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Susan Glaspell's 'A Jury Of Her Peers'

1122 Words5 Pages

Nicholas Titone
Professor Flynn
ENG 102-N01
02 March 2017
MWA 2 Susan Glaspell’s one act play “Trifles” as well as it’s counterpart in the form of a short story entitled “A Jury of Her Peers” were both loosely based on the Hossack murder case and its subsequent trial, both of which were covered by Glaspell during her time as a reporter for the Des Moines Daily News. While she pulled several thematic elements from her original work on the case and worked them into her adaptations, Glaspell made a myriad of changes in order to appeal to her audience, make each adaptation more appropriate for it’s genre, and convey her message effectively. In the original Hossack case a prominent farmer, John Hossack, was killed in his sleep after being struck …show more content…

Glaspell begins the story at the home of Mrs. Hale rather than as the characters enter the Wright house as they did in the play. In addition to not having to worry about the added cost and/or practicality of multiple set designs it gives Glaspell a way to wind a thread of commonality around Mrs. Hale and Minnie Wright. Mrs. Hale is made to leave her house in a hurry in order to go to the Wright house with her husband, and in doing so leaves her kitchen in a state of disarray. Later, when the men are chastising Minnie (who is not there to defend herself) for neglecting her duties as a housewife Mrs. Hale quickly comes to her defense by saying that "There's a great deal of work to be done on a farm" (“A Jury of Her Peers”) As noted by Dr. Lucinda MacKethan, Alumni Distinguished Professor of English Emerita at NC State University, Glaspell’s adaptations, though well received upon their inital release faded into relative obscurity until being rediscovered during the feminist movement of the early 1970’s(“Historical & Literary Context”). Susan Glaspell is now credited as being something of a trailblazer in the world of modernist literature. Her efforts to present her stories across multiple mediums in order to reach the widest audience possible is a testament to how deeply she believed in the need for

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