Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

Susan Glaspell wrote the play “Trifles” and she wrote a short story version of the play called “A Jury of Her Peers”. Susan Glaspell, in full Susan Keating Glaspell, (born July 1, 1876, Davenport, Iowa, U.S.—died July 27, 1948, Provincetown, Mass.), American dramatist and novelist who, with her husband, George Cram Cook, founded the influential Provincetown Players in 1915. Glaspell graduated in 1899 from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. In college she had published a few short stories in the Youth’s Companion and had worked as college correspondent for a local newspaper, and on graduating she became a reporter for the Des Moines Daily News. In 1901 she returned to her native Davenport to devote herself to writing; her stories, mainly

The play can’t be as descriptive, but it does give the audience a visual representation of what is going on. “His neck. Choked the life out of him.” (566). The play gives a more visual representation of the dead bird. The description is based off what the actors are saying for the most part. “[Rubbing his hands]: “This feels good. Come up to the fire, ladies.” (558). Giving less information is the normal for a play. Sight is needed to see the exact positioning of the cast. However, the short story gives good descriptions but is not able to show visuals of what the story is describing. “Look at it! Its neck, look at its neck! Its all, other side to.” (578). The bird has its neck broken by something and they start to believe that the cat did it, but the cat couldn’t simply break the bird’s neck. Though it can’t give visuals due to it being a short story it makes up for it by being able to describe the incident farther. “The women stood close together by the door. Young Henderson, the county attorney, turned around and said, “Come up to the fire, ladies.” (568). Short stories can give farther description as to where the characters are situated in the house. Though the reader cannot see where the characters are they can visualize in their mind everything about the story. Visualizing what is being read helps the story come to life and normally aids in a person’s ability to be entertained by the

Mrs. Hale feels the same way in both the play and the short story. “I stayed away because it weren’t cheerful.” (577). Mrs. Hale says the same thing in both versions as well as did the other characters. Though the characters are transferred from play to short story the dialogue remains the same. Glaspell made sure to make the character the same even when transferring from play to short story. Many times, characters are changed when being transferred from one format to another. The changes are normally very small when transferred from play to short story or short story to play. Though they say the same thing they both have their own way of showing the emotion behind the words. The play allows for people to be able to hear the actors’ voices and tones. The short story gives more description allowing the audience to make the voices in their heads. “I wish you’d seen Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stoop up there in the choir and sang.” (566). Description of the girl in the dress is much better in the short story than the play. “The picture of that girl, the fact that she had lived neighbor to that girl for twenty years, and had let her die for lack of life, was suddenly more than she could bear.” (579). Mrs. Hale is showing how she is showing remorse after the years of not coming to visit with the girl. The play is not able to