Compare And Contrast Trifles And A Jury Of Her Peers

In the early 1900's Susan Glaspell wrote many works, two stand out, the play "Trifles" and the short story "A Jury of Her Peers". Trifles was written in 1920, while "A Jury of Her Peers" was written the following year. The true greatness of these works was not recognized until the 1970's. In the short story "A Jury of Her Peers" a woman named Minnie Wright is accused of the murder of her husband. Minnie Wright is a farmer's wife and is also isolated from the outside world. There is an investigation that takes place in the home of the murder. There are three men that are involved on the case and two women accompany but are not there to really help solve the murder. These two women will solve the murder and protect Mrs. Wright of any wrongdoing.

The women will justify to themselves, that the murder was justifiable. The three men seek out to find motive, but they never do, and the case will go unsolved. Glaspell made a lot of similarities in both “Trifles” and “A Jury of Her Peers”, but they’re also key changes like: the title, how Minnie Wright changed, and the point of view these differences will illuminate her stories. All these details will help the two women justify the murder of Mr. Wright.
The title of the short story and the play indicates how Susan Glaspell feels about the woman’s place. First, in “A Jury of Her Peers” fits the title, because it describes the understanding that was between the women as to what Minnie Wright had gone through, and they acquitted her of murder. Minnie had been badly treated, over- worked, and under-appreciated. The women kept the house, canned the food, and took care of everyone. However, the ones who came and investigated the crime were men who did not appreciate the value of what Minnie, or any of the women, did. They did not see the hard work that they put in, and they had no understanding of everything that the women had been through, but the women had understanding and empathy for her because they were truly her peers. Most of the tension in the story has to do with what the women know to be true and what the men are just unable to see. There are a few small things that give the women hints as to what Minnie had been through. They saw the messy kitchen, canning supplies, and erratic quilt-stitching as important while the men did not see the value or importance in the small things. In other hand “Trifles”, refers to something "of little value or importance”. Because of this the men dismiss things that they see as feminine, like a sewing box, for example, they cannot solve the murder. They even decide to skip doing a thorough search of the kitchen because they don't see how a place with kitchen things could be relevant. When Mrs. Peters sees the preserves that Minnie Wright asked her to check on, Hale says they're just trifles and none of the men see them as relevant to the investigation. Instead, they're amused that she is concerned. Glaspell writes:
MRS PETERS: (to the other woman) Oh, her fruit; it did freeze, (to the LAWYER) She worried about that when it turned so cold. She said the fire'd go out and her jars would break.
SHERIFF: Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves.
COUNTY ATTORNEY: I guess before we're through she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about.
HALE: Well, women are used to worrying over trifles (Glaspell 560).
In comparison of both of Glaspell’s works the title draws attention to women's issues, suggesting that all issues relating to women in this period, 1916, were considered trifles. Both the short story and the play shows hard signs of feminism, and that’s the main reasons of her works.
Another important reason is what Minnie Wright represents in both works of Susan Glaspell.

In, “A Jury of Her Peers” it shows the Minnie Wright’s life before she was married. The young Minnie was a lively girl who loved singing in the church choir. Mrs. Hale spoke of how well she dressed and of how pretty her voice was when she sang. Her voice was easily picked out of the choir. Her happiness in youth is in great contrast to the lifestyle she had to mold into after marrying John Wright. The descriptions from both the men and women in this story describe John as a cold, selfish and unsocial man who ended up dragging his wife into his own lifestyle. This smothering among other events is what eventually caused her to snap and change. In the contrast, Minnie Wrights role in “Trifles” play’s is important, even though she is not involved as much in the play. Her absence is because, at the time the play starts, she is detained in jail while Sheriff Peters, the county attorney, the Sheriff's wife, and Minnie's farming neighbors, the Hales, try to connect the dots to determine what exactly occurred the night before at Minnie's house. Learning that Mrs. Wright has changed makes it simpler for the reader to image the state of her image. A woman who no longer wears pretty clothes nor participates in events of interest is likely to allow for signs of aging to begin to show up and for her own beat-down emotions to take over her looks. We can assume that Minnie is a woman who has a

sad and tired expression, who has lost the dedication to looking pretty, and who may be so desolate that she hardly takes care of her appearance.
Furthermore, Susan Glaspell uses the third person point of view in "A Jury of Her Peers." This means that an outside narrator tells the story but only allows the reader inside the head of one of the characters.

In this story, readers understand and observe the action through Mrs. Hale, the neighbor of the woman suspected of killing her husband. All the action of the story takes place within Mrs. Hale's view. The story opens in Mrs. Hale's home, continues with a buggy ride to the Wright farm, and concludes in the main floor of the Wright farm house. The men in the story go out of the house and upstairs, but since Mrs. Hale stays on the main floor, the reader is only aware of what she sees there. The reader knows what Mrs. Hale is thinking. Her actions and words are related, but not her feelings. For example, in this sentence: "'Why, I think that's a real nice idea, Mrs. Hale,' agreed the sheriff's wife, as if she too were glad to come into the atmosphere of a simple kindness,"(Glaspell 570), Mrs. Peter's gladness is assumed rather than stated because Mrs. Hale can see the other woman acting "as if" she were glad but cannot know that she was glad. Because Trifles is a play instead of a prose story, it does not have a conventional "point of view" as such. The common terms of third/first person-omniscient/limited don't apply, because the audience only sees what is presented as action and dialogue. In that sense, the point of view could be said to be third-person limited, since

there is no narrator, and the audience can't know anything that the characters don't know. For example, when the canary is first discovered:
MRS. PETERS: It's the bird.
MRS. HALE: [Jumping up.] But, Mrs. Peters -- look at it! It's neck! Look at its neck! It's all -- other side to.
MRS. PETERS: Somebody -- wrung -- its -- neck. [Their eyes meet. A look of growing comprehension, of horror. Steps are heard outside (Glaspell 565)].
In this scene, the audience only knows about the canary because it is in the dialogue. There is no description of it lying in the box for the women to see, nor is there any explanation of the meaning it has until they discuss it. In conventional prose, the narration either first or third-person would describe the box and canary, and then show reaction through description. With only the brief stage notes, the actors must make everything clear through their performance.
At last this short story and play incorporates the mood of society at the time towards women, their social status viewed as beneath that of a male; while showing just how prominent a role comradery effects situation for women like Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. 1916 was a time near the peak of women’s suffrage as women all over the nation had begun to stand up against the prejudice and discriminatory ways of their male counterparts. For this reason, Susan Glaspell uses the title, Minnie Wright, and point of view to illustrate her points. The women and not the men gather the clues to the murder mystery, while additionally changing the odds in favor of Mrs. Wright’s innocence, showcasing the importance and significance of comradery during the 1900s between every day women. The women challenge the status of male dominance reigning supreme for everything.