ipl-logo

Symbolism In 'A Jury Of Her Peers'

404 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: A jury of her peers summary

Two symbols that I have found in “A Jury of Her Peers” is Mrs. Wright’s canary bird and wardrobe. Canary birds are known for their singing. Minnie Wright loved to sing, she used to sing in the choir when she was younger. Mr. Wright did not like her singing, so he made her stop. “A thing that sang. 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. Minnie Wright had no decent clothes; she was forced to walk around in shabby clothes. “Holding up a shabby black skirt that bore the marks of much making over”. This caused her
Show More
Related
724 Words | 3 Pages

She symbolizes the redbird in a way with her marriage. No matter how much Charles emotionally drained her, left her and beat her she still stayed. This is like the red bird when it is running into the glass repeatedly with nothing changing but hurting its

Read More
599 Words | 3 Pages

Hales exclaims: “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” (Glaspell 1044). Mrs. Hale clearly admits that the canary represents Minnie Foster, who once was that sweet, fluttery girl that was transformed into the lonely, depressed Mrs. Wright by years of her husband's neglect and emotional abuse. Additionally, the word “dead” next to bird suggest that Mrs. Wright is emotionally and mentally “dead.” For example, in the beginning of the play, Mrs. Wright displayed some usual sense of emotion or feelings towards her death of her husband, such as, her laughter and fearful look (Glaspell 1039-40).

Read More
708 Words | 3 Pages

There are many in here, but I think my favorite is her name. The name “Birdie” alone can be two different types of literary devices. The first is imagery. This is a possible option because all she wants to do is fly. Birds fly, so it shows a direct comparison of Birdie to an actual bird.

Read More
740 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1422 Words | 6 Pages

In “A Jury of Her Peers” Glaspeel introduces the main characters Mrs.Hale and Mrs.Peters along with their husbands Mr.Hale and Mr.Peter. Nowhere in this story do the people involved in the murder appear, they are only mentioned. In this story, Minnie Wright is the wife of the victim Mr.Wright. The scene Glaspell sets enables the reader to uncover the motive for the murder when the women discover the birdcage and the dead bird. These small details are interpreted by the woman, noticing frustration in Mrs. Wright's most recent stitches and her dead pet bird.

Read More
1006 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
874 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
734 Words | 3 Pages

Symbolism In “A Jury of Her Peers” Susan Glaspell’s, “A Jury of Her Peers”, took place during the early 1900s and focuses on the issues of sexism and social injustice that still exists today. In this feminist classic, Sheriff Peters and his wife, Mr. Hale and his wife, and the county attorney, Mr. Henderson go to the Wright Household to look for evidence to use against Mrs. Wright. When they arrive, the men disregard everything associated with women, whereas, the women look in debt, put themselves in Mrs. Wright's shoes, and find clues that could potentially prove that she killed her husband. While living in a male dominated society and continuously being belittled by the men, the women decide to not only break the law, but go against their husbands by hiding evidence. Throughout the story, Glaspell uses the symbols of the dead canary, the kitchen and the quilt to not only promote gender inequality roles but show what life must’ve been like for Minnie; imprisoned by her husband.

Read More
1217 Words | 5 Pages

In “The Jury of Her Peers”, the author Susan Glaspell aims to defy traditional gender dynamics to expose the societal norms that were prevalent in the early 20th century. In the story, she skillfully employs literary elements such as setting, narrative perspective, characterization, and theme to subvert inequitable notions and shed light on the profound injustices women faced at that time, allowing readers to fully comprehend the impact of such constraints on the women’s lives. The setting of “The Jury of Her Peers” plays a crucial role in enhancing the story’s themes and serves as a reflection of broader societal constraints and established traditions that were prevalent during the early 20th century. Glaspell sets the stage right from the

Read More
741 Words | 3 Pages

A dead bird, a dead man, a jailed wife, and five people to investigate such things. In “A Jury of Her Peers” in order to find the guilty culprit, there was a need to find a motive. The men would spend all day searching for the reason someone would murder the Mr. Wright, and so would the women. When the women finally did find a motive, they would hide it from the men. They had the right to do so because they themselves had felt the same way Mrs. Wright did, the men were being disrespectful, and the women were dismissed from the men’s sides to look upon things with no significance.

Read More
995 Words | 4 Pages

Later on in the story, a quilt that Minnie Foster had been working on was found unfinished. Mrs. Hale had the kind idea for Mrs. Peters to take in the unfinished quilt with her when she brings in a few of Minnie’s personal belongings to take her mind off of

Read More
796 Words | 4 Pages

Wright’s belongings are incomplete and out of place, particularly in the kitchen. The women find this to be abnormal and begin speculating the significance of these items. During one point in the play, Mrs. Hale notices an uneven stitch in Mrs. Wright’s unfinished quilt. She asks Mrs. Peters, “’what do you suppose she was so nervous about?’” Because of the death of Mr. Wright, Mrs. Hale views the stitching in a suspicious manner.

Read More
165 Words | 1 Pages

This shows that the bird represented Minnie Foster because it used to sing beautifully like her. This relates to the theme of gender role because back then, women were known to be inferior

Read More
690 Words | 3 Pages

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.’”

Read More
749 Words | 3 Pages

When the fellow housewives probing around the house of John and Minnie Wright they saw the small things that showed that she was distressed, for example when they saw that the quilt that she had been working on at the time was poorly knotted they took the time to correct the quilting, and when they saw that Minnie’s bird was wrapped in silk and held in a beautiful embellished box they realized why she killed her husband. Although Mrs.Peters is the wife to the sherrif she hides what she finds in the Wright’s home because she can relate to what Minnie was going through. So although when Minnie went to court she presumably sat in front of a jury filled with men she had justice through other women understanding her troubles when it counted. Throughout the story the main idea is to find what was the motive of Minnie Wright to kill her husband, although this story will not just come out and blatantly state the reason, it shows the audience through showing the gender roles of the time and what they meant to the women.

Read More

More about Symbolism In 'A Jury Of Her Peers'

Related Topics

Open Document