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Jury Of Her Peers Symbolism

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In “Jury of Her Peers,” Susan Glaspell outlines the murder mystery of John Wright who “died of a rope around his neck” in bed (204). The spouse of the victim, Minnie Wright, keeps quiet when she is brought to jail as she is the main suspect of the case. The clues surrounding the case portray Minnie and her lonely life living with her husband. Glaspell highlights trivial, yet major, details which lead to Minnie’s motive for strangling her own husband. The rocking chair, quilt, and broken bird cage are all details that eventually lead to the women’s discovery of who murdered Mr. Wright. One detail is the overused rocking chair Glaspell depicts as a symbol of Minnie’s isolation. Rocking chairs are made to be rocked. However, this specific chair …show more content…

When Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters examine the birdcage, they seem confused about why Minnie Wright would have a cage with no bird. They are surprised to find something that looks out of place, “‘Look at this door,’” Mrs. Peters says in a disturbed tone, “‘It’s broke. One hinge has been pulled apart’” (210). After discovering the cage, the women find a dead bird hidden in Minnie’s closet. Minnie had placed the bird in a small box after it had been presumably strangled by her now deceased husband, Mr. John Wright. With this information the two ladies make an inference that something happened to the bird—something that was not supposed to happen. Just after discovering the cage, the two women put themselves in Minnie’s place. At one point Mrs. Peters states, “‘It would be lonesome for me—sitting here alone’” (210). Minnie was obviously hiding something, which is the ultimate reason she places the bird in a small box and tucks it away. When Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters open the box, they are surprised to find a sleeping bird with its neck twisted to one side. Mrs. Hale thinks that maybe the cat had gotten hold of the poor thing, only to discover there is no cat present. The only reasonable conclusion is that a human has killed the bird—and Mrs Wright loved the bird too much to kill

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She used to sing. He killed that too”. Minnie Wright got the canary bird because it was a symbol of her past life. The bird symbolized the love Mrs. Wright had for singing. Furthermore, Mrs. Wrights wardrobe represented the neglect and frugality she received from her husband.

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The short story “A Jury of Her Peers” written by Susan Glaspell is based on Glaspell’s play, Trifles. While the play is quite entertaining, the short story gives the reader more detail and background into the plot. Minnie Wright, who used to be known as a joyful, colorful woman, has been put in jail for the murder of her husband, Mr. Wright. Upon further analysis of the situation by the two female leads, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, they discover that while Mrs. Wright may be her husband’s killer, in their eyes, she is justified in her actions. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale come to this conclusion of justifying Mrs. Wright after discovering her motive: Mr. Wright had killed her bird, her song, her joy, and metaphorically, killed her.

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Sisterhood In Susan Glaspell's A Jury By Her Peers

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Three women, Minnie Wright, Martha Hale, and Mrs. Peters express sisterhood by hiding of incriminating evidence such as the dead bird while the men fail to prove of her complicity. This essay focuses on themes of sisterhood and gender roles, and the passiveness that manifests in the process of gathering evidence. The theme of Sisterhood. As the plot unfolds to ascertain the murder of John Wright, Mrs. Hale says, “it looked very lonesome this cold morning, it had always been a lonesome place” (Glaspell, 1992), while referring to the house of Minnie Wright.

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1300 Words | 6 Pages

By the two women taking the evidence that would put Minnie in jail shows how they do not want her to go to jail because they realized all the pain that Mr.Wright cause her. The women now know Minnie better my going through her house but they now also sympathize with her and all the hurt she has received by being married to

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The scene begins to unfolds in their minds. Mr. Wright yanking open the cage door, taking out the bird, and breaking its fragile neck was enough to make Mrs. Wright lash out, and in a heat of passion, kill her husband. As the trifles collect,  the women worry that the men will see their findings, and have what they need to prove Mrs. Wright guilty. Though the men believe her to be the murderer, the women are trying their best to hide the evidence that will prove it.

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The story opens with Mrs. Wright imprisoned for strangling her husband. A group, the mostly composed of men, travel to the Wright house in the hopes that they find incriminating evidence against Mrs. Wright. Instead, the two women of the group discover evidence of Mr. Wright’s abuse of his wife. Through the women’s unique perspective, the reader glimpses the reality of the situation and realizes that, though it seemed unreasonable at the time, Mrs. Wright had carefully calculated her actions. When asked about the Wrights, one of the women, Mrs. Hale, replies “I don’t think a place would be a cheerful for John Wright’s being in it” (“A Jury of Her Peers” 7).

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Wright it is easy to tell that she is not at all upset about her husband’s death. When being asked about the situation she “laughed and pleated her skirt” (4). Mrs. Wright is compared to a bird that is found later in the story. The bird was found in a pretty box with marks around its neck. Hale and Peters say that the death of her bird would have been her motive if she actually was her husband’s murderer, but the author utilizes the bird and its broken cage to be a comparison to Mrs. Wright’s life.

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Minnie’s quilt, the dead bird and its cage, and the kitchen show that living in a man’s world is not easy. In the end, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale recognize that they too have experienced the same loneliness and mistreatment that led Mrs. Wright to murder her husband. The men don't value the women in this story and they don't see them as being very intelligent either. It is for this reason “A jury of her peers” is created. Peers being the women themselves as they stand up, united against the subjugation they have all experienced.

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“A Jury of Her Peers”, written by Susan Glaspell, tells the story of the murder of Mr. Wright and its criminal investigation by Mr. Peters, the town sheriff, and the county attorney. In this short story, Glaspell illustrates how the female perspective is shackled by traditional gender roles, leaving their voices unheard and household abuse. This is depicted by Mrs. Wright, who murders her husband due to the abuse she experienced, and Mrs. Peters, who notices details that the men overlook, in turn cracking the case. In this story, Mrs. Wright has a pet canary that her husband kills. Glaspell's description of the canary symbolizes Minnie Wright’s character and role as a household woman in a male-dominated society.

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In Susan Glaspell's play “Trifles,” there is a difference between the men and women’s way of perceiving evidence to Mr. Wright’s murder case. The men spend most of their time searching for solid evidence upstairs where Mr. Wright's murder takes place. However, the women spend most of their time in Mrs. Wright’s kitchen. Instead of seeking tangible evidence, they inspect the condition of the items and acknowledge how they have been muddled around. Different perspectives lead to a variety of discoveries such as the women’s way of perceiving evidence.

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A third item found in the house is a canary and its cage which represents Minnie Wright’s freedom. Mrs. Peters finds a birdcage as they look for quilting materials and notice the bird is gone and the cage door is broken (1.1). The canary represents the freedom that was caged due to Minnie Wright’s marriage to her husband. The broken cage door symbolizes that she broke free to gain her freedom by killing her husband. The bird is not found initially, which symbolizes the freedom that the wife got once her husband died.

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The women began to pity Mrs. Wright as they knew her before she married to Mr. Wright. The females felt pity, where the men just accessed the situation at hand. After the women examine the empty bird cage they remember the way that Mrs. Wright use to sing and compared her to her former self as Minnie Foster. “Trifles,” introduced the masculinity here from the Sheriff’s side instantly putting his instinct into saying that there was a murder that happened at the farmhouse, was caused by Mrs. Wright without any hesitation. He didn’t look into the sadness, or let the depressing home get to him as much as what his intentions and his well-being come into play before his

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690 Words | 3 Pages

In “A Jury Of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell, Mr. Wright is found dead in his home with a rope around his neck. Mrs. Wright is the prime suspect, as she acts calm and seems unphased by the incident, though she is fully aware of her husband’s death. When men come to investigate they bring along Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, and while the women are waiting they find interesting evidence. Although at first glance Mrs. Wright does not seem capable of murder because of her calm demeanor, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale conclude she strangled her husband to death as evidenced by the crazily sewn quilt patch, mutilated canary, and unhinged birdcage.

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The dead bird represented the main suspect Minnie Foster a.k.a Mrs. Wright, it represent the life of Minnie before she became subordinate to her husband. “She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that—oh, that was thirty years ago”, the birdcage represented how trapped Mrs. Wright felt and how her husband kept her secluded from the world. The dead bird was the motive for crime; Mrs. Wright killed the bird to represent freedom from her husband’s authority.

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