Jury of Her Peers, by Susan Glaspell,

¶ … 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 two, because it discusses something in society, which is not often discussed, the murder of a man by his wife because of abuse and cruelty. "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 quilt it. She was going to -- what is it you call it, ladies?'" (Glaspell).

In conclusion, this story about a woman who takes the law into her own hands is a story of abusiveness and issues facing more women than society would like to admit. Even though abusiveness is acknowledged, many women still live with it ever day. Minnie kills her husband because she simply cannot take his abuse any more, and it seems there is nowhere she can turn. This is a common thread in abusive relationships; women feel they have no way out. The women of Minnie's community have all swept their problems under the rug, hoping if they ignore them, they will go away. In the end, they realize they let their friend down, and they have some housecleaning to do in their own homes. These men have already convicted Minnie, they just need to find out "why" she did it. The court system may be lenient, but Minnie will have to pay for her crime, even though she has really been paying for years. Glaspell is pointing a finger at our system of laws here, while gaining sympathy for any woman in Minnie's shoes.