FREE ESSAY ON JURY OF HER PEERS

JURY OF HER PEERS

How Gender Roles Affect "A Jury of Her Peers"
Since the time when Eve set herself apart from Adam by consuming the forbidden fruit,
there always has been vast differences in the way men and women conduct themselves. These
differences are very common among sexes, and are also easy to distinguish. For instance,
more women tend to cry in sad movies than men do. This is because women are more
emotional than men and can often express their feelings easier. But probably the most
popular difference between men and women would be how women have the ability to go
shopping for an entire day whereas men will leave after they get what they want. These
differences between men and women are constantly being portrayed in the media, and
moreover literature. The piece of literature I will discuss is Susan Glaspell's A Jury of
Her Peers, where Glaspell exemplifies the differences between men and women as they
conduct their investigation of the murder of Mr. Wright. 
From the beginning of the investigation, the men and women had vast differences in the
way they went about looking for substantial evidence. For instance, the men approached
the house with confidence and seemed to feel indifferent towards the situation even
though the murder victim was a close acquaintance. But the women approached the house
with caution and hesitation. Mrs. Martha Hale's first thought as she encountered the
crime scene was how in the past she thought, I ought to go over and see Minnie Foster.
Martha regretted the fact that she never visited her long time friend except when it was
too late. Also, when the county attorney asked Mr. Hale what happened the day before,
Mrs. Hale was worried that he would add unnecessary comments and make things harder on
Minnie Foster. This indicates that #Martha Hale immediately sympathized with Minnie
Foster although she had done something as wrong as killing. Instead of acknowledging the
fact that Minnie Foster committed murder, she looks past this and inquires what could
possibly induce her to do so. Relevant to this go back to the idea that she wished she
would've visited Minnie earlier. Martha Hale assumed that loneliness was a big factor
which drove Minnie to do such a thing. Next, the attorney being a male, functioned as a
robot would; he had no feelings towards what happened. Right after Mr. Hale told his
version of what happened, the attorney continued with, I guess we'll go upstairs
first-then out to the barn and around there. The attorney didn't express any sympathy
whatsoever, but was more concerned with getting on with the investigation. When the
attorney found a mess of Minnie Foster's preserved fruit, Mrs. Hale replied with, Oh-her
fruit, and explained how Minnie was worried that the jars of her preserves might burst.
On the other hand, Mr. Peters returned the statement with Well, can you beat the woman!
Held for murder, and worrying about her preserves! But what separated the men from the
women was when the sheriff decided that there was nothing but kitchen things in the
kitchen which lead them upstairs in search for evidence. 
As the men moved upstairs, there were a number of significant differences in the way the
men and women conducted the investigation. First of all, the men went upstairs and the
women remained in the kitchen both in hopes of finding convicting evidence. The men,
being more logical went straight to the crime scene, yet the women were more concerned
with Minnie Foster's whereabouts and what she was doing around the time of the murder.
Besides this, the women are more careful with everything and take the time to examine
things thoroughly unlike the men who seem to rush things until they find what they want.
For instance, Mrs. Hale noticed that the bag of sugar in the kitchen was half full, and
remembered #in her own home how she left the flour half sifted because she was
interrupted. In result, Mrs. Hale concluded with the fact that Minnie Foster was
interrupted for some reason and began to wonder what it was. Furthermore, when Mrs.
Peters went to retrieve Minnie's clothes they examined how shabby it appeared and figured
that when you look good, you feel good and that Minnie was not as happy as she used to
be. Another example of the women's ways of careful observation is when Mrs. Peters found
a quilt Minnie Foster began and wondered whether or not she quilted it or knotted it.
Most men wouldn't look so far as to ask how the quilt was made, yet the women were
possessed by its beauty. In fact, the men laughed at the women for inquiring such a
thing. Not only did they wonder how it was constructed, but they discovered that at first
the quilt was stitched fine and evenly, however one block was stitched quite differently.
In the time that the women discovered all this information which could lead to
conviction, the men were finished upstairs and did not find any sufficient evidence. 
While the men moved outside to the barn area, the women were still inside the kitchen
looking for evidence. Although the women were searching for convicting evidence, they
also planned to hide it. One example of this occurred when Mrs. Hale patched up the quilt
that was blemished by repairing a few stitches. As the story reaches its' climax, the
women find the dead bird wrapped up in Minnie Foster's sewing box. Moreover, the bird was
not just killed, but it was tortured by having its neck wrung. The women hid this crucial
evidence from the men because they could relate to how Minnie Foster must have felt at
the time. Mrs. Peters said, I know what stillness is, When we homesteaded in Dakota, and
my first baby died-after he was two years old -and me with no other then-. Obviously, she
could put herself in Minnie Foster's position and empathize with how she felt being so
alone. Living in a house isolated down a long road, and being at home alone while her
husband worked can drive a woman to insanity. Not to mention, her treasured pet bird was
killed heartlessly by her husband. In the women's eyes, Minnie Foster has a good reason
to kill her husband and they felt the right thing to do was to disguise the evidence
which could convict her. It is amazing how the women found the convicting evidence and
also discovered why Minnie Foster committed the crime. The men on the other hand didn't
find the substantial evidence they were looking for. In addition, word puns were used to
communicate the innocence of Minnie Foster when the men asked if she was going to quilt
it or knot it, the women answered, She was going to knot it. Quilt it represents the fact
that she was guilty and knot it, that she was not. In the final part of the
investigation, the women succeeded in detecting the proof they needed to convict or save
Minnie Foster. 
As you can see, the women are far different from the men since they go by emotions and
tend to sympathize with other women. On the other hand, the men are more likely to think
rationally and somewhat narrow-minded. In this case of A Jury of Her Peers, thinking
practically lead the men nowhere. Whether or not hiding the evidence was morally wrong or
not, they concluded if they were in Minnie Foster's shoes they would do the same thing
too. Glaspell did a great job in displaying the contrasts in the way women and men
conduct themselves. By dividing the men and women in the story and observing the outcome
of the investigation, you can understand how sometimes thinking logically is not always
the best thing to do.