"Jury of Her Peers" -Question 2

"Jury of Her Peers"

by Susan Glaspell

The prevailing theme or motif in this story is that of gender.  There is a clear separation between the role and position of males compared to that of females.  This ties in to the title of the work- "A Jury of Her Peers."  Mrs. Hart and Mrs. Peters are Mrs. Wright's peers not only because they are are females, but also because they understand her and are similar to her in other ways.  One of the ways that we see the women portrayed as peers is when Mrs. Hale stands up for Minnie and the state of her house.  The men criticize the dishes, the towels and the cleanliness of the house.  Martha retorts that farm work is hard, and men's hands get very dirty fast.  The attorney responds to Martha's defenses by saying that she is "loyal to her sex."  Martha further compares herself to Minnie, saying, "I'd hate to have men comin' into my kitchen, snoopin' round and criticizen' " (Glaspell, 414).  After the women find the bird with the broken neck, Mrs. Peters even says that when a boy hurt her cat, she would have hurt him if someone hadn't held her back (Glaspell, 422).
The men come back downstairs and are almost finished investigating.  "Then Martha Hale's eyes pointed the way to the basket in which was hidden the thing that would make certain the conviction of the other women..." (Glaspell, 425).  Mrs. Wright is referred to as the other women, including her in the group with Martha and Mrs. Peters- women coming together.  There seems to be a silent agreement between the two women that the bird must be hidden, the men cannot find the evidence.  Mrs. Wright's crimes are judged by a "jury of her peers" and she is deemed innocent, as shown by both Mrs. Peters and Martha's actions to hide the damning evidence.  The men would not have judged Mrs. Wright so kindly.