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Gender Separation In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

2012 Words9 Pages

Gender Separation in “Jury of Her Peers” Susan Glaspell was a woman author that developed a different genre of writing for women in her time period. She was a feminist that broke the silence that women had in the early 1900s, giving an insight into how women thought and were treated. Glaspell wasn’t what was thought to be the typical woman of her time, and she tested the idea of how a woman must act through her writings and achievements. “Her plays, stories, and novels explore universal themes that continue to be vital and challenging to readers and scholars today: themes of American identity, individuality vs. social conformity, the idealism of youth, the compromises of marriage, the disillusionments and hopes of aging” (“About Susan Glaspell.”). …show more content…

One is the official investigation going on from the two men, Sheriff Peters and George Henderson, the county attorney. The second is the unofficial investigation by the two women, Mrs. Peters, Sheriff Peters’ wife and Mrs. Hale, the Wright’s neighbor. Even though, Mr. Henderson tells Mrs. Peters to keep a look out for clues, he states “but would the women know a clue if they did come upon it?” making it clear he believe the women would not notice anything of significance (Beatty). The men clearly felt that the women would tell them if they came across some evidence, even though he did say that if the women would even know what to look for, seeming they are more concerned about preserves. Why would the Mrs. Hale look at the preserves and be concerned about the broken and messy jars? It’s because Mrs. Hale knows Mrs. Wright was concerned about her jars of preserves freezing and breaking in the cold weather. Now there is only one lonely, unbroken jar left. Knowing that Mrs. Wright was worried about her jars busting in the weather, Mrs. Hale would believe there was something on Mrs. Wrights mind. She would have made sure the cold would not have got to the jars. It’s obvious that there was something that took away from her protecting her preserves. There is also a metaphor for the preserves, it’s the one lonely jar that survived the winter, just has Mrs. Wright has survived the long life she has lived with John

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