Within the short story “A Jury of Her Peers” published by Susan Glaspell, and examining the evolving news reports “The Hossack Murder” reported by the same author, Glaspell uses various kinds of narrative devices and descriptive language in both pieces to engage the reader with a journalistic informative purpose for the news story and an expressive entertainment purpose in the short story. Whether the piece has the purpose to inform or entertain, for all true crime stories, the purpose is to engage the audience through suspense. Glaspell's reports on "The Hossack Murder" explain the case's details at the beginning of each report before expanding on them with descriptive language regarding the emotions and appearances of those involved. Glaspell explains at the beginning of the first report that “a foul murder was committed Saturday night near Medford, fifteen miles southwest of Indianola. A farmer named Hossack was struck over the head and killed by unknown parties, at his home a few miles …show more content…
When questioned about her husband’s absence, Mr. Hale characterizes Mrs. Wright as “quiet and dull” while she informs him of her husband’s death. He elaborates on her emotions. “‘Dead?’ Says I, like you do when you can’t take in what you’ve heard. ‘She just nodded her head, not getting a bit excited, but rockin’ back and forth.’” (Glaspell 4). Prior to the climax, this is an important turn in the plot. The suspense among characters and the ambiguity behind Mrs. Wright’s actions and emotions makes the reader question her motives as the story unfolds and they learn about the characters who committed the crime. This structure is akin to true crime shows, as the build-up of suspense intrigues the audience to know