A Jury of Her Peers

The story, "A Jury of Her Peers" is a story written by Susan Glaspell. The story is based on a murder. John Wright is the person who is murdered by someone, and his neighbors are suspecting the murderer. The story is considered an example of the feminist literature of earlier times, since two female characters solve the mystery of the murder that male characters cannot do by their knowledge, and women because of their women psychology. The author has written the story as one act play with the title of “Bagatelles", for the Provincetown Players in 1916 (Glaspell, 90).

The story is about investigating the murder of John Wright, who was strangled in bed. They took his wife, Minnie, in custody as the only suspect, but the lawyer George Henderson and Henry County Sheriff Peters know they cannot condemn it without a reason. There are visits of their neighbor, Lewis Hale and his wife, Martha Hale, and some officials around the house of Wright. Peters remains in the kitchen and discussed the life of Minnie, the Wright's wife. Martha was friend of Minnie before she got married to Wright. Martha appears to realize that the life of Minnie was oppressed by her husband. The two women find Minnie preserves have been frozen and cracked, and evidence are there of John neglecting his wife.

The men there do not suspect Minnie as the murderer, however, the women do. They notice that the latest quilting is done recklessly and Minnie is also in anger which is clearly different from her usual behavior. They also find a broken birdcage. Women are tested to the right when they find a dead canary, placed in a box adorned with a piece of silk, which had been strangled. When the men return, ...