Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

I have always felt that a good piece of writing causes the reader to think about and analyze a given set of circumstances so that he expands his worldly understandings. Such writing is stimulating and often includes an element of controversy. The short story “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell is one example of this provocation in which the writer conveys her views on sexual injustice. In a way that is conceptually intriguing, Glaspell expresses her ideas about the misunderstandings between men and women during the early twentieth century. While personally disagreeing with the interpretive outcome of the story as well as the message that it is intended to present, I must admit that it did provide me with insight into the mind

Character Analysis Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are two completely different women that similar in so many ways. One is very brave and courageous while the other is full of fear. Both on the other hand are very good at figuring out clues that the men missed when figuring out the investigation; they pay close attention to every detail and have a big hand in finding out who the murderer is. All women as you all know have their own way of doing things while their husbands see things the total opposite; and Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are no exception. It seems that John’s murderer is his wife, and considering that women know each other more than men know them the women are very much a help when it comes to proving it.

Mr. Hale was not the only male character who demonstrated arrogance and insensitivity toward women. The Sheriff who was investigating Mr. Wright’s murder also demonstrated arrogance and insensitivity, hindering his ability to tie Mrs. Wright to

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”.

In Susan Glaspell’s, “A Jury of her Peers”, it is the women who take center stage and captivate the reader’s emotions. Throughout the feministic short story, which was written in 1917, several repeating patterns and symbols help the audience to gain a deeper understanding of the difficulty of prairie life for women and of the bond that women share. The incredible cunning the women in the story demonstrate provides insight into the innate independence that women had even during days of deep sexual discrimination. In “A Jury of her Peers”, the hardships women of the early twentieth century must endure and the sisterhood that they can still manage to maintain are manifested as a mysterious, small-town murder unfolds.

In “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell, Minnie Foster Wright is the main character, even though the reader never sees Mrs. Wright. The story begins as Mrs. Hale joins the county attorney, Mr. Henderson; the sheriff, Mr. Peters; Mrs. Peters; and her husband in a “big two-seated buggy” (188). The team men are headed the Wright house to investigate Mr. Wright’s murder. Mrs. Peters is going along to gather some belongings for Mrs. Wright, who is currently being held in jail, and Mrs. Hale has been asked to accompany Mrs. Peters. As the investigation is conducted throughout the story, the reader is given a sense of how women were treated during this time and insight into why the women ultimately keep evidence from the men.

In “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell, Minnie Foster Wright is the prime suspect of her husband’s murder; she breaks the bond of marriage through her own efforts simply because she no longer wishes to have a life with John Wright. She becomes so weary from her plight that she sees no other way out except to kill her husband. A neighbor, Mr. Hale, finds the freshly widowed wife sitting in her rocking chair pleating her apron the morning after her husband’s murder. Without remorse, Ms. Minnie explains the situation bluntly to Mr. Hale by saying, “He died of a rope around his neck” (493). Unlike Sheriff Peters and the county attorney, Mrs. Hale has sympathy for Minnie because she knows that the Wright home has never been filled with love.

In “Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell Mr. Wright has just been found dead by the cause of strangulation. Despite the fact that his wife Minnie is the prime suspect, she has not yet been arrested as a result of a lack of evidence. Consequently, three men who are joined by their wives, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, have been sent to the Wright’s house to begin the investigation. Finding clues is turning out to be harder than the men thought, however, the women have come across more than enough incriminating evidence to convict Mrs. Wright. Although she does not initially appear capable of murder, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale conclude Mrs. Wright, in fact, strangled her husband as evidence by Mrs. Wright’s quilt, the unhinged birdcage, and poor

From beginning to end, Susan Glaspell’s 1917 short story “A Jury of Her Peers,” has several repetitive patterns and symbols that help the reader gain a profound understanding of how hard life is for women at the turn-of-the-century, as well as the bonds women share. In the story two women go with their husbands and county attorney to a remote house where Mr. Wright has been killed in his bed with a rope and he suspect is Minnie, his wife. Early in the story, Mrs. Hale sympathizes with Minnie and objects to the way the male investigators are “snoopin’ round and criticizin’ ” her kitchen. In contrast, Mrs. Peters, the Sheriffs wife, shows respect for the law, saying that the men are doing “no more than their duty”. However, by the end of the story Mrs. Peters unites with Mrs. Hale in a conspiracy of silence and concealing evidence. What causes this dramatic transformation?

As the ladies examine the house, while the men are other places, picking clothes and an apron up for Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Hale gains sympathy for her until finally she starts to take action. When they find the block of quilting that has stitching askew, she starts to fix it, perhaps to cover for Mrs. Wright?s distraught state of mind. While Mrs. Hale is finding sympathy for Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Peters offers a counterpoint that tries to justifies the men?s viewpoints and actions. Her comments to Mrs. Hale?s resentful musings on Mrs. Wright?s unhappy life and on the actions of men in regards to women in general all seem to be rote answers programmed into her by society and a desire not to cause any trouble. This all changes as soon as Mrs. Peters finds the bird.

“Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell is telling of a wife snapping after a horrifying incident with her husband. The peers seek to find the true behind the killing. The women characters are talk as they are not as important as the men characters. The women hide the bird because, they feel for her due to her husband not allowing her to interact with others and taking what she loved away. The women finding the bird is resolving the fact that Mrs. Wright did kill her husband. The unsolved part is rather the men ever find the bird and convicted Mrs. Wright. The end is satisfying in some parts; the fact the women helped hide the bird is satisfying, but not knowing what happened is unsatisfying. The information about the unfinished

Mrs. Hale did not know Mrs. Peters well, but she reflects that Mrs. Peters does not look like the typical sheriff’s wife. “But if Mrs. Peters didn't look like a sheriff's wife, Peters made it up in looking like a sheriff. He was to a dot the kind of man who could get himself elected sheriff--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 criminals and non-criminals” (Glaspell). The physical differences between Mr. and Mrs. Peters mirror the power differences between the

Mrs. Hale did not know Mrs. Peters well, but she reflects that Mrs. Peters does not look like the typical sheriff’s wife. “But if Mrs. Peters didn't look like a sheriff's wife, Peters made it up in looking like a sheriff. He was to a dot the kind of man who could get himself elected sheriff--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 criminals and non-criminals” (Glaspell). The physical differences between Mr. and Mrs. Peters mirror the power differences between

Mrs. Hale’s understanding of the situation also comes from the insight she had on Mr. and Mrs. Wright’s relationship. Her understanding allows her to more easily see a motive than Mrs. Peters or the men. Glaspell shows Mrs. Peters’ ignorance in the following lines, “Not to know him; I’ve seen him in town. They say he was a good man” (1035), and follows that with Mrs. Hale’s understanding of Mr. Wright “Yes-good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most… But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him-[Shivers]” (1035). With this personal experience of knowing both Mr. and Mrs. Wright; Mrs. Hale has a different perspective of what has happened than the reader or the rest of the characters. With this knowledge Mrs. Hale can share Mrs. and Mr. Wright’s relationship with not only Mrs. Peters but also the reader, and allow both audiences a chance to make their own judgment of the situation.

“A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell and “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty are short stories that both share the theme of crucial decision making which leads to the main theme of death; in both stories there is some type of mystery involving the discovery of something linked to the death that occurred in the story. In “A Jury of Her Peers” the death of the guy remains unsolved, and is constantly being talked about by county officials. However, before the death occurs there is some decision making that has a tremendous impact on the outcome of the story. In both stories there are crucial decisions that led to the event of death; sometimes in life decisions have to be made cautiously if the outcome is going to be good.