The years of the war was tiring and strenuous not only for the soldiers at war, but also for the women who were toughing it out on the home front. After clocking in long hours at the factory building machines and vehicles needed for the war, they still had to perform their household duties. But, many were happy and willing to do so, as working outside of their homes and helming jobs that they never did before was how women showed their patriotism for their country. Women had to maintain the industrial as well as the agricultural sectors in order to ensure that the American society could continue to function, and to help the allies in the war (“Brock, J., Dickey, J. W., Harker, R., & Lewis, C”, 2015). New opportunities were also made available for women in white-collar sectors.
Symbolism In “A Jury of Her Peers” Susan Glaspell’s, “A Jury of Her Peers”, took place during the early 1900s and focuses on the issues of sexism and social injustice that still exists today. In this feminist classic, Sheriff Peters and his wife, Mr. Hale and his wife, and the county attorney, Mr. Henderson go to the Wright Household to look for evidence to use against Mrs. Wright. When they arrive, the men disregard everything associated with women, whereas, the women look in debt, put themselves in Mrs. Wright's shoes, and find clues that could potentially prove that she killed her husband. While living in a male dominated society and continuously being belittled by the men, the women decide to not only break the law, but go against their husbands by hiding evidence. Throughout the story, Glaspell uses the symbols of the dead canary, the kitchen and the quilt to not only promote gender inequality roles but show what life must’ve been like for Minnie; imprisoned by her husband.
Gender is important in the story because the men take on more masculine traditional roles while the women are expected to be more feminine and do things more around the house. The reason why the main character has to outside chores with her father is because her little brother is not old enough. Her mother and grandmother pick up on her tomboyish nature and try to instruct her to change her ways and act her gender. The main character has to deal with her gender issues and the sexism she lives with “ The word girl had formerly seemed to me innocent and unburdened, like the word child; now it appeared that it was no such thing. A girl was not, as I had supposed, simply what I was; it was what I had to become.
Reverend Hale's last attempt to save Proctor is to try to have Elizabeth convince Proctor to confess. Proctor strongly considers it but tears the confession paper up as he does not want to ruin his family name. Hale, defeated, weeps in prayer as Proctor is sent to hung. Reverend Hale's downfall in the novel was his quick assumption that there was witchcraft in Salem. Everyone's fear of the unknown and the chance of witches being present in Salem caused many deaths due to jumping to conclusions.
“Before the Trial of this prisoner, several of her own Children had frankly and fully confessed, not only that they were Witches themselves, but that this their Mother had made them so.” Both were severely charged and threatened with hanging and although one is placed in the past and one after the act of discrimination, Martha is reported as an insane fanatic of witchcraft, accused by her own children who clearly had problems, as Hester, a normal woman, trapped by society faces the same punishment. Seeing that were both charged equally shows extreme discrimination towards Hester that she is forced to deal with. By relating the two excerpts, it becomes clear that Hester’s struggle of discrimination against logical women is a severe
Because of these stereotypes of gender roles within society, the women in the play are strategically placed in the kitchen for majority of the play. The men on the other hand go about their business
The play was written in 1915, 15 years after she had covered the murder for the Des Moines Daily News. Then just a short year later she would turn out her short story “A Jury of Her Peers” based on the play. (The Library of America, 179). The play and the story are very similar. They both had the same plot, characters, settings, even the same dialogue.
The division of labor during this time period led the reader to sympathize towards the woman and how women understood the crime scene with a subjective view and the men did not. Women were stuck inside working, providing for the everyday needs of the family. Through living day in and day out like this women attain an interior view of life. Through laborious tasks like farm labor
Because most of the men in the family had departed to fight in the war, women were left at home to do the housework. Even after the war, women were urged to stay at home to take care of the children. On the other hand, males would deal with financial businesses to keep their family out of poverty. These gender roles were embedded
As a result, their roles in society were entirely defined by their relationships with men (207). This point is related to another one also discussed in this source: the hostile relationship between women, which is prevalent in fairy tales (202). According to the authors, “fairy tales are probably the narratives which better express classic conflicts between women” (202). They mention Snow White as the perfect example of the virginal heroine persecuted by her unloving stepmother, who was “jealous over the princess’s youth and supposedly superior beauty” (203). Apparently, for women living in a