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Gender Roles In A Jury Of Her Peers

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Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers”, is set in a rural county, Dickson County, in the early 1900s. The Wrights, John Wright and Minnie Wright, lived in an isolated house with a lonesome atmosphere. Throughout the short story, the main characters investigate the Wright’s house to prove if Minnie Wright was guilty of John Wright’s murder. Gender played a key role in their investigation. In “A Jury of Her Peers”, the austere roles of men and women prompted different perspectives. During this time period, traditional gender roles were still very prevalent. Gender roles are society’s expectation of an individual based entirely on their gender (Blackstone). A woman’s role was to stay at home and nurture her children (Miller): “…she said she wanted an apron…But I suppose just to make her feel more natural.” (Glaspell 7). While the men’s roles were to support his family and make …show more content…

A white man, such as John Wright, living in a traditional society in the early 1900s meant he was very privileged. Women were seen as weaker, in all standards, compared to men (Balanza). A traditional society standardizes women to be under her husband’s rules (Balanza). In the Wright’s relationship, Minnie Wright was responsible for the house while John Wright was responsible for the farm: “But I suppose just to make her feel more natural. If you’re used to wearing an apron…” (Glaspell 7). He was free to leave and go to town: “Not to know him. I’ve seen him in town. They say he was a good man…” (Glaspell 10). The night before John Wright’s murder, Minnie Wright only completed her work half-way done: “What had interrupted Minnie Foster? Why had that work been left half done?” (Glaspell 6). Her only friend was the bird, which the author hints to John Wright committing to killing the bird: “Look at it! Its neck -- look at its neck!” (Glaspell 11). The death of the bird caused Minnie Wright to lose her remaining

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Introduction. A Jury by Her Peers authored by Susan Glaspell narrates the investigative events that occur after the death of John Wright in his house. As neighbors and the Dickson County administration, themes of sisterhood and gender roles appear through the actions and hidden motives of the characters. The book, A Jury by Her Peers, expounds on the silent suffering of women and being perceived as unintelligent while providing justifications for covering up of John Wrights death.

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In the time that “A Jury of Her Peers”, was written women did not have many rights. They also did not have many opportunities to do other things outside their home. They're expected stay home cook clean and take care of the children to their husband came home. Mr. and Mrs. Wright did not have any children nor did she take care of house very well. Her neighbor even told the sheriff this.

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In Susan Glaspell’s short story, A Jury of her Peers, Mrs. Peters is torn between siding with her husband, the sheriff, or Mrs. Hale, a fellow woman in town. Although Mr. Peters is pressuring her to keep a look out for something that will help convict Minnie Foster for the murder of her husband, Mrs. Hale is also putting pressure on her to stick up for her own kind, accentuating the commonalities the women share. Mrs. Hale is not the most polite of women, rifling through Minnie’s things as the men search the house for clues, yet the men are far ruder in their comb of the place, constantly generalizing women and putting them down as a whole. Ultimately, Mrs. Peters instinctively unites with Mrs. Hale upon discovering the throttled canary in order to avoid condemning a woman whose shoes she has walked in.

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Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are here today to discuss the murder of John Wright. On November 15, Mr. Wright was found in his bed with a rope around his neck, presumably strangled to death. His body was discovered by his wife supposedly and did not bother to notify to the local authorities. At eight o'clock in the morning, Mr. Hale went to look for Mr. Wright and found Minnie, Mr. Wright’s wife, sitting in a rocking chair inside of the house. Mr. Hale asked Minnie for her husband and she stated that John Wright was dead in the bedroom.

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As the story “A Jury of Her Peers,” progresses it becomes more evident that Minnie Foster is in fact for sure the person who is responsible for the murder of her husband. In the time period “A Jury of her Peers” was written women were also victims of a treatment

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The men of the group, much like John in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” consider themselves more capable than the women and refuse to consider Mrs. Wright as anything other than irrational. The men leave the women to their “trifles” on the first floor, where they discover a broken bird cage, and the bird’s body, broken, carefully wrapped in a small, decorative box. They realize that Mr. Wright had wrung the neck of his wife’s beloved bird and broken its cage. Mrs. Wright, once known for her cheerfulness and beautiful singing, she stopped singing when she encountered Mr. Wright. Just like he did with the bird, Mr. Wright choked the life out of his wife until, finally, Mrs. Wright literally choked the life out of her husband.

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He caused her to be lonely and that caused her to go a little crazy. This madness is what made her feel no sympathy when she realized John was dead. These actions are what led Hale and Peters to come to the result of she killed her own husband. However, the attorney didn’t realize the radical alteration in her personality like Mrs. Hale did, only because he did not know Minnie Foster when she was beautifully happy and full of life. This is evident in the short story when the attorney refers to her as Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Hale

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For Minnie, being isolated and her husband having taking the one thing that she could associated herself, pushed her to her breaking point which caused her to kill her husband. Lisa Crocker notes that “Noe points out the need to trace the chain of cause-and-effect behind Minnie's action before assigning guilt: " Alienated from her husband, powerless and silenced by . . . her marriage . . . Minnie is an unseen woman long before she murders John Wright" (46).

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Wright killed the canary and is also motive for Mrs. Wright to seek revenge. The women conclude that Mrs. Wright’s bird was her prized possession, the bird even reminds the women of Mrs. Wright, “‘She—come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself. Real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and—fluttery. How—she—did—change.’”

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