Susan Glaspells A Jury of Her Peers - Essay Example

There is an implication that the society highly values only the activities engaged in by men like their work s. On the other hand, women's activities such as household chores are given minimal economic significance. These go to show how the chauvinist society distinguishes "women matters" as trivial, thus, of relatively less importance as compared to "men matters." People, even women themselves, fail to realize that women, just like men, possess the ability and power to contribute to a cause, although in a different manner.

As illustrated in Glaspell's story, it is actually Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, being the way they are, who solved the mystery unbeknownst to the men. With their sensitivity to details and common distressing experiences, they have shed light on Mrs. Wright's real motive for taking her husband's life. Social Pressures on Women Based on Mrs. Hale's recollection, Mrs. Wright, the once vivacious lad "used to wear pretty clothes and be lively-when she was Minnie Foster." When this description is juxtaposed with Mr.

Hale's image of Mrs. Wright "pleatin' at her apron", the readers are given the idea of the immense change undergone from Minnie Foster, the pretty lady who gleefully sings in the choir down to Mrs. Wright, the lifeless woman who suffered much from her husband's masculine oppression. All it takes is marriage to an oppressive man. It is then revealed that Mrs. Wright murders her husband for killing the bird, her only source of hope that serves as her constant reminder of what her life used to be.

Such a scenario depicts how society imposed social pressures on women, especially those who are married. Married women, as if placed in uniform boxes, are packaged by the patriarchal society as obedient wives who readily do their husbands' every bidding. In fulfilling their domestic roles, what becomes central is that they tend to their families' needs primarily. In a way, these result in women developing an ambiguous self-image.