Men Vs. Women's Perception: The Gender Divide in "A Jury of Her Peers"

Introduction

A lot of essays highlight the theme of men vs women in different ways. Here we will explore this theme through 'A Jury of Her Peers' by Susan Glaspell. The short story 'A Jury of Her Peers' shows the clear divide in perception of the roles of men vs. women during the early 1900s, and how women were belittled and underestimated by men. The author, Susan Glaspell, sheds light on the difficulties faced by women during that time period and how men didn’t see women as equals, as evidenced by the sexism towards the women in the story.

Men Vs women during the early 1900s

It is easy to see the sexism in Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers”. In this 1917 short story, based on an actual case of a woman who killed her husband with an axe, the men belittled the two women. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters accompanied their husbands to the crime scene. The men deemed the women incapable of helping to solve the case. Though it was the women, whom paid attention to the small details and had an understanding the woman’s experience, who discovered that Minnie Foster, the wife, was guilty of murdering her husband. She had murdered him because he had been mistreating her. When learning this information, the two women decide to help conceal the evidence so that Minnie would be found innocent. If the men were to find the evidence they would find Minnie guilty and shame her. The men would never believe that the husband had been abusive towards his wife.

The “A Jury of Her Peers” Author Susan Glaspell, born in 1876 in Davenport, Iowa, grew up in a community that did not believe in women’s right to education and employment. Glaspell had rejected these ideas and attended college at Drake University, where she excelled among a primarily male student body. After graduating, Glaspell took a position at Des Moines Daily News as a journalist. Through this job, she covered the 1900 historical case of the unsolved murder of John Hossack. This case inspired her to write a one-act play called The “Trifles”, which became the short story “A Jury of Her Peers”. ( Champlin, Nikola. 'A Jury of Her Peers.' LitCharts. )

Susan Glaspell does a wonderful job of telling the story through the characters of Minnie Foster Wright, the wife of John Wright, and Mrs. Hale, who describes Minnie as a vivacious and happy young woman whose voice could be heard among the choir. After marrying John Wright, a man described as a good man because he never drank and always kept his word, Minnie transformed into an entirely different person. Instead of being vivacious and happy, she became quiet, sad, and lonely and she didn’t seem to be happy in her marriage. When her husband was discovered murdered, she became the prime suspect. She was held in a jail cell as the two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters found clues to prove that Minnie had indeed killed her husband. Then they discovered a bird that had been strangled similarly to how Mr. Wright had been killed. The two women remembered that the little bird was a pet kept by Mrs.Wright and was one of the only things that brought her happiness. She hadn’t seemed happy in her marriage, but was always happy with the little bird. Then it was clear to the two women that Mr.Wright was actually a very cruel, severe, and miserable man. Mrs. Hale describes to Mrs. Peters that Mr. Wright was “ a hard man”. In order to pass the time of day with him, as she shivered, she said he was like “a raw wind that gets to the bone.” (Mrs. Hale 19) The two women figured out that it was Mr.Wright who killed the bird, the one thing that made his wife happy, by cruelly taking it away from her. The women seen this as the motive for why Minnie had murdered her husband, she had obviously grown tired of how he treated her.

The story also shows how the male characters are sexist towards the women, as they constantly make remarks towards the women. When Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters felt bad from the sight of Minnie’s fruit in a mess, the men made snide remarks. Mr. Peters had even broken out into a laugh and said “Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder, and worrying about her preserves!” ( Mr. Peters 4 ) Mr.Hale with ‘good-natured superiority’ remarks back “ oh well, women are used to worrying over trifles.” (Mr. Hale 4 ) When it came time for group to search for clues to explain the motive for the murder, Mr. Henderson entrusted the women to look for clues in the kitchen, while the men headed up to the bedroom. Mr. Hale then rubbed his face in the fashion of a showman getting ready for a pleasantry, and said “ but would the women know a clue if they did come upon it?” (Mr. Hale 5) Throughout the story the men are always making snide remarks about certain things the women do and mock about how women always pay attention to little details. They made fun of how the women were sympathizing for a woman who killed her husband. The women, however, understood what Minnie was going through and felt bad that her hard work around the house was ruined.

It is obvious to see that Glaspell’s “A Jury of her Peers”, written in 1917, represents patterns and symbols to help the audience understand the difficulty of life for women during that time period and how men didn’t see women as equals. Men didn’t believe that women deserved to have an education or that women deserve credit for the hard work they performed. It was just the women’s place to raise the children and do the housework. “A Jury of Her Peers” shows how the male characters treat the female characters and how the two women decide to help conceal the evidence showing the motive of why Minnie had killed her husband. The women decided to stick up for a fellow woman, whom they sympathized with, after understanding her motive for killing her husband was the fact he didn’t treat Minnie very nice at all.

At the closing of “A Jury of Her Peers,” Minnie Wright was deemed innocent by the court. Although she was indeed responsible for her husband’s murder, the two women believed the crime was justified since Mr. Wright was a terrible man and had killed Minnie’s bird, the one thing that made her happy. She was so tired of the abuse she killed him.

Conclusion

Susan Glaspell changed some information from the original murder case, such as the way Mr. Wright was murdered by strangulation, instead of an ax, but she helped the audience have an understanding of the different social issues going on during that time period. Women were treated very differently than they are today. Men didn’t believe that women had intelligence beyond taking care of children and keeping house. This story demonstrates that women were able to out smart the men and keep the evidence of the motive and crime hidden so that Minnie was set free and the mystery of the crime was never solved.