of her Peers”, Susan Glaspell conveys how she transforms the play to the short story by change in the plot, the characters, and the themes of Female vs men and freedom

Although “A Jury of Her Peers” and “Trifles” are similar in plot, Mustazza’s article, “Generic Translation and Thematic Shift in Susan Glaspell’s ‘Trifles’ and ‘A Jury of Her Peers’” highlights the differences and similarities between the two. Mustazza’s article may help aid readers to understand the differences between Glaspell’s two works and provide understanding as to why Glaspell may have changed the genre and form of the plot. “Trifles” is a dramatic play whereas “A Jury of Her Peers” is prose fiction. While some differences may be seen on the surface, other differences will need to be inspected closely. Mustazza’s article may help one to understand Glaspell’s works by providing analysis and additional perspectives on both “A Jury of her Peers” and “Trifles”.

Between December 1st and 2nd 1900, John Hossack (a farmer from Warren County, Iowa) was murdered with an ax by his wife while in bed (Iowa Cold Cases, Inc). This play was inspired by the true story of Margaret Hossack, an Iowa farm wife who was charged with the murder of her husband John. One of the reporters, Susan Glaspell, decided to write a literary version of this investigation and “Trifles” came to be. Susan Glaspell is a feminist writer from Davenport, Iowa who started off writing for a newspaper called Des Moines Daily News. Later on in her literary career she left the journalism industry and founded a theatrical organization called ‘Provincetown Players’ on Cape Cod, Massachusetts (Waterman). In Trifles, Susan Glaspell exposes women’s suffrage through a feminist voice by covering issues regarding female oppression and patriarchal domination and symbolically illustrating the 19th century married woman as a caged bird.

Firstly, the play “Trifles” is a genre more focused on the items throughout the book that lend itself to continue chapter by chapter using different items to enhance the story. In “A Jury of Her Peers” Glaspell uses more or less the same dialogue from the play but intensifies it with the story focusing on characters such as Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. The short story adds a more descriptive insight into the story allowing us as readers to dive deep into the emotions and minds of its characters. The play does not do this as well due to the fact that it was written so that the actors and actresses on stage can portray the emotions and help develop the story through there acting. In the play, the items are the things that judge Minnie Foster whereas the story uses Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters to interpret the objects and tell the story that way. The other main difference is that the male characters have more depth in the short story than in the play.

"Trifles," a one-act play written by Susan Glaspell, is a cleverly written story about a murder and more importantly, it effectively describes the treatment of women during the early 1900s. In the opening scene, we learn a great deal of information about the people of the play and of their opinions. We know that there are five main characters, three men and two women. The weather outside is frighteningly cold, and yet the men enter the warm farmhouse first. The women stand together away from the men, which immediately puts the men against the women. Mrs. Hale?s and Mrs. Peters?s treatment from the men in the play is reflective of the beliefs of that time. These women, aware of

Trifles and “Jury for her peers” are 2 stories by susan glaspell where a sheriff and county attorney figures out why and how Mr. Wright was murdered. 2 women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, try to figure out why Mrs. wright was mad enough to kill her husband, Mr. Wright. Even though Trifles and “jury” are alike in many ways, these pieces of literature has many differences.

Trifles is a play written in by Susan Glaspell about a murder mystery involving a woman and her husband. Some sources say that Susan Glaspell covered a case in Iowa, which may have inspired her to write Trifles and her short story A Jury of Her Peers. The play has various themes within that are not noticed until further analysis of it. The play also houses a bit of history as well. Trifles incorporate the female’s voice or lack thereof from the 1900s.

Susan Glaspell, a writer and journalist of “Des Moines Daily” wrote many plays and novels. In 1916 Glaspell wrote the play “Trifles” which was loosely based on one of the first cases she ever reported on, the murder of John Hossac. Glaspell later adapted her play into a short story known as “A Jury of Her Peers” which was written only a year after the play in 1917. Glaspell retained as well as changed aspects of the characters, details and titles when converting her play into a short story.

Glaspell’s short story, “A Jury of Her Peers”, differs from Glaspell’s other text, Trifles, by the use of literary elements that people are more accustomed to and the use of a different point of view. “She(Mrs. Hale) hated to see things half done; but she had been at that when the team from town stopped to get Mr. Hale,-”(A Just of Her Peers 1). This quote demonstrates the use of the third person limited as it tells only how Mrs. Hale feels. This point of view is demonstrated throughout Glaspell’s text. Another quote demonstrating this point of view is, “In a covert way Mrs. Hale looked at Mrs. Peters. Mrs. Peters was looking at her. Quickly they looked away from each other” (“A Jury of Her Peers” 3). Once again following Mrs. Hale more closely than any other character, demonstrates Glaspell's use of the third person limited point of view. Unlike in Glaspell's play, her short story uses description of the setting and more detail is given to the reader. Rather in the play, the audience is left up to interpretation of what is happening and how the characters

Trifles and “A Jury of Her Peers” are two texts written by Susan Glaspell about the mysterious death of John Wright. These two stories consist of the same plot, but are both written with a different genre and point of view. Trifles is a drama while “A Jury of Her Peers” is a short story. The point of view of Trifles is third person objective, and the point of view of “Jury of Her Peers” is written in third person limited. Although the texts have the same plot, the knowledge of the reader is affected by the different genre and point of view of each text.

There are several differences and similarities between Susan Glaspell ’s play “Trifles” and her short story adaptation, “A Jury of Her Peers.” These include differences in plot, character development and titles. A major contrast, I see between the two works is the way in which the prose version plays out.

(Ben-Zvi, pp 1616). As the trial went on and more about the Hossacks’ domestic life was revealed, Glaspell became increasingly more sympathetic with Margaret and picked up on the possible intent spawned by oppression from her husband. She wrote a play, Trifles, closely based off the Hossack trial. Glaspell explores the themes of role of power, women oppression, and (justice) in her play, Trifles.

The play Trifles was written based on a murder trial Mrs. Glaspell covered in Iowa as a reporter. According to Iowacoldcase.org, she covered the trial of a woman who killed her husband in the middle of the night and claimed her innocence. The woman was found guilty by an all-male jury, but later released after serving less than one year. In the play