A Jury Of Her Peers

A Jury Of Her Peers, a short story by Susan Glaspell followed townsfolk in their search for evidence concerning the murder of John Wright and the likely suspect his wife, Minnie Foster. Initially, Minnie was portrayed as the obvious murderer, seemingly heartless for her motives, unaffected, unfeeling, and not in the least bit sorry for her gruesome actions of hanging her husband. Although, Minnie is completely responsible for her actions, later in the book I understood her motives more clearly and sympathized more strongly with her. The novel mentions Minnie's once pride in her appearance, dazzling while singing in the choir, all of which faded upon her marriage to John. So, it was no surprise she wanted a bird, one to sing like she once did. Mrs. Peter's notices this of Minnie saying: "I should think she would've wanted a bird,(Glaspell,420)! Personification is even used to compare Minnie to a bird: " '..She was kind of like a bird herself. Real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and-fluttery,' "(Glaspell,421). Minnie was like a bird in her nature but also there is a connection between the fate of the bird and her husband. Just as John likely wrung the bird's neck, she did the same unto him, feeling like he may as well have did it to her, a bird too. Overall, I noticed this irony of the fate between the two and how Minnie felt John killed her, in that she never was the same after her marriage, changed by him, she got her revenge and killed him too.