Writing to Analyze, Essay Example

The story is of a poor woman’s life and her further crime conviction as described in the story that happened through setting, dialogue, and character representation and was most probably influenced by factors beyond her control. Another question is whether the act of murder could have been an act of self-defense since Mr. Wright, her husband, had committed two murders himself. On the one hand, he killed his wife’s pet bird – wrung its neck, on the other, he had, in many ways, destroyed the spirit of his wife, who is described by the author as “kind of like a bird herself. Real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and.. fluttery”  (p.15). Mrs. Wright used to be young and beautiful, fond of clothes, singing in the choir, seemingly fun loving and energetic. But Mr. Wright had now made her into a drab, unhappy, nervous woman.

Much of the story mood is brought to us through the setting. The house is described as “a lonesome-looking place. It was down in a hollow, and the poplar trees around it were lonesome-looking trees” (p.2). Mrs. Wright’s rocking chair is described as “a small, worn rocker” (ibid.) of “a dingy red.. and the middle rung was gone, and the chair sagged to one side.” (p.4), descriptive, one thinks, of the once pretty Minnie Foster. Then there are the dirty pans and towels, and the broken cupboard; the fact that Mrs. Wright was childless, and that Mrs. Hale did not enjoy visiting her. (“It never seemed a very cheerful place” (p.8). More so, the dead bird cuddled in the rag. The setting reveals the picture of a broken, lonely woman. But it has a kind of alternative meaning as well. We get the idea of a woman – or of womenfolk in general – victimized by male figures. All three men, two of them in positions of authority, treat women as objects and make fun of them time and time again:

Mrs. Peters’ husband broke into a laugh, “Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worrying about her preserves!” (p.6)

“’Oh well,” said Mrs. Hale’s husband, with good-natured superiority,” women are used to worrying over trifles’” (ibid.)

Mrs. Hale later arranged the dirty pans under the sink that the county attorney’s “disdainful push of the foot had deranged” (p8)

Mrs. Wright is criticized in terms of her skills (or lacks of skills) as a housekeeper, while Mrs. Peters is being constantly described by the men as being an extension of her husband.

The whole atmosphere and the story lines give the men the character of wolves that hunt against their victims, causing women to team together and finally turn against their males. The spirit of their rebellion is built up slowly but steadily, as is the spirit of their female togetherness. Martha Hale’s comment in this case – plucky woman as she is – is smart: “‘Those towels get dirty awful quick. Men’s hands aren’t always as clean as they might be.” (p.7) The climax is reached when Mrs. Peters is appealed to as an extension of her husband. “A sheriff’s wife is married to the law”(p.20). She reacts to the comment and we get an impression that she was not happy in her marriage as well.

The women, whom Mr. Hale addresses as: “would the women know a clue if they come upon it?” (p.8), are the very ones who find the missing linking to the crime. The setting and character give us a hint that Mrs. Wright is most likely guilty, that her husband’s cruelty made her commit her desperate deed as well as that the women were committed to protecting her out from their male oppressors. The women understood and identified with Mrs. Wright; the men were out to destroy them. In many words, but never directly, the story tells us this and more. And the author is so good at putting down the story lines that we are able to draw our own clues while reading from small things such as character description, setting, dialogue, and dramatic irony, just as the women characters did.

Source

Glaspell, S. (2000) A Jury of her peers, in Master’s choice, volume II : mystery stories by today’s top writers and the masters who inspired them New York: Berkley Prime Crime.