Susan Glaspell A Jury Of Her Peers

“A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell focuses on the role of women and how they are expected to behave in society. Glaspell, emphasizing her work on feminist ideas, explains “that men possess and that women are denied” (914). She stresses how women are treated and how they are forced to act under the circumstances. Glaspell illustrates how women are oppressed in society and how that impacts them. Glaspell show us how women are inferior to men and how it can push them over the edge. The way they are required to act is physically and emotionally draining. In this short story told in third person, Glaspell uses symbolism through characters and objects in the story to display the stereotypical role women play and how the way they are treated

overall removes their sense of self and individuality.
Characters are a significant symbol throughout the story. The main woman is known as Minnie or Mrs. Wright. Minnie is derived from minimized, which initially, describes her as small and fragile. Since the women are the only ones to refer her as Minnie, the men only consider her to be Mrs. Wright. The other two woman in the story are Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. The woman in the story take their husbands last names and have no other choice to go by. The author doesn’t give us their first names, symbolizing their husbands power over them. The women are referred only by their husbands last name creating a sense of ownership and authority of their wives. Mrs. Peter’s, the sheriff’s wife, is very impotent in her life. The county attorney stated, “For that matter, a sheriff’s wife is married to the law” (182). Glaspell explains the relationship between Mr. Hale and Mrs. Hale. Whatever decision Mr. Hale makes, automatically is Mrs. Hale’s decision as well. She is expected to follow any law, just like her husband. Their marriage is a symbol of his power not only in his dominant career, but in their relationship. She is described as essentially powerless in any situation.
The wooden chair symbolizes Minnie throughout her life and her relationship. The chair is described as “dingy red, with wooden rungs up the back, and the middle rung was gone, and the chair sagged to one side” (172). Mrs. Hale’s thought to herself was that the chair didn’t resemble Minnie in her younger years. She spoke about Mrs. Wright twenty-years ago, when she was just know as Minnie. She stated, “I wish you’d seen Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang” (181). Therefore, it undoubtedly only represented her life after her marriage. The chair had fallen to pieces, was worn out, and overused, just like Minnie in her relationship. The wooden chair represents her not just physically, but emotionally. She looked physically overworked and was emotionally torn and fed up. The power her husband, John, had over her resulted in abuse. One could only take so much neglect and sense of abandonment in their life. Mrs. Wright’s only role was to be a housewife and abide by John’s rules. Although Minnie used to be a lively, and cheerful girl, John took away her individuality. She no longer had any control over anything in her life, and the sight of who she was as a person had disappeared.
The canary and the birdcage are the most significant and major symbols in the story.

House birds are normally kept in a cage, which can cause them to feel enclosed and trapped. Mrs. Wright’s home, was her confined cage. The bird cage signifies Mrs. Wright’s perspective towards her married life. She was unable to escape the abusive relationship with John. Before her marriage, Mrs. Hale speaks 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” (179). The bird expresses Mrs. Wright faultlessly. It sang for her when she couldn’t, and kept that small piece of happiness inside her. It was the only companion she had to keep her sanity and block out the negativity John brought in her life. The bird filled her loneliness until John’s abuse took that away from her. There was no way for Mrs. Wright to escape the nightmare she was living in. The women distinctly remember her before her marriage and are shocked to discover how much it has reshaped her. John, incapable of loving and fulfilling her needs as his wife, killed the bird and killed Minnie’s personality. John dictated Minnie’s role as solely a women who cooks, cleans, and cares for him. When John killed the bird, he figuratively kills Minnie. The bird and the birdcage represent the role of women in society and how powerless they are to free themselves from the cage they live in. Women are like birds, while men are their

cages.
While the two women were observing the quilt Mrs. Wright had started, they stumbled upon a piece that “was so unlike all the rest of the sewing” (178). When Mrs. Hale began to fix the stitches, Mrs. Peter’s said, “Why, it looks as if she didn’t know what she was about” (178). The quilt illustrates Mrs. Wright’s life from beginning to end. The start of the quilt was perfect, how her life used to be. She had motives, goals, and most importantly her individuality. When she was just Minnie, she felt the beauty in life, like the beauty in her quilt. The end appeared chaotic and unlike Mrs. Wright’s sewing work. Towards the end of her life, she was at a loss and didn’t know herself at all. When she married Mr. Wright, he completely destroyed her personality and charm. Her few stitches “that’s not sewed very good” (178), defined her outlook on life. There was nothing she had to look forward to, nothing to love. Throughout her marriage, she became broken. His control over her stripped her away from herself.
“Trifles” are something with little value or importance. The men in the story accuse the women of over always worrying about the little things that don’t have any significance or that don’t matter. Mr. Hale says, “women are used to worrying over trifles” (174). Later finding out that the smallest details are the biggest clues, doesn’t just show their importance, but is very ironic. The men constantly underestimate and under appreciate the women’s success in this case. While the men in the story believe that they will be the ones to find the clues to solve this case, the woman separate themselves from the men for a reason. The men viewed them as inattentive and preoccupied by the little things in Mrs. Wright’s home that they assumed had no significance. In the end, all the little things the women found in Mrs. Wright’s home were the key clues to the truth. Although the men feel they are the dominant ones and the ones in control, it is the opposite. This demonstrates the men’s discrimination towards the women. They don’t even have the decency to give them a chance to unravel the mystery. Throughout the story, the men create distance from their wives, assuming that their discoveries wouldn’t even be downstairs near them. Not only do they create a physical distance between them to find clues, they create an emotional distance between man and woman. The women have the ability and skill to examine what they saw and successfully solve the case, when ironically, the men never even get to the bottom of it. It is the little things that are the most important, and that matter the most.
Mrs. Hale claimed that Mrs. Wright worried about her jars of fruit and how it could burst if the fire went out, and it became too cold. The only jar of fruit that was left, was a jar on cherries on the shelf. While the women worried about the fruit as well, Mr. Peter’s said, “I guess before we’re through with her she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about” (174). Her preserves symbolized her and how much she worried in life. Just like the jar, she stayed on the shelf her whole marriage. She has no where to escape to and no voice. Living on a farm, she was isolated and friendless. The one intact jar is the one secret she had, the murder of her husband. The women decide to keep that secret because they sympathize for her. All the hardship she has been through in her relationship justified her actions. The isolation and violence she felt caused the other jars to burst. The coldness of her marriage and how she felt in life, broke apart just like the jar of fruit. Mrs. Wright was held captive in a lifestyle that was unhealthy and most importantly, undeserved. The harmful relationship she was in resulted her outburst.
Glaspell did an exceptional job hiding the clues to solve the case without hiding Mrs.

Wright’s story. Without making Mrs. Wright present throughout the story, she still creates her thoughts and feelings through objects and others. It shows how Minnie and the other women live oppressed under the authority of men. This reflects how men treat women not only in the story, but society. Every women should have power in their life and especially in their relationship. A system that men dominate over women is not tolerated at all. Every woman should have their individuality and a man should never jeopardize that. Men and women should have equal roles and work together to create a life together. Although they may have different roles, it is both a man and a woman that complete each

other.