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Fiction essay on Jury of Her Peers
Fiction essay on Jury of Her Peers
Women literature in america
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Fiction essay on Jury of Her Peers
Fiction essay on Jury of Her Peers
Women literature in america
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The story “A Jury of Her Peers” takes place at Minnie Wright farm in Iowa. Minnie is under investigation because she is a suspect for having killed her husband Mr. Wright. Mr. Perter the sheriff, the county persecutor Mr. Henderson and Mr. Hale who is the victim’s neighbor gather at the scene of the crime to investigate what happened there. Two women accompany the man the sheriff wife and Martha Hales. When the group get to the farmhouse they go to the kitchen and Mr. Peters ask Hales to describe what he had saw at the farm house the previous day.
The short story A Jury of Her Peers, written by Susan Glaspell, clearly demonstrates fear and its control within characters throughout the story. The main character, Minnie Foster, a lovely young woman who sang in the choir and known as a very open person. However, once she got married, she became much quieter. The two other women in the story, one of whom know Minnie, uncover some evidence that would incriminate Minnie for the murder of her husband. The women find out that Minnie’s husband treats Minnie poorly and may have physically hurt Minnie as well.
While in the house there were a few discoveries that were unusual. After the women went to grab some clothes for Mrs. Wright they returned to the kitchen where they discovered a bird cage. While in the kitchen they talked about Mr. Wright’s character, how hard he was, and how she used to be
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are here today to discuss the murder of John Wright. On November 15, Mr. Wright was found in his bed with a rope around his neck, presumably strangled to death. His body was discovered by his wife supposedly and did not bother to notify to the local authorities. At eight o'clock in the morning, Mr. Hale went to look for Mr. Wright and found Minnie, Mr. Wright’s wife, sitting in a rocking chair inside of the house. Mr. Hale asked Minnie for her husband and she stated that John Wright was dead in the bedroom.
Wright killed her husband. They walk into the kitchen and the Sheriff dismisses everything in the room saying, “Nothing here but kitchen things.” The men in the play seemed to judge her more about her housekeeping skills. The women in the play, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, were able to see the evidence because they were thinking about it from a different perspective. They were able to notice that maybe the quality of life for Mrs. Wright was not what she wanted because of Mr. Wright’s personality, and that is why she killed him.
The mess of a kitchen, the poorly sewn quilt, and the dead bird make a solid case to convict Mrs. Wright for her husband's death, but the men are oblivious
Prior to today, the mere thought of a woman being prosecuted for the betrayal of her feminine nature in a court of law was impractical- unheard of. Now? Not so much. Susan Glaspell the author of the story “a jury of her peers” recites an early Nineteenth Century based trial of a woman, by the name of Minnie Wright who is convicted for the murder of her husband John Wright. In the utmost peculiar setting, Martha Hale, a farmer’s wife with a keen eye; is left in a bundle of nerves when faced with a guilty conscience.
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.
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.
She was oppressed like the majority of women during the 1920s, but as most women she was beginning to stand up for her rights just like all women who supported the women’s rights movement. Her loss of voice is symbolic of the right to vote that women did not have in the early 1900s. In the play evidence suggest that Mrs. Wright murdered her husband and although imprisoned, she has gained her freedom by killing her husband. This is synonymous with women fighting back against men to gain their right to vote in 1920 essentially regaining their “voice” in government.
Margaret Hossack was deemed guilty and was sentenced to the penitentiary, prison, for life. Susan Glaspell ends her journal about this case with the parting words of Mrs. Hossack, “Sheriff Hodson, tell my children not to weep for me. I am innocent of the horrible murder of my husband. Some day people will know I am not guilty of that terrible crime,” (17). This Iowa case Glaspell worked on lead to the writing of “Trifles” and “A Jury of Her Peers” both based on this murder
Even if the women themselves do not realize it yet, they have uncovered the first piece of evidence against Mrs. Wright. This pair knows the blood and sweat that went behind quilting and they knew the difference in the stitching. This discussion of the quilt shows how even if the women are not specifically looking for evidence, they are still more perceptive and observant than the men who are searching every inch of the upstairs room where the death took
She then suggests to Mrs. Peters that she should take the unfinished quilt home to “’take up her mind.’” This leads them to search for Mrs. Wright’s patches and sewing accessories. They discover a “pretty box” and assume it is where she keeps her scissors (Glaspell 1417). This is when they discover a dead canary wrapped up in a piece of silk; it was the missing bird. Right away they notice the bird's neck
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.
Taking a Stand: A Critical Analysis of Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” In the early 1900s, women’s rights were still a work in progress, as men during that time possessed much of the power that women were denied. During this time period, women did not have much a voice, but found ways to cope with their disadvantaged status.