Identity In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

We like to think our lives, and the future that holds great promises, are in control of our own hands. The way we behave, think, and react could be easily seen as a representation of who we are, of our identity, but that is entirely not the case; our identity is much more than that. As we grow, and venture out into new areas of life, our identity is changed to morph into the expectations of others, which are ultimately affected by what is considered normal at that time. We encapsulate, and adapt to the views of others, and even if we try to resist and deviate from them, in some way or form, we end up being glued and fixed to them. Our identity goes through countless phases, evolving and shifting towards the image society thinks we ought to

The story takes place early in the 20th century, during which sexist attitudes, and stereotypes towards women were prevalent. They were expected to be submissive of men, who felt as if they were the real leaders of the household, and do all in their power to give them an enjoyable life. Right from the start, women are compared with men as men are thought to be more superior, and surprisingly, it is a woman who is doing the comparing. This is evidence to the fact that women, themselves, sometimes, had very similar views as the men. Mrs. Hail, after meeting the sheriff’s wife, thought Mrs. Peters to be “thin” and lacking a “Strong voice”, which is completely opposite of her husband. She is expected to be more like her husband, “who is a heavy man with a big voice” rather than being who Mrs. Peters really is. Although Mrs. Peters did not feel the same; she felt that women “ought to be talking as well as the men.” Even though she was known as the Sherriff’s wife, she still saw women as equal, who are capable of doing things just the same as the men are; and in some instance better than men. After arriving at Wright place, the women were kept out the conversations men were having. Only Mr. Hale’s questioning, about Mr. Wright’s murder, was paid attention to, whereas when Mrs. Hale was being questioned by Mr. Henderson, he seemed to be more “anxious” to get to crime scene upstairs than listen carefully to Mr. Hale who provided him with good clues for why Mr. Wright might have been murdered. His prejudice towards women made him miss what is important, as he thought women are incapable thinking anything useful and helpful to the case. Ironically, when the men left the two women in the kitchen,