Jury Of Her Peers Theme

“A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell is mid-twenty century short story concerning themes of patriarchy, gender inequality and crime. The story centers on a murder investigation of a farmer named John, who is the husband of the woman accused of the murder, Mrs. Wright. The problem in the story rises when the county attorney, the sheriff, together with John’s neighbor and their wives visit the scene and the women find two important clues that can supply the motive against Mrs. Wright, and choose to withhold it. Withholding evidence is problematic in many ways: it is illegal, untruthful, and considered a crime. But the illegal acts of the women are the least problematic faults in the story. In the story’s societal context, the men’s oppression

Hale]” (18). They feel empathy with Minnie in how her husband has restrained her because they experience the same restraint themselves. The empathy they feel leads them to resist and stand in solidarity with Minnie. Once the men get to the kitchen and start criticizing Minnie’s kitchen things, Martha immediately starts defending her: “Those towels get dirty awful quick. Men’s hands aren’t always as clean as they might be [said Martha]”(7). Women in the story are not passive towards the oppression, but they resist by covering Minnie’s erratic stitching and taking the strangled canary, two important evidence that could supply the motive against Minnie. The women think it is unfair how the men go to Minnie’s house to criticize and find evidence against her, when Minnie has worked hard in the farm and in her house throughout her 20 year-long marriage. Women are treated unfairly in society, and once they stand for each other as women, and defend themselves, men continue to disrespect them: “‘Ah, loyal to your sex, I see’, he laughed” (7). Although the men see the women’s acts as loyalty to their own sex, for the women it is more than just being loyal. It is about

Hale]… neither of the [women] spoke”(6). This time that the women are working together, their silence does not mean defeat but means resistance against oppression. Men laugh at the women’s weaknesses, in this case, their perceived inability to find a clue: “But would women know a clue if they did come upon it? [said Mr. Hale]”(8). The fact that the men think of their wives as incapable of finding a clue gives the women a step ahead and the opportunity to act undercover to achieve justice. The women understand that losing, in this case, as being seen as less intelligent, is winning, by being able to deceive the men and achieve justice without the men discovering. Men’s condescending attitude makes them blind towards the women’s capabilities: “‘Did you want to see what Mrs. Peters was going to take in?’[said the county attorney]. The county attorney picked up the apron. He [the sheriff] laughed” (19). Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters fool the men and find themselves in an advantage by the men thinking they only worry about insignificant things such as “kitchen things” (6). The story demonstrates that the fact that men think women are dumb does not make the women less capable but only puts men at a disadvantage. Glaspell shows how women are intelligent to secretly and silently move around to achieve fairness without having the men figuring out.