A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell


published 1917



Jury of Her Peers



Mrs. Hale stood examining the clothes the woman who was being detained in town had said she wanted.

"Wright was close!" she exclaimed, holding up a shabby black skirt that bore the marks of much making over. "I think maybe that's why she kept so much to herself. I s'pose she felt she couldn't do her part; and then, you don't enjoy things when you feel shabby. She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively--when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls, singing in the choir. But that--oh, that was twenty years ago."

With a carefulness in which there was something tender, she folded the shabby clothes and piled them at one corner of the table. She looked up at Mrs. Peters, and there was something in the other woman's look that irritated her.

"She don't care," she said to herself. "Much difference it makes to her whether Minnie Foster had pretty clothes when she was a girl."

Then she looked again, and she wasn't so sure; in fact, she hadn't at any time been perfectly sure about Mrs. Peters. She had that shrinking manner, and yet her eyes looked as if they could see a long way into things.

"This all you was to take in?" asked Mrs. Hale.

"No," said the sheriffs wife; "she said she wanted an apron. Funny thing to want, " she ventured in her nervous little way, "for there's not much to get you dirty in jail, goodness knows. But I suppose just to make her feel more natural. If you're used to wearing an apron--. She said they were in the bottom drawer of this cupboard. Yes--here they are. And then her little shawl that always hung on the stair door."

She took the small gray shawl from behind the door leading upstairs, and stood a minute looking at it.


commentary: My friend Chrissie Poulson recommended this short story to me - she correctly guessed that I would love it. It is not long: you can read it in half an hour, and you can find the text here online.

It is an extraordinary story.

It is set in the fictional Dickson County in the mid-West, presumably around the time it was written. The local law enforcement is going to look at a house where a dead man has been found: Martha Hale is asked to go along with her husband, who was the man who discovered the body. The dead man’s wife is in custody, and the sherriff’s wife has come to collect some clothes for her. She asks Mrs Hale to come along so she has some female company.

Off they go to the lonely house. Martha Hale reflects that she once was friendly with Minnie Wright, nee Foster, but even though they live not far from each other she rarely went to see her.

At the house the men try to work out what happened. The two women – who scarcely know, and don’t particularly like, each other – look round at her kitchen and think about the life of Minnie Wright. They see the cheerless room, her attempts to bottle fruit, her work on a quilt.

And that’s all it is: they work out what happened from the domestic clues that the men would not notice. But although this could be seen as a detective story, it is much more than that: it’s not about the women being cleverer or more observant than the men (although they are): it’s about psychology, about depth of feeling and empathy. It is about seeing into other people’s lives – both for the characters and for the reader.

It is described like this on Wikipedia:
The story is seen as an example of early feminist literature because two female characters are able to solve a mystery that the male characters cannot.
But then that makes it sound too formal. It is a sad but lovely story: and although you don’t find out what the future will hold for the characters, that makes it all the more satisfying. The story is not all tied up and completed, it is left to your imagination. It is beautifully written, every word in place, very simple and readable and compelling.

It reminds me of the short stories of Tillie Olsen.

I think it is a perfect short story. Thanks Chrissie.

Picture from a 1913 book about farmers in Utah, via Flickr Commons.






















Comments

  1. Glad you enjoyed this one as well. I found it really moving and interesting when I first came across it. It was also adapted into a short stage play as well I believe. To do a bit of shameless plugging I wrote on this text as part of a post I did for the Criminality Network blog:
    https://www.captivatingcriminalitynetwork.net/blog/control-and-freedom-in-animal-references-for-women-in-mystery-fiction
    Have you read Sophie Treadwell's The Machinal? Great 1928 play. More of an inverted mystery, with the emphasis on why the female culprit did what she did.

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    1. Thanks Kate, and thanks also for the link to your piece: I hadn't seen it before and found it fascinating and thought-provoking, and I recommend it to all readers...
      No, I don't know the Sophie Treadwell - will go and look that up.

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  2. You know, Moira, I think I've read this one! I hadn't thought about for a long time, but I think I might have read it. And if I'm right and it's the one I'm thinking of, then, yes, it's a fabulous story with some wonderful clues woven into it. I'm going to have to check out the link you offered and see if it's the same one. I love it when my memory is stirred this way.

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    1. Thanks Margot - it will be interesting to see if you recognize it. I was really grateful to Chrissie for pointing this out (I had never even heard of it): I like to think of a network of links and readers all reminding/discovering for each other...

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  3. Glaspell published this as a play as well, if I remember correctly.

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    1. Yes, apparently so - it sounds excellent, and the story would work very well as a play I think. Also - small cast, one set, fascinating nuances from simple things: should suit some drama group to revive it.

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  4. Moira: Thanks for the link to a wonderful story and for your thoughts on the story. I thought it beautifully written with not a word wasted. I appreciated the author letting the reader think along with the ladies. I found it poignant. It was so moving.

    As I read the story I inevitably thought of it as a defence counsel. She is bound to be charged with murder. The mysterious stranger killing her husband while she slept beside him is a difficult defence. Still her husband was obviously a hard man. A jury might decide she has suffered enough in her life and let her go. It was clear she has little spirit left in her. The ladies were right to think a bit of evidence to give motive would tip the balance.

    For your information there is a Dixon County in Nebraska up against the borders with South Dakota and Iowa.








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    1. Thanks Bill - I'm so glad it appealed to you, and am grateful for your thoughts on the legal side of things. We can only hope that someone showed mercy as far as possible. Interesting that there is a Dixon County - I think I relied on Wiki to tell me it was imaginary!

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  5. I did go read the story, Moira. Midway into the story, I realized I had read it before, but I can't remember when or why. Could not have been too long ago or I would not remember it. It was good to read it again.

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    1. Thanks Tracy - I'm glad you liked it a second time. I do not feel bad about 'making you' read it as a) it is short and b) it was so good!

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    2. I was glad to reread it but do wish I could remember when I read it before.

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    3. Would be interesting to know how you came across it... Let us know if you remember, I think Chrissie would like to know too.

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  6. So glad you loved it, Moira. I was sure you would. I've been away on holiday or would have commented before. It is fascinating to have Bill's legal viewpoint. I have read it many times. Sometimes if my own writing needs kick-starting, I read it for its wonderful pacing and that sense of not a word being wasted. It is a small masterpiece.

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    1. Thanks Chrissie - I guessed you were, but knew you would see it eventually! It is a WONDER on several levels. I keep thinking about how modern it seems - the subtlety, and the nuance, and the refusal to spell out every detail. She wants the reader to think, and trusts them to do so. I think that very unusual for the era.
      So thank you again for the recommendation!

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