Women You Have To Love Them Essay, Research Paper

Women You Have To Love Them

“A Jury of her Peers” was written by Susan Glaspell in 1917. This short story is entertaining but also tells the story of women in the early twentieth century. Ms Glaspell give you an idea about the hardships that women had to deal with, such as loneliness, lack of beauty, physical labor, and living in a male dominated society. The characters consist of two couples and a lawyer. The men are trying to convict Minnie Foster of murdering her husband while he was sleeping. The story takes place in Minnie’s house. Throughout most of the play the men ridicule the women. This is ironic because the women are the ones that end up finding the missing link to the killing. Throughout the play the men are looking for evidence that would give Minnie a motive for the killing her husband. The men look everywhere for evidence; as they do this they poke fun of the women. The men just do not understand the hardships of being a woman at the turn of the century.

Loneliness was a major factor for farmwomen in the early part of the century. Elaine Hedges quotes Faragher’s statement saying “the single most important distinction between the social and cultural worlds of men and women was the isolation and immobility of wives compared to husbands” (Elaine Hedges 99). The isolation of the houses contributed to the loneliness women felt. The farmhouses were miles apart and could take up to half a day just to visit a friend. Women did not have time in their busy schedule to take such trips. Women were preoccupied with household chores and running the family. The men could combat loneliness because they had the advantage of going into town with the crops. At these visits they could catch up on the news as they sat in the saloons with the guys. In “A Jury of her Peers” the way the towns people found out about the death of Mr. Write was because of Mr. Hale and his son visit on their way to town. Women on the other hand, did not have this luxury.

Another problem women faced were societies out look on women. They lived in a male dominated society which author Glaspell made clear. In the short story the male characters do their official work by themselves. The men talk to the men and the women are left talking by themselves. When the to genders do interact the author simulates a tone portraying men as arrogant sexist. One good example of males poking fun of the opposite sex is when the women notice that all her fruit jars are broken. Mr. Peters says, “Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder, and worrying about her preserves” (Glaspell 264). In actuality the men do not realize what the women had to do to actually make the fruit. Susan Glaspell constantly provides the men with lines such as “women are used to worrying about trifles” (Glaspell 264). Those kinds of things give men a bad name. Ms Glaspell provides further evidence of a male dominated society by the fact that the women were housewives. At this point in history most women did not work and if they did it was not for enough money to eat with. Men dominated the business world while the women were the queens of the kitchen.

Lack of beauty for ones self and their surroundings were a major problem for farmwomen. The lack of beauty does not seem like a big deal, but when there is no one to talk to problems can occur. In “A Jury of her Peers” the lack of beauty was a major factor in the plot. It is the main reason Minnie Foster killed her husband. Mr. Foster was a hard man and was away from the house all day long. Author Glaspell gives us the impression that even when he was home there was not much conversation. Minnie on the other hand, stayed at the house all day long by herself so she went out and bought a canary. The author gives us the background information that as a young girl Minnie had a beautiful voice. The canary’s songs kept her sane. The beautiful song created by the bird was the beauty in her life. When Mr. Wright killed the bird it took that beauty away from her. This prompted her to go insane and kill her husband. Not only was the bird dead, but, her clothes were no longer decent and the furniture was faded. With no other source of beauty Minnie turns to quilting. Elaine Hedges tells us how important quilting was to women. Starting out of necessity it later became a way for women to express their creative ideas. Quilting ended up as a way to express how they felt through the use of colors and stitching patterns. This is why it is so important at the end of the story when the last block is messed up. The messed up square symbolizes her messed up life.

Another point author Glaspell was trying to convey is the physical hardships of being the wife of a farmer. She comes out in the first paragraph by having Martha Hale run out of the kitchen to go to the Fosters’ house. Martha was busy cooking as they arrived. Even small little chores were hard for women because none of them were small. To can fruit there is a lot of effort involved. The fruit must be grown, picked, and still canned. Ms Hedges informs her readers of the physical labor involved by quoting old diaries, “Friday May 27 This is the dreaded washing day” (Hedges 96). One must not forget that there was no running water back then. One load of wash took tremendous amounts of labor: “One wash, one boiling and one rinse used about fifty gallons of water – or four hundred pounds – which had to be moved from pump or well to faucet to stove and tub, in buckets and wash boilers that might weigh as much as forty or fifty pounds” (Hedges 96). This reason alone explains why Minnie is worried about her jars while she is in jail. As one can see “A Jury of Her Peers” was not only written for entertainment, but also to demonstrate how rough life for farmwomen was.