...treatment in their literature works. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, a woman is informed that her husband has passed away from an accident. At the arrival of this news, the wife is in grief, but shortly afterwards, she is beyond jubilant that her husband passed away. In the short story, “Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell, two women find multiple pieces of evidence against a woman who killed her husband, which are viewed as trifles by the men. The men in “Jury of Her Peers” guffaw at the women several times throughout this story. Both authors of these two short stories use these literature works to enlighten their audience...
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...power over her life from her husband. Susan Glaspell also exposes these values throughout “A Jury of Her Peers.” Glaspell’s short story illustrates husbands suppressing intelligent women women being suppressed by their husbands resulting in these women who develop an increased desire to regain control over their own lives....
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...is different for many people. Some prefer action, others scenic narratives, and some even the gory details. Though, for the people such as myself, what makes a story compelling is the symbols. “Jury of Her Peers”, a short story written by Susan Glaspell which is based off of her editorial piece, “The Hossack Murder”, contains numerous symbols throughout the pages. Such symbols include the canary and, of course, the broken fruit jars. These symbols are what make this short story a compelling fictional recreation of a real event. The symbol of the canary is likely the most dominant symbol in the short story. It would sing and sing and then it stopped once it was murdered. The poor canary was the only thing...
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...Recognizing symbols while reading literature is important. What is symbolism? A word, object, or person that means something in addition to itself. Susan Glaspell used a lot of symbolism in her story A Jury of Her Peers. A few of the symbols are the basket, the bird, and the birdcage. All of the symbols affect our reading of the story as well as the characters in the story. The basket represents the Wright’s house and clue of murder weapon. The basket was the place where the investigators found the dead bird as well as the house was the place where the investigators found the body of Mr. Wright. The basket represents the evidence of the murders. “They turning to the sewing basket’’(p.564) ’’There’s something wrapped up in this piece of silk.” (p.565) The basket was a clue to the murder weapon, because the women found out about the quilt pieces. The women found Mrs. Wright was good with knotting rope together which is the weapon that was used to kill Mr. Wright. “We think, that she was going to knot it.” (p.565)...
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...difference between finishing a story or abandoning it. Susan Glaspell in her story “A Jury of Her Peers” succeeds in crafting memorable characters. But who is truly the main character in the story? Martha Hale is the main character in “A Jury of Her Peers” due to her verisimilitude, the narration in the story, and her dynamic nature. The verisimilitude of Martha Hale deepens her characterization and makes her believable enough to be presented as the main character. Verisimilitude is the idea that “characters in fiction should be true to life” in order to create a realistic and believable story (166). The main character of any story should be grounded firmly in verisimilitude to to ground them in readers imaginations. If a reader cannot imagine a character as believable, the purpose of the story becomes ineffectual. Martha Hale possess verisimilitude, which makes her interesting and authentic to readers. In...
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...The short story “A Jury of Her Peers” revolves around Minnie wright, she is the main focus of a murder investigation. The story shifts views to two women, Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Hale who are internally struggling to decide their verdict on Minnie as well as deciding her faith. Throughout the story, the reader gets a glimpse of the struggle women face living in a world controlled by men. Susan Glaspell uses the symbolism of the trifles, dead bird, and the quilt to develop the theme of gender role throughout the Short story. Before the twentieth century, there were many stereotypical roles assigned to men and women. The men were seen as the head of the household so they would go out into the world and work in order to support their family. On the other hand, women would stay at home cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children. In the short story “A Jury of Her Peers” the men viewed the women as facetious and incompetent from beginning to end. They would patronize the women by stating remarks like “women are used to worrying over trifles” (Glaspell...
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...she doesn't know that she won't be going back to her house. The third and final example of irony is when an old lady gives the little boy Davey a rock to throw at his own mother and the little boy doesn't even understand what is going on, they are teaching him about what to do before he is old enough to fully understand what is happening. There was a lot of irony in the story, but the irony is what gave the story it’s meaning. Second, in Ray Bradbury's “All Summer in a Day” many occurrences of irony are in this story. The first example of irony is that the person who wanted to see the sun the most did not get to see it and the kids who didn't believe that the sun would come out did get to see it. The second example of...
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...attachment for the reader or it can cause the reader to be more of an impartial, third party observer. Proof of this is evident in a comparison of Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” and her “A Jury of Her Peers.” The first is written as a play and as such the reader’s perspective is that of a third party watching the events unfold. “A Jury of Her Peers” is written as a short story and gives the reader the perspective of Martha Hale, one of the main characters. This change gives the story a whole new dynamic for the reader and causes more emotional involvement of the reader even though the two versions deal with the same subject matter and the same moral and ethical problems. The differing perspectives affect the reader from the very start of each piece. The play opens with a paragraph that sets the scene of the farmhouse, introduces the characters by name, and then jumps into dialogue between them. “A Jury of Her Peers”, however, begins with only Martha Hale and immediately gives the reader some insight into her mind and personality, “What her eye took in was that her kitchen was in no shape for leaving” (Glaspell). This lets the reader relate to Mrs. Hale in a more personal way that simply being introduced by name doesn’t. Being able to see through Mrs. Hale’s eyes and get into her mind then allows the reader to get more of a sense of her self-inflicted guilt as she thinks about all the opportunites she had to visit Mrs. Wright, but didn’t. The reader also gets this sense in...
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...“The Story of an Hour” and “A Jury of her Peers” In the “Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin, a renowned feminist author of the 19th century and “A Jury of her peers” by Susan Glaspell outline views of marriage as an undeserving institution for women. Chopin goes ahead to depict an unusual idea that married women get to enjoy the free world and experience happiness with the passing on of their husbands. Louise’s husband, Mallard is a fairly caring man for as the author states; his wife had loved him- sometimes. She must have failed to love him sometimes since he had been a bully to her, a real chauvinist. Such judgments about Mallard can be drawn from the context of the story based on the fact that he, like Mr. Wright in Susan Glaspell’s “A jury of her peers”, was a controlling man to his wife. As Louise suffers from heart disease, her sister Josephine delivers to her the message of her husband’s death with great care, “in broken sentences”, with his husband’s friend Richard near her. This information is verified by the fact that Richard had been in the newspaper office at the time, which the names of the train accident’s victims were released, and Brently Mallard’s name was among them, in fact, it was on top of the list. This information was additionally verified by a second telegram to the office. Louise wept briefly in the presence of her sister and Richard then isolated herself in her room. There, details relating to nature like quivering trees, twittering sparrows and the...
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...course of time, women have played various roles in politics and literature often mirroring the circumstances of the age and time they lived in. A few people dared go against the norm and Susan Glaspell was one of them. Set in an age where women were considered inferior to men, her stories usually challenged that perception, often having a female heroine or displaying with remarkable subtlety the necessity of a woman’s insight. In Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers,” because Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters look at the state of the Wright house, the dead canary, and Mr. Wright’s behavior from a different perspective from their trained husbands, they come to a quicker and more accurate understanding of the events leading up to the murder. Almost as soon as they step into the Wright home, it is obvious Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are not going see things the same way their husbands do. Straightaway, the women draw different conclusions from the state of the house than the men. The women observe the unusual state of general disarray the house is in, noting the unwashed kitchen utensils and the dirty towels. So while the men make jokes about Mrs. Wright’s skills as a housekeeper, the women deduce that there must be a reason for the general state of disarray because it is odd for a woman to leave her home in that state. This is also why they make excuses about the state of the house to their husbands. For instance Mrs. Hale says: “There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm . ...
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...Trifles by Susan Glaspell Name: Course: Professor: Institution: Trifles by Susan Glaspell Trifles, is a play which was written by Susan Glaspell in 1916. It reveals the writer’s concern with issues related to culture thinking and notions of gender and sexual roles. The title itself depicts that the apprehensions of women are in many times considered as simple trivialities that their issues are insignificant to the society. Susan Glaspell wrote the play to exhibit the male supposition that the views of the female are irrelevant in a male subjugated culture. The play invites the reader to question the relative value of men and women perception in the society, this is achieved by setting up a tension packed play that develops through the advancement of two different and separate narratives, a male and a female (Clarkson, 2003). This research paper seeks to discuss and analyze the play. The setting of the play is back in the early twentieth century during a cold weather in a rural area. This helps the reader to identify with a real life area with real people. The setting establishes a miserable and thoughtful mood. The author describes the condition of the house as an abandoned farmhouse that had a gloomy kitchen and that was untidy. This creates a response of emotional trauma which is as a result of the theme of loneliness in the landscape. The characters of the play are: the county attorney George Henderson who is a young and arrogant individual. He has a good reputation...
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...Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” provokes a contemplation on the differences between men and women through the examination of a murder scene. The story begins with an interview of the people who first found the body of Mr. Wright, and the social rift between men and women becomes more evident as the men scrutinize the state of the kitchen. The men then leave to examine the rest of the property as the women busy themselves with gathering the requested items of Minnie Wright. While doing so the women discover the motive for the murder, and they decide to keep the evidence to themselves. Because of Glaspell’s choice of point of view the readers are able to see the importance of the difference between men and women. To begin, the women’s thoughts and actions allow the readers to gain insight on what happened in the house while the men are dismissive towards the details that could allow them to discover the cause of the murder. The women’s perspective allows the readers to see that the housework seemed to be interrupted instead of it being neglected. The county attorney states, “Dirty towels! Not much of housekeeper, would you say ladies?” by...
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...Men’s Pride Leads to Downfall in Glaspell’s “Trifles” “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles,” says Mr. Hale in Susan Glaspell’s play, “Trifles.” While demeaning women and their concerns is criticized as sexist in the twenty-first century, mere decades ago people accepted sexism as common and even warranted. Since the male-dominated society considered women’s tasks less important than men’s, men treated women with a lack of consideration. In the 20th century drama “Trifles,” Glaspell challenges the suppression in effect during her lifetime, basing the play on a series of news stories she wrote about the real-life court case of a woman prosecuted for murdering her husband. In “Trifles,” Glaspell uses symbolism to show that male sexism causes a lack of empathy which leads to men’s failures as much as it does women’s. From the first scene to the final line, Glaspell uses spatial symbolism to reason her case about the detrimental effects of men’s stereotypes of women. According to the stage direction, the initially timid female characters, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters “...come in slowly, and stand close together near the door,” clearly displaying a reluctance to enter a widow’s empty home. However, as Mr. Hale, the sheriff and the county attorney “go at once to the stove,” they discuss what happened the previous day. When Mr. Hale had first knocked on the door to request Mr. Wright’s help, he tentatively entered when he thought he heard “come in”; now that Mr. Wright is gone...
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...1800’s Women in the 1800’s were often not taken as seriously as their male counterparts were. Women were limited by pre-existing societal boundaries that had been put in place many years before they were born. This is prevalent in both “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen and in “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell. In these works, the women are expected to act and behave in certain ways based on how society thinks they should and the men openly express their opinions on what the women are worried with and what they should be doing. Women in this time period were expected to do things in a certain way or speak and act a certain way just because of their gender. Because of this women had certain roles in their homes. Nora for instance, was pretty limited to what she could do because she was a woman. She would have to follow everything that her husband Torvald told her to do. When Torvald would suspect Nora of not listening she would exclaim, “I should not think of going against your wishes,” (Ibsen 231).This proves just how compliant Nora, and most women, were to their husbands. She wasn’t even allowed to borrow money from anyone unless her husband gave permission. “No, a wife cannot borrow without her husband’s consent,” (Ibsen 236). Men controlled everything the women did and to go behind their back and do something on their own was considered betrayal. Women also didn’t work a lot in this time period. Most wives would just take care of their homes or cook for their families...
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...Time is a term that is closely associated with change. Nothing remains the same over time. Progress and regress are presented in every aspect of life. Literature illustrates this on several occasions. This may be exemplified by observing Trifles by Susan Glaspell. Trifles illustrates adverse identifications of women in earlier Americana that correlate to the identity women maintain in our current society. Male dominance is one of the central themes displayed throughout the play. The women identified in Trifles have modest voices compared to their male counterparts. This causes numerous opportunities for male dominance from the beginning to the end of the play. Their opinions are blatantly disregarded. An instance of male dominance may be illustrated by the interaction between Mr. Henderson and Mrs. Hale. Mr. Henderson requests information regarding Mrs. Hale's relationship with the Wrights. Once Mrs. Hale begins to provide details regarding the Wrights' lifestyle, Mr. Henderson stops her mid-sentence and demands a brief answer. Another instance of male dominance is displayed when men brought attention to the women's handy work. When Mrs. Wright constructed a quilt, the men basically made fun of the women's craft. This is illustrated by the lines that state, “Mrs. Hale: It’s log cabin pattern. Pretty, isn’t it? I wonder if she was goin’ to quilt or just knot it? Sherrif: They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it. (the men laugh, the women look abashed).” (Glaspell)...
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