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Summary Of A Jury Of Her Peers By Susan Glaspell

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Born into the patriarchal restraints of the 1876 US nation, Susan Glaspell is revered as a trailblazer in early feminism through her dynamic background as a writer that intellectually represented a nation of women whose needs and abilities are swallowed by misogynistic tradition and underrepresentation in law. According to Laughlin McDonald’s article “A Jury Of Her Peers”, “ Aside from the “defect of sex,” women were excluded from juries for a variety of reasons: their primary obligation was to their families and children; they should be shielded from hearing the details of criminal cases, particularly those involving sex offenses; they would be too sympathetic to persons accused of crimes; and keeping male and female jurors together during …show more content…

The first is an unfinished quilt that catches the eye of Mrs.Hale, who is shocked by the poor stitching towards the end “ All the rest of it has been so nice and even. And look at this! It's all over the place! Why, it looks as if she didn't know what she was about!”(Glaspell). While fixing the quilt Mrs.Hale is interrupted by Mr.Peters who Mockingly exclaims “They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it!”(Glaspell). The comment from Sheriff Peters is meant to remind the woman that they are once again focusing on Trifles, however, the Quilt’s shift in stitching represents a shift in Minnie's mental state, The woman also confirmed that a knotting style was used to tie the quilt similar to the knot used to kill John in his sleep. Analyzing the details of the quilt provides evidence that may incriminate Minnie however the arrogance of male investigators made the woman's revelation nothing more than a …show more content…

Removing this evidence is a clear obstruction of justice, a criminal act, however, the lack of woman jurors, the injustice Minnie Wright faced, as well as a build-up of frustration from the constant belittling by male investigators gave Mrs.Peters and Mrs.Hale a sense of agency as the pair let the attorney believe his own arrogance and led them to take the law into their own hands in order to get back at the patriarchal injustices embedded into societal

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