In Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers", what is the theme of the story?

Answer 1

Yes. I have read it several times. A woman is accused of murdering her husband. The men in the case (the sheriff and a neighbor) cannot find any 'proof' or 'motivation' behind the murder. What would make this housewife snap? Yet how can they believe her story that she slept through the murder? They don't know what to think. The wives see things differently. They are in another woman's home. In her kitchen, etc. They find an empty canary cage, perhaps it even has a broken hinge or door. They are going through her things. Her sewing things. Her quilting things. They are understanding the 'why' of this woman's existence. They see signs of an unhappy home with a harsh, oppressive husband. They remember her in her youth. How she used to be beautiful and sing. How she was carefree. How lovely she was. They see how the marriage had changed her. They see that no one in the community really did right by her. The women didn't visit her. Didn't offer any support, encouragement, any understanding. So when they find a bird that has been strangled--by the husband presumably--they understand what led her to strangle her husband. The men are clueless. They don't bother to go through any of her belongings. They don't get what makes a woman a woman. They see all these womanly things as unimportant trifles and not potential clues or evidence. The women solve the case but choose not to reveal what they find because they are sympathetic with the accused woman.

Answer 2

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In Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers", what is the theme of the story?