Friday, February 9, 2018

In the short story "A Jury of Her Peers," how is the murder solved?

In Susan Glaspell’s short story “A Jury of Her Peers,” the murder is “solved” by Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. The men spend the majority of the short story actively looking for clues, leaving the women behind in the kitchen. But as Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters spend more and more time in Mrs. Wright’s space—first tidying up her kitchen and then reworking some of her sewing—they are able to discover signs of Mrs. Wright’s life—and guilt—in her domestic space.
When the men first leave the women behind in the kitchen, they condescendingly suggest that the women should stay alert for clues, although they wonder “if the women [would] know a clue if they did come upon it.” The men, however, are unable to read the evidence that is present in the domestic space—evidence that manifests to the women clearly. When they discover that Mrs. Wright’s bird was killed when her husband broke its neck, Mrs. Hale discusses the shared conditions faced by women:

We all go through the same things—it’s all just a different kind of the same thing! If it weren’t—why do you and I understand? Why do we know what we know this minute?

Ultimately, the two women solve the case not through the form of masculine detective work that is symbolized by the sheriff but instead through a form of knowledge shared by the women in the story.

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