The "Peers" in "A Jury of Her Peers"

After reading Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers,” I began to consider the title and how it related to the story. Minnie Wright, the suspected murderer of the story, lived a quiet life, alone in her home with a strict husband and no children. Compared to the other women in the story, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, she seemed very different. However, after more thought, I determined that Minnie Wright was really not that different from her peers after all. The women worked as farm wives, so many of their daily duties included canning and sewing. However, this could be seen as a rather dull existence for any of the women. Even though Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters had more caring husbands than Minnie Wright, they still understood the loneliness of her situation, especially with no children to take care of. Furthermore, Mrs. Hale had known Minnie as a child and knew of her wonderful personality. She understood that it was taken from her, due to the silence of her home and lack of visitors. The women also could comprehend how something as simple as someone killing her bird could cause her to snap and murder her husband. Mrs. Hale states, “No, Wright [Mr.] wouldn’t like the bird…a thing that sang. She [Minnie] used to sing. He killed that too,” (Glaspell, 423). Mr. Wright broke Minnie, and then he broke her bird. While they do have caring husbands, the other women could understand the lack of respect felt by Minnie. Her husband took away her only companion, but Mrs. Hale’s and Mrs. Peters’ husbands took away their dignity by their overall perception of women. They made their wives feel inferior, which is exactly how Minnie must have felt. While seemingly lacking in similarity, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters prove to be the peers of Minnie Wright more than expected.