Isolation In Minnie Wright's A Jury Of Her Peers

In “A Jury of Her Peers” Minnie Wright demonstrates the deranging effect of isolation. She grew up a joyful young woman with all her peers, but drifted away when she became Mrs. Wright and wedded Mr. John Wright. Minnie Wright became socially and emotionally isolated in her own home. This caused her to lose her sanity. The effects that isolation had on Minnie Wright negatively affected her own life and the life of those around her, especially including her husband who she murdered. 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

Minnie Wright’s ability to have logical reasoning was a result of loneliness. “...reasoning performance can be affected either by the emotion of the individual or the content of the problem or the type of inference” (Jung et al). In the text it is not stated as a fact that Mr. John Wright killed Minnie Wright’s pet bird. Readers of the story can only infer that Mr. Wright did not like the bird, “‘No, Wright wouldn’t like a bird,’ she said after that -- “a thing that sang. She use to sing. He killed that too.’ Her voice tightened” (Glaspell). Decision making is not logical, therefore when we make decisions we use our emotions to help us decide what decision to make or what decision not to make (Upfront Analytics). If Minnie Wright’s emotions were high strung after the loss of her only “friend,” we could blame Minnie Wright’s emotional instability on both the emotional and social isolation she was experiencing. Minnie Wright’s insanity from being secluded from others can be compared to what happens to women during the time period the rest cure was practiced on women who were thought to be mentally or emotionally

Her husband is a doctor, “John is a physician, and PERHAPS--(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)--PERHAPS that is one reason I do not get well faster” (Gilman). She eventually convinces herself that he knows everything about her mental and physical health both, “If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression--a slight hysterical tendency--what is one to do?” (Gilman). This is during the time period where men were more in control of their wives and had a higher say so. “John says if I don't pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall,” her husband was in complete control of where she went (Gilman). Most people or men believed in the rest cure. The rest cure was basically when women were locked in solitary confinement. They could not have any contact with others unless it was monitored and this was only for short periods of time few times a week or few times a day. They were prohibited from writing journals or diaries, “I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me” (Gilman). Even if they could read they were not aloud to,