The Broken Bird Cages In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

Was He Really Mr. Wright? In “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell, Mr. Wright has been found strangled in his sleep. Prime suspect? His wife, Mrs. Wright, previously known as Minnie Foster. Mr. Henderson sets out to find something that would show anger or “sudden feeling” that will reveal a motive for the murder and solve the case. But blinded by their sexist views, the men are unable to find evidence that leads them to the solution of the case. Although Mrs. Wright claims to have been asleep during her husband’s murder, the women conclude she strangled her husband, Mr. Wright, as evidenced by the broken bird cage, the slaughtered canary, and the errant quilt patch. The broken bird cage is a crucial clue to finding Mrs. Wright’s motive. The women discover that one hinge is broken and has been pulled apart. It “looks as if someone must have been- rough with it.” Pulling the hinge apart on the bird cage suggests that it was broken on purpose and …show more content…
Contrary to her usual neat sewing, Mrs. Wright was sewing so tightly that the fabric was contracting, and Mrs. Hale draws the threads as she pulls the knot. “All the rest of them had been so nice and even- but- this one. Why, it looks as if she didn’t know what she was about.” People that quilt are meticulous and do not just sew bad for no reason, the evidence suggest that Mrs. Wright has been extremely uneasy about something. The quilting was not just a little off, “the difference was startling” it was as if “the distracted thoughts of the woman who had perhaps turned to it to try and quiet herself were communicating themselves” to Mrs. Hale. Quilting is supposed to be a relaxing and calming thing, but whatever was inside of her was building up and making her extremely uneasy. It was so evident the Mrs. Hale was able to feel those emotions through the quilting. It suggest that something was bothering Minnie and it could have been Mr. Wright killing her