A Jury Of Her Peers Setting Analysis
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Submitted by dealena on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
- Category: Biographies
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A Jury Of Her Peers Setting Analysis
In Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers" Minnie Wright sits in prison, accused of her husband's murder, while the sheriff, county attorney, and their witness- Mr. Hale- go to her house in search of evidence. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters go along to gather a few of Minnie's belongings to take to her. The ladies find more than they bargained for in the cold farmhouse. Glaspell's bleak descriptions of the house in the hollow draw the reader into the cold, lonely world of Minnie Wright.
The story takes place on a cold March day, and the buggy ride out to the Wright place was quiet. The only words spoken were about how unpleasant the countryside was. The little farmhouse sat in the bottom of a hollow and even looked lonely from the road (203). The house was cold and dreary and things were out of place. The fire that had been built earlier that morning did nothing for the chill inside.
Glaspell tells us that Minnie had once been so vibrant, and now lived such a drab life. As a young woman, she had worn pretty clothes, sang in the choir, and was lively. Her life had been reduced to merely a dull existence. Her clothes were dark and shabby, no bright colors, simply a black skirt and a gray shawl. She had become withdrawn, and did not come into town much (209).
Minnie had left her kitchen half done, as if disturbed in the midst of her work. Dirty dishes were left in the sink, a dirty towel hung on a rack, and the table was half wiped (206-7). There was a small birdcage with one of the hinges torn off, but there was no sign of a bird. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale found a quilt Minnie was working on and found that the stitching suddenly went crooked on one of the squares. It appeared that something had made her nervous (211). The ladies then found a pretty box. Inside the box, wrapped in silk, was a small canary. Its neck was broken (211-212). This cast an ominous shadow on the story, and added to the eeriness of the situation.
Susan Glaspell...
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