Beginning of Essay
Susan Glaspell's short story, A Jury of Her Peers, was written long before the modern women's movement began, yet her story reveals, through Glaspell's use of symbolism, the role that women are expected to play in society. Glaspell illustrates how this highly st ....

Middle of Essay
.... the county attorney, says "for that matter a sheriff's wife is married to the law"(glaspell 168). She reinforces that identity until she is faced with the brutality of what John Wright did to Minnie. She says "I know what stillness is. The law has got to punish Crime, Mrs. Hale"(glaspell 167). The difference is she is talking about the crime committed against Minnie, not the murder of John by Minnie. The Rocking chair is another important symbol in the story. The chair symbolizes the absent Minnie Wright. The rocking chair "was dingy, with wooden rungs up the back, and the middle rung was gone, and the chair sagged to one side"(glaspell 157), ....