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¶ … Jury of Her Peers, by Susan Glaspell, and "A Municipal Report," by O. Henry. Specifically, it will evaluate the relative quality of the two stories. Glaspell's work is the more significant of the two, because of the abusive theme it explores, while showing how women stick together during times of duress. O. Henry's story is also compelling, but not as much so as Glaspell's.
BETTER STORY
Henry's work and Susan Glaspell's work could not be further apart at first glance, yet they both make striking social commentary, one with humor, and one with horror. O. Henry's is laughable and sometimes shocking, (the depiction of the blacks in the story is so typical of the South, and so typically racist it is difficult to read). "What is that to you?' I asked, a little sharply. 'Nothin', suh, jus' nothin'. Only it's a lonesome kind of part of town and few folks ever has business out there. Step right in. The seats is clean -- jes' got back from a funeral, suh'" (Henry 158).
However, Glaspell's work is the more important and significant of the...
"A Jury of her Peers" is the story of a woman driven to the "end of her rope" by a spiteful, mean-spirited man, but it is also a story of women, and how they can come together in a crisis. The two women in the story know immediately what Mrs. Wright had to put up with, and immediately stand up for her when the men begin to criticize her housekeeping skills. "But I don't think a place would be any the cheerfuller for John Wright's bein' in it" (Glaspell).
The men look down their noses at the women throughout the story, but at the end, Glaspell depicts the women as the wise characters, far overshadowing the men. While the men are still fumbling around looking at "evidence" and speculating, the more introspective and sensitive women have solved the crime, and are on the way to saving Mrs. Wright from paying for the murder. "Well, Henry,' said the county attorney facetiously, 'at least we found out that she was not going to…
References
Glaspell, Susan. "A Jury of Her Peers." Learner.org. 2002. 16 Dec. 2002. http://www.learner.org/exhibits/literature/story/fulltext.html
Henry, O. Strictly Business: More Stories of the Four Million. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1918.
Susan Glaspell,(Trifles). Please ensure original wor Formal Approach There is a great deal of irony found in Susan Glaspell's work of literature entitled "Trifles." Irony, of course, is when words are used the exact opposite of their literal meaning. The concept of situation irony also exists within literature, in which characters act the exact opposite of the way that a certain situation calls for. An examination of Glaspell's work indicates that
Holmes always solves the crime, and that fact is very satisfying to the reader. Similarly, the two women are inadvertently unearthing the clues to the murder alongside the searching investigators. Glaspell endears us to the two women through the use of personal experiences and memories. Through their similarities, the two women also endear the reader to Minnie Wright. This closeness in character makes it perfectly acceptable when the women
TRIFLES by Susan Glaspell In "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell, the characteristics of the women and the attitudes to their men and their own roles in life are gradually illuminated. The intensity of the situation, in effect two women judging the life of the third, absent party, provides a context in which Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter grow significantly, in character, strength and importance. The principle characters in the play are effectively the
Wright to snap and take violent action. The sequence of events does not point to murder. The most she can be guilty of is "voluntary manslaughter" not murder. Recommendation: A suspended sentence. Breaking the Law in Order to Do "Right" Sometimes, it is difficult to know what to do in a certain situation. The law may say one thing, but circumstances make what is legal wrong from a moral point-of-view. I
Wright. It is also quite clear the men do not think the women are intelligent enough to know a clue if they saw it. Glaspell writes, "But would the women know a clue if they did come upon it?' he said; and, having delivered himself of this, he followed the others through the stair door" (Glaspell). Clearly, if they did share the evidence they find with the men, they would
The women recognize they have let Mrs. Wright down by not visiting her or supporting her, and so, they do the right thing by hiding the evidence and "saving" Mrs. Wright. The governor recognizes he will be remembered only as the puppet of Francis, and so signs the contracts in his final act as governor to do the right thing and allow the new governor an equal chance to