A jury of her peers plot summary. A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell 2022-11-02

A jury of her peers plot summary Rating: 6,2/10 241 reviews

"A Jury of Her Peers" is a short story written by Susan Glaspell that was first published in 1917. It is a mystery story that revolves around the investigation of a murder case involving a farm wife named Minnie Wright.

The story begins with the arrival of two men, the sheriff and the county attorney, at the Wright farmhouse. They are accompanied by two women, Minnie's neighbor Mrs. Peters and the county attorney's wife, Mrs. Hale. The men are there to investigate the murder of John Wright, Minnie's husband, who was found strangled in his bed the previous night.

As the men search the house for clues, the women begin to notice things that the men do not. They notice that Minnie's kitchen is very untidy, with dirty dishes and a cluttered stove. Mrs. Hale also notices that Minnie's rocking chair is broken and that there are patches on her apron. These observations lead the women to conclude that Minnie must have been under a lot of stress and that something must have happened to cause her to snap and kill her husband.

The men, however, do not seem to understand the significance of these clues. They are more focused on finding physical evidence, such as a weapon or fingerprints, and they do not consider the emotional state of the suspect.

As the women continue to observe and speculate, they discover a small box hidden in the pantry. Inside the box, they find a jar of preserves that has been opened and then sewn shut with a needle and thread. Mrs. Peters recognizes the needle as one that Minnie used to mend her quilts, and this leads the women to believe that Minnie used the needle to strangle her husband.

Despite this discovery, the men still do not seem to understand the true meaning of the clues. It is only when Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale confront Minnie directly and ask her about the preserve jar that she finally confesses to killing her husband. She tells them that her husband had been controlling and abusive towards her, and that she killed him in self-defense after he threatened to kill her.

In the end, it is the women, not the men, who are able to piece together the events leading up to the murder and understand the motivations behind it. They serve as a "jury of her peers" and are able to see the crime from Minnie's perspective, rather than simply looking for physical evidence. As a result, they are able to uncover the truth and bring justice to the case.

A Jury of Her Peers Study Guide

a jury of her peers plot summary

Eventually, the reader begins to catch glimpses of what is going on behind the scenes. Hossack claimed not to have seen the murderer. In other ways, though, this book felt extremely current and very relevant, the relationship between Sybylla and her father was honestly touching, and the batshit hypno-evil I would never have picked up this book if I hadn't read and loved other of Hanff Korelitz's more recent novels. Tight plotting, well done overall. Hale knew Minnie Wright as a young woman, but she has been caught up in her own busy life, and has not made the effort to visit Minnie in the past twenty years.

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What point of view is A Jury of Her Peers?

a jury of her peers plot summary

It just started to get a bit slow for me. But then it veered into science-fiction of a sort a very bad sort in support of an extremely implausible Ruthless-Mad-Scientist-Seeking-World-Domination plot. The main character mismanages physical evidence, is a Yale-educated lawyer, but doesn't know Eumenides, and then turns into an action-adventure hero at the end to save the American justice system. The women are expected to keep the house up perfectly and are simultaneously derided for taking pride or interest in their work. This international event threw many accepted social traditions into chaos. Wright to murder her husband. But the women know that most homemakers are conscientious and that dirty towels and dishes may be symptoms of an unsettled or disrupted mind.


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A Jury of Her Peers Analysis

a jury of her peers plot summary

The men believe that she did it, but Henderson wants them to find evidence that gives a motive. Hale was friends with Mrs. I'm not referring to the stupid things a lot of us very intelligent women sometimes do, but mind-boggling stupid, life threatening stupid. Lawyers flirting over their ACLU cards, said no one ever. The first third of this book is the strongest - the author has introduced us to an intriguing protagonist and set up a mysterious crime. The women discuss the odd murder: strangulation by rope.

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"Omnibus" A Jury of Her Peers (TV Episode 1953)

a jury of her peers plot summary

Martha Hale is established as the protagonist of the story from the first few paragraphs. The story A Jury of Her Peers was inspired by a case Glaspell covered as a young journalist: the 1900 murder of John Hossack. Wright and his wife Minnie Wright. Hale Speaks with Mrs. Cite this page as follows: "A Jury of Her Peers - Bibliography" Masterpieces of American Literature Ed.

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The Subjugation of Women Theme in A Jury of Her Peers

a jury of her peers plot summary

The characters here are mostly black or white. Also, Hale was the first to know about the unnatural death of John Wright. It appeared miserable, without any charm or happiness. The sexism of the setting and time period is also established. Overall, the place lacked in calm and peace. What is the story A Jury of Her Peers about? She is able to remember feeling like she wanted to hurt the boy. The men return, and Martha hides the box.

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What is the plot of "A Jury of Her Peers"?

a jury of her peers plot summary

Over the course of the story, though, the women are able to acknowledge their situation to themselves and to each other. Peters in terms of how she thinks a sheriff and his wife ought to look. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. Hale feels terrible about not reaching out to Mrs. Hale as it always does: an isolated, lonely place set in a hollow out of sight of the road. As she searches the cupboard for packing materials for the clothes for Minnie Wright, Mrs.


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Plot and Structure

a jury of her peers plot summary

They get a couple more minutes alone, and Mrs. The door of the cage is broken, as if it was pulled apart. To their shock and horror, they open it to see a dead canary wrapped inside a small piece of silk. Wright wrung the bird's neck, silencing the house. The bird is also symbolic. I liked the characters, I loved the back and forth arguments on both sides of the issues, I liked the writing style, everything.


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A Jury of Her Peers Short Summary

a jury of her peers plot summary

Wright who strangled him, she says that she does not know because she is a heavy sleeper. Its neck-look at its neck! Sybylla Muldoon, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society, is the main protagonist. Hale is rushed out of her kitchen on a cold, blustery day to accompany her husband, Sheriff Peters, Mrs. But the story was just silly. Yet, very early in the book, she takes what might be evidence in a case without creating any paper trail, wanders around with it, and hands it off If I weren't an attorney, I suspect I might have liked this book better. To view it, I tried this because I really liked You Should Have Known. The physical differences between Mr.

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A Jury of Her Peers Summary

a jury of her peers plot summary

Peters discover that Mrs. With all due respect, I cannot understand why she insists on writing thrillers other than they sell - she is kind of terrible at it. But what if it is done as a counter-act to defend oneself from withering away, and to pause the acute oppression that is wrecked incessantly. It is especially satisfying when I luck into a book at the library used book sale for 50 cents by an author I do not know that has a good female protagonist and a plot that holds out all the way to the last of the book. It only falters in the latter half when too much explaining of the mystery bogs down the reader.

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