A JURY OF HER PEERS
Title. The intimate relation between the one-act play and the short-story may be seen in the fact that the narrative here told has its dramatic counterpart in the stage production entitled “Trifles.” The latter was presented in the season of 1916-1917 in New York City. What is the excellence of each title?
Germinal Idea. “A long time ago, when I was a reporter in Iowa, I went to the house of a woman who was being held for murder, and while the circumstances were not at all those of ‘Trifles,’ it was out of that experience the play grew.”—Susan Glaspell.
Facts of the Plot. Minnie Foster marries John Wright. Basis for trouble lies in the fact that Minnie is a lively girl, with a love for color and action, while John is a hard man, and “like a raw wind that gets to the bone.” They have no children, and as the years go by, Minnie is more and more lonely. The neighbor women leave her to herself; her isolation is pronounced. At length, after many years, she comforts herself with a caged bird. In a fit of rage, John wrings the bird’s neck. Minnie, half-crazed, lays aside the body of the bird in her sewing basket. Shortly after, while her husband is asleep, she strangles him to death with a rope. The next morning, she explains to a passing neighbor, who drops in on a business visit, that John has been strangled by “somebody”; that she is a sound sleeper, and sleeps on the “inside” of the bed. The neighbor notifies the sheriff. Minnie is taken to prison. The next day, the sheriff, Peters, with his wife and the district attorney go out to the Wright place to make an examination. Hale, a neighbor, and Mrs. Hale are with them. The men seek a cause, a motive, for the killing of Wright, but find nothing. While they are making large and futile observations, however, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discover the dead bird and other evidence. With awakened understandings, the women conceal the evidence—Martha Hale takes the bird away in her pocket.
Management of the Facts—The Developed Plot. The most noteworthy and striking management lies in corralling the whole story into one “cold March morning,” and only part of that. Unity of setting, the Wright home, is a less difficult achievement. Notice that the story introduction calls up a setting outside the Wright home, whereas the play (“Trifles”) used only the kitchen at the Wrights’. Which is better for intensification?
The chronological order of the plot is rearranged for artistic purposes and for interest. The author begins at the point of the visit to the empty house by the sheriff’s party.
To understand thoroughly, the difference between the order of plot presentation and the order of chronological growth, make out a list of the details as you gather them from the story progress. Then compare them with the “Facts of the Plot,” set forth above.
Story Presentation. The narrative is given to the reader according to the detective story method. Martha Hale’s point of view is used at the start, after which the dramatic method is employed, the spot-light shifting from one woman to another, occasionally lighting on the men, but lingering most often on Martha Hale. Why is she the best one through whom the reader may understand the entire situation?
Where do you first feel yourself responding to a sense of mystery? How does the author convey this? What is the effect in the first paragraph of these words?—“It was no ordinary thing that called her away,” etc.
Observe the little apology (bottom of page 258) by which the author has kept the search delayed until the second day, after Minnie has been taken away. Why is the latter accomplishment a plot necessity?
What contributory worth has the emphasis (page 259) on Mrs. Hale’s Harry?... How is it used to effect contrast?
Pages 260 and 261 in effect convey a rehearsal; but they have dramatic worth also. Why? (Note that Minnie’s speeches are quoted, not summarized.) See following pages for similar dramatic accomplishment.
Study the natural way in which Hale and Peters are pushed off the stage (page 263), leaving the women together with the attorney. Purpose of his remaining a moment?
Observe the care with which every important detail of the plot is motivated.
Study the scene wherein the women, with an eye for little things, arrive at the truth. Is their solution stated, or is it suggested?
What do you deduce from the stove with the broken lining? From the crazy stitches in the sewing? From the bird-cage of the broken hinge?
What double meaning lies in the concluding sentence, “We call it—knot it, Mr. Henderson”?
Setting. Has the actual setting an influence on the characters with respect to the story action? How is the setting given in the finished narrative? How is it connected with the theme?
Characters. Make a list of the characters and state the reason for the existence of each with regard to the action, to the verisimilitude, and to the need for contrast. It is a difficult thing to focus clearly before the reader a character who never “comes on the stage.” Has Miss Glaspell succeeded in evoking for you the person and the individuality of Minnie Wright?
Does one desire in a story of this nature types or individuals? Which character should be most individual, here, as regards the author’s purpose?