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Symbolism In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

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Susan Glaspell’s short story, “A Jury of Her Peers” is full of symbolism, which is portrayed through the bird in the story. The story takes place in a house that is set far back and is a lonely place. With the story being written in the 1920’s the attitude men have towards women is by far noticeable throughout the story with them being doubted or looked down upon. There is a murder scene that is being investigated with the wife of the murdered man as the number one suspect. The men in the story are looking in all the wrong places, where the women looked in the one spot to find the one clue that would close the entire case. The number one clue, the bird. One example of what the bird symbolizes would be Minnie’s, the wife of the murdered man’s, freedom. Birds have a choice to soar up into the sky and still have the freedom to return to earth again when they please. Minnie used to have freedom when she was able to make her own decisions about life before Mr. Wright was introduced. “...she used to sing real pretty herself” (Glaspell 185). Here Mrs. Hale explains how Minnie was before marriage. Mr. Wright, did not like it and forced her to stop. “She used to sing. He killed that too” (Glaspell 158). At …show more content…

The object that was able to make such an impact on the story and the characters in the story was the bird. The bird symbolizes freedom, company, and happiness. Three things that were desperately needed inside the house. Throughout the story, the men are trying to find the motive for Minnie killing her husband, while the men look and come up empty handed, the women find exactly what the men are looking for. During the time period that the story was written goes along with the view of women throughout the story. The women decide to keep the bird a secret; they understand what drove Minnie to commit the murder of her husband and could justify protecting her in the

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