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Minnie Foster In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

560 Words3 Pages

In some works of literature, a character who appears briefly, or does not appear at all, is a significant factor that contributes to the overall plot development. Whether the character is a figure of the past or simply a bystander to the situation, their actions and observations can play a clear role in progression of the story. In Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers”, the character Minnie Foster is not actually present, but her previous actions and decisions present an external conflict that is displayed throughout the story. Minnie Foster is a woman who is under investigation for the murder of her husband, Mr. Wright. Two men and their wives travel to the scene of the crime to further examine the setting of the scene. Glaspell uses dialogue and internal thoughts of the other female characters to conclude that Minnie Foster had reasonable motives to kill her husband.
Martha Hale and Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife, decide to stay downstairs in the home rather than following their husbands upstairs to the …show more content…

Hale and Mrs. Peters continue to unravel details that contribute to the investigation against Minnie Foster. Once the women get comfortable in their search, they discover a beautiful quilt box in the front room. After further evaluation, they realize that Minnie Foster found peace in quilting. Mrs. Peters reveals that one of the stitches is terribly messed up. The two question Minnie Foster’s error and the surrounding circumstances until they realize that the quilt is just another piece of evidence. “Their eyes met – something flashed to life, passed between them.” As the investigation continues, the women find that, like the quilting, Minnie Foster found peace in her canary. The women remember how Minnie Foster sang with the bird to feel whole. When Mrs. Peters uncovers the battered bird cage while Mrs. Hale finds the dead canary, the women realize that there may have been a final incident that changed the course of the Wright family

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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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Despite some differences between Minnie Foster from Trifles by Susan Glaspell and Ruth from Still Stands the House by Gwen Pharis Ringwood, they have many similarities. Although their relationships with their respective spouses are in stark contrast, they do share qualities like their seemingly inadequate femininity and lonesome lives. Firstly, Ruth Warren, the wife of Bruce Warren can be described as sweet, caring and even somewhat passive. When Hester Warren, her sister in law treats her coldly she replies with kindness, only saying “Please—I’ve never had a sister, and when Bruce told me he had one, I thought we’d be such friends—” (Ringwood, 6).

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Mrs. Wright In Susan Glaspell's Trifles

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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 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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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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The dead canary and its cage was a pivotal piece of evidence that the women discovered. The dead bird represents the old Mrs. Wright— Minnie Foster and its cage represents how she was

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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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In the play Trifles, written by Susan Glaspell, and the play A Doll’s House, written by Henrik Ibsen, there are two ladies who undergo two different situations. Mrs. Wright is someone who is assumed as the murderer of her husband Mr. Wright. On the other hand, Nora manipulates her husband by taking out a loan without his approval. These two ladies both face isolation in their relationships and eventually end up without their husbands. These two characters differ in their personalities, their actions in their marriages, and their overall marriage.

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He killed that too”, which is an exact representation of how women were inferior, muted, and defused (“A Jury of Her Peers 1643). Because the women felt so inferior to the men, they never spoke up when they found the dead bird which explained that Minnie Foster was the murder of John Wright. Another reason for this action was that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters felt united as women due to their social status and situation. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale chose to hide the dead bird and not to disclose the actual murder clues and details they found as it was their moral duty as

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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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Talking about Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters “the two characters begin to reconstruct the accused woman’s life. They do so through several means; memories of her, memories of their own lives (similar to hers in many ways), and speculation about her feelings and responses to the conditions of her life” (Holstein 283.) The two women immediately placed themselves in Minnie Wrights position. And while reconstructing Mrs. Wright life based on their own memories and emotions they acknowledge the murders missing clue “Minnie’s dead pet bird” (Holstein

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Murder today is something that most people do not think about because we are so accustomed to it. Minnie Foster, a lively woman who loses her childhood and becomes a married unhappy lady, so unhappy she kills her own husband. Although at first we are introduced to the bird as the main symbol of the play, we discover that Mrs. Wright is the bird and Mr. Wright is the bird cage trapping her life. By looking at the symbolism of this play we begin to understand that when Mr. Wright killed the canary along with Mrs Wright’s childhood, the motive to kill Mr. Wright was set for Mrs. Wright with the rope.

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As a senior, I chose to take composition two at Countryside High School in my last semester. I previously finished composition one and looked forward to enhance my comprehension of shorty stories and poems in composition two. I also wanted to receive dual enrollment credit for ENC1102 for my future education. Mr. Leo, my professor, taught the class in depth information on short stories by discussing the theme and symbols of the writings however, one short story in particular stood out to me that I will profoundly remember for years to come. Five years from now, I know I will remember the short story “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell due to its meaningful symbolization and the overall irony.

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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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