I really enjoyed the story A Jury of Her Peers. Even the title gives a big clue as to what the story is about. It suggested to me that it will be about a woman because of the word ‘her’. It may also be about a crime that involves one of her peers or friends. It feels to me as if the entire story has clues and foreshadows everywhere. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters judged their husbands as being unreasonable and belittling. I feel the same way because of how the county attorney kept laughing at the things the ladies were saying. Even though the county attorney was obviously insulting the women, the husbands did not do anything. In fact, they seemed to enjoy his ‘sense of humor’. Another clue comes from the way they tried to look for evidence and continuously left the women in the kitchen because “women are used to worrying over trifles”, and “would a women know a clue if they come upon it?”
The characters of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale influence our understand of how women of that period thought and how they understood the loneliness that Mrs. Wright must’ve experienced. The narrator’s tone also gives a clue as to how the narrator must’ve felt about the situation. The narrator gave more insights of the women’s points of view than the men’s. This makes me feel that the narrator is siding with the protagonist in this story. The narrator emphasized on his/her understanding of the women in the story and the unreasonable behavior of the men.
Setting plays a huge role in this story because it was repeatedly mentioned that the place was not cheerful at all. Mrs. Hale repeatedly tells Mrs. Peters that she never came to the house because of how depressing it was and how lonely it seemed. This setting is important because it can be the main cause of the crime in the story as Mrs. Hales believe. It could also be an outcome of what has happened in the house. Either way, the setting of the story gives us an idea of how the story will progress.
The stories are probably dated back in the 1800’s. This may have been a time when women still had no rights, or is beginning to have some rights. We can see that women are belittled throughout the story, and they can’t say anything about it. Once her husband asks her to leave with him, she has to leave everything half finished and leave immediately with him. Although I think situations are a lot better now for women, there are still stories about women who are mistreated. Women still do not have as much rights as men.
Over all, great read!
Hopefully youāve gotten to know me a little bit just from our first class and from the syllabus and other materials on this siteāour writing style says a lot about usābut allow me to introduce myself more fully. Iām a native New Yorker, and have lived in three of the five boroughs. Iām an assistant professor in the English Department at City Tech, with a Ph.D. in English and a certificate in Womenās Studies from the CUNY Graduate Center in midtown Manhattan. My undergraduate degree from Brown University is in both English and Biology. As a college student, this combination often confused people, and they would ask āWhat are you going to do, write science textbooks?ā No, that was never an interest of mine. I do use a lot of science terminology and metaphors in my writing, both in my creative writing and in my scholarly work.
Here at City Tech, Iām involved in a number of interesting projects. I wonāt list them all, but Iām currently one of the OpenLab co-directors, and am conducting research on interactive technology use in education. My scholarly work also focuses on narrative theory, gender and sexuality studies, and literature of the 20th century. Some of the stories we will read this semester are texts that I study in my own work.Ā Iām active on the Undergraduate Research Committee, so letās talk if youāre interested in conducting research. I tweet for the Literary Arts Festival, @CityTechLitFest, not only about our even each spring, but also other interesting things related to writing, reading, Brooklyn, and college. Follow me there!
Outside of workāif we can ever really separate the things we do into work and non-work categoriesāIām an avid knitter and crocheter. Iāve been known to quilt. I love to cook. I want to learn how to use a letterpress. As you can see, I like to make things! Itās so satisfying to see a project through from start to finish, and to have a tangible object to show for it. I like to bring my love of making things into the classroom, creating projects that don’t just ask students to do what they’re used to doing but to make things, too.
I love to look at old maps and photographs of New York, and often incorporate them into my courses. Although Iām an amateur and donāt have fancy equipment, I love to take photographs when I travel, whether itās to Iceland (a great trip I took this summer), to Chicago (where Iāll be visiting this spring for the annual conference of the International Society for the Study of Narrative, and hopefully to eat a Chicago-style hot dog for some good Chicago tourism but not Chicago-style pizza), or even just for a ride on the Staten Island Ferry (which Iāve done countless times) or a walk on the Brooklyn Bridge (which I often do on my way to or from work).
Now that youāve gotten to know me a bit better, I look forward to getting to know all of you!