Women In Susan Glaspell's The Jury Of Her Peers

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In The Jury of Her Peers, a woman's identity in the early 20th century centers around her housekeeping, cooking, sewing, and, thanks to men's constant belittling, little else. The story begins with Mr. and Mrs. Hale, Mr. and Mrs. Peters, and the county attorney entering and searching the Wrights' house. Mrs. Wright is suspected of killing her husband, and while the men are uncovering evidence of the crime, the women fetch Mrs. Wright some clothes to bring to her in jail. As the county attorney searches the kitchen, he is surprised when "he turn[s] to wipe them [his hands] on the roller towel—whirl[ing] it for a cleaner place. "Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?" (Glaspell 8). The county attorney clearly expects …show more content…
Wright to be concerned with the state of her preserves, as cooking meals is a central part of a woman's role in a household. Yet Mr. Peters finds it amusing how men cannot understand "women! Held for murder, and worrying about her preserves!" (8). Mr. Hale, however, justifies Mrs. Wright's stress because “women are used to worrying over trifles” (8) and are unable to handle serious subjects like murder. Finally, while the men are upstairs, they leave the women in charge of gathering Mrs. Wrights' clothes and finding "clue[s] if they did come upon" any (10). Soon Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discover "a large sewing basket piled high with quilt pieces" (14). Mrs. Wright obviously was beginning to sew a blanket. The two women question out loud if she was going to quilt or knot the pieces together, when suddenly the men stumble in on their conversation. The men thought the women were taking the task of finding clues seriously, until overhearing "they [were] wonder[ing] whether she [Mrs. Peters] was going to knot it or quit it” instead (14). "There was a laugh for the ways of woman," Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Wright, included, and their constant attention to household chores

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