Blog #14: "Big Top" or "Big House"?

After conducting some informal research on the  Jodi Arias trial,  consider the following prompt.  Your 250-300 word response and two comments are due by Friday, Dec. 5th at 11:59 pm.

    Why do you think the Jodi Arias trial became such a spectacle? Why do you think this case was so popular with the general public?

Minnie

Many of the characters in this story were faced with the challenges of struggling to find individuality and conformity. It was hard for several of them to overcome this and make it work for them in their favor. A lot of people are focusing on Minnie who was a very unhappy person during her marriage. This is because she would refrain from being herself around her husband and this caused her to lose her individuality and then when her husband dies she struggles to find that individuality that she had before her husband. She does end up killing her husband in the end but it has to do with the fact that she lost who she once was because of him and all she wanted was to regain that identity and be able to live the happy life that she once had and loved. Minnie was turned into something that she wasn't because of the way that her society viewed women and their roles in the community. She was unable to do what she wanted and this caused her to almost become depressed because she felt almost like she was trapped in this reality where she was forced to be someone that she isn't. This can make a person go crazy and do something such as killing their husband so that they can gain that little piece of their identity that they have lost and are looking to find it again. In the end there were many things that caused Minnie to become who she was and do what she did but it all comes back to that idea that she was looking to reclaim the  identity that she had before marrying her husband. 

Not a Typical Sheriff's Wife

In most pieces of short fiction, characters can be insightful to struggles of individuality in only a few pages. Susan Glaspell’s characters do well to show difficulties that people face internally with conformity and individuality. Her book, Her America, integrates the stories of many characters and their struggles. One story, “A Jury of Her Peers,” relates the story of the visiting of a crime scene after a murder. The sheriff is accompanied by his wife, two other men, and Martha Hale. Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife, is a small lady who initially appears to be uncertain and uncomfortable with her role as the wife of a man in the position of power.

Mrs. Peters is a small woman, and she is very soft-spoken. She rethinks things that she says. She is also compared to her husband by the author. Glaspell notes, “if Mrs. Peters didn’t look like a sheriff’s wife, Peters made it up in looking like a sheriff” (81). Perhaps it is Mrs. Peters, out off all the characters, demonstrates the most development. She goes from struggling with her identity as a sheriff’s wife, to entering the woman’s sphere and aiding her fellow oppressed women by covering up the murderer, who happens to be wife of the murdered man. She believes that her voice ought to be as important as the voices of the men, and this shows that she is a multi-faceted character .

Transformation

There’s no doubt that Minnie Foster struggled with the transition of becoming Mrs. Wright and it really doesn’t surprise me. I’m not married myself so I can’t fully understand however I can see the amount of pressure people put on women and men after a marriage. Before she was married the story made it clear that she was a happy woman who dressed nicely and enjoyed singing and was full of life. After the marriage things really changed. She was forced to meet the expectations of society and become a great wife and house keeper. I am still not really sure why those two are so often associated so closely with each other. After a bit of time Minnie started to transform into a different person. She no longer enjoyed singing and wore dingy old clothes. She was judged and criticized for how she kept her house and if Mr. Wright was taken care of. I think this is not as much of an issue these days however social expectations of some sort will always exist. It also seems as if Mr. Wright was not a good husband to Minnie as the two women find that John killed the canary. The two women in this book who are doing a little investigating of their own are quick to find out that Mr. Wright may have had a lot to do with his own murder. Minnie obviously couldn’t take the pressure society forced on most women and eventually killed Mr. Wright. 

Changing Who You Are...

In A Journey of Her Peers, I found that there were a variety of interesting characters, but I found the most interesting of all them to be Minnie. Minnie was the character that audience wanted to support, but there was an ethical dilemma. She in fact did kill her husband. Essentially, Minnie was trapped by marriage. She was restricted by the life that was socially imposed on her. Unlike men, women during the time (and even some today) are expected to completely change their lives in favor of becoming first and foremost the "wife". There are so many little things even today that woman must go through socially in getting married. One of the biggest aspects is changing their last names. Obviously today, it is acceptable for a woman to not change her name, but it would be considered weird if a man were to change his name. There is still that standard that women should change their lives. Modern psychology completely disproves this. In research, it is important for both spouses to maintain autonomy and be secure in their sense of self. Going back to Minnie, she did not have this. Minnie was restricted by many things imposed by her  husband and society itself. This was evident in the  beginning when Mrs. Hale comments that she should have visited Minnie, but both Mrs. Hale had her obligation as a wife and so did Minnie to keep their lives centered on their families. Minnie had desires and dreams, but they were certainly over shadowed. Change in you should never be done unless for yourself.

Till Death Do Us Part

In A Journey of Her Peers I found Minnie to be one of the most interesting characters. It really opened my eyes to what being a wife was thought to be. When women became wives they gave up their last names and became someone else, that they never could have imagined. I believe that the person Minnie was before her marriage was a beautiful and outgoing you lady. Then once she became Mrs. Wright it all changes. She didn't realize the weight behind just giving up her name, it was more like giving up her life as she knew it. She now had new responsibilities and expectations from her new husband and even from spectators all around. I believe that this new lifestyle and the weight of becoming someone that she really wasn't and holding in her true personality and true bright colors made her crack under all the pressure of being a "good" housewife. These pressures and lifestyles led her to have pent up emotions and frustrations that burst open at the slightest crack. This is why I believe she ended up murdering Mr. Wright. She took herself out of the expectations and out of the vow. Over all I think that when a woman makes a vow to marry a man they are not just supposed to be a housekeeper, they are supposed to be supporting and caring while also having a balanced amount of work as the husband to keep the relationship healthy. It is hard for such a colorful person to conform to such a grey life.

Friend or Foe

Society causes many people to change in a lot of different ways. Some of the characters in Her America have shown this. Minnie Wright who is the wife to late Mr. Wright shows all of these changes. Before she gotten married everyone assumed she was happy but when she was married she was very unhappy most of the time. She stopped doing the things that would make her happy. Society saw her as the ideal wife who would stay home and be a housewife but she was a very unhappy housewife. Two other people noticed the changes in Minnie Wright. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Wright, the noticed the change but did not tell their husbands because they knew that they would have taken her side when she would go on trial for the murder. The women in this story are told to usually let their husbands do the talking, women were oppressed. Minnie was very timid now, although Mrs. Peter was timid as well she decided to speak up for her friend and try to prove her innocence even though she was guilty. She does so because she is tired of women being treated the way they are. Both characters are very timid but one decides to do the opposite and step outside the box for once and stand up for women.

Not So Perfect Housewife

Minnie Foster was a person who did all she could to make people happy. I could relate to this because lots of people want to be able to help and make others happy before themselves. After being the wife she was for so long all of the sudden she changes because like all of us when something happens that "changes" us sometimes it is not for the better and in this case it was not. Being able to follow someones dreams is very important and when this does not happen many things can happen to the mind. The struggles that a person can take is different for everyone but everyone handles it differently as well. When not being able to follow the dreams Minnie Foster goes the wrong direction in feeling better, many people find help as they should, talk to friends, and do other exercises to help the stress they might be feeling. Being able to be your own person is one struggle everyone has and being put into someone else's routine is not want women or males want at all. Minnie was feeling trapped, many women do in their marriages and this is why divorces are very high these days. It is very uncommon to find a happy married couple that have been together since high school till their eighties like my grandparents. Minnie only did what she thought was right in her mind at the time and she could not think about being the "perfect" housewife any longer for him.

The Fears, Anxieties, and Worries of Amos Owen

In Glaspell's Her America "A Jury of Her Peers," reading about Amos Owens' life in Beloved Husband was very good and interesting. It took place in April of 1918. In the chapter, Amos talks about his fears and anxieties when he was a boy and also when he grew up to be an adult. His fears and anxieties when he was a boy were about having to get up early enough because he had to go deliver the morning papers when he was 10 years old. It seemed like as soon as he had come home, his mother would always say to him, "Amos, you get to bed and right to sleep, or you'll not be able to wake up when I call you" (135). So, at age 16, he started working at a fish market. When he became and adult, he purchased the fish market at age 32. However, another fear he always worried about was money. When the owner of the fish market started to get ill, Amos knew he wanted to buy the market., but worried that he wouldn't have enough money to purchase it before the owner died (136). He always worried about things that he didn't need to worry about at all. He would just deal with the "nervous chill" these type of things would give him (137).

I feel like I can relate to Amos so much. Even though I didn't have the type of anxieties or worries that he did when I was young, but as I got older I got them more. Everyone has anxiety once in a while right? Also, societies in Amos' time most likely did not know how to deal with anxiety yet. However, in today's society, we now have all kinds of medications, techniques, therapy sessions, etc. to help us cope with our anxiety.

Jury of Her Peers

In the story, A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell, we are introduced to a small rural town and a shocking murder. All indications are that the victim's wife, Mrs. Wright, is the sole suspect and her peculiar behavior adds to the suspicion. But the neighbor's wife, Mrs. Hale, responds in an even more bizarre way. From the outset of the story, she seems far more skeptical than the men in town of Mrs. Wright's guilt.

The introduction of the story highlights the expectations of women at the turn of the 20th century. Her worrying about how her kitchen is left as she briefly steps out illustrates the daily life of women at this time and how empty it can leave them feeling. This seems to dominate Mrs. Hales thoughts throughout the story. You can feel her anguish that she wasn’t there for her childhood friend who dealt with an abusive husband and the loss of her children. She seems to convince herself as the story progresses that Mrs. Wright was justified in what she did to her husband and she jumped on the opportunity to hide a damning piece of evidence. 

It’s never revealed whether Mrs. Hale experienced similar issues with her husband but she did seem to understand the pressures that her neighbor had to deal with. She knew the burdens that housewives had to deal with and how they were often treated by men. This seemed to be a brief moment when she could stand up for women who were treated so poorly and try to save her old friend who had no chance of defending herself against such a harsh, male-dominated society. 

Running

Amos Owen is a man who has been hurting his entire life. In Beloved Husband we see how Amos starts working at a very young age. He started with a job that many of us would consider a pretty average job for a kid. The only thing is Amos hated the fact that he would have to get up early every morning in order to go to work. Amos hated the silence that came with the early morning and would awkward bc of it. I can relate to Amos in that exact sense since I often stay up late in which my room mates have fallen asleep and all is quiet. even though everyone has passed I still want to act as if it's mid day and can disturb them from time to time. Amos would continue to work early morning jobs including the fish mart where he would have to catch the early morning train in order to get to work. Once Amos was old and wealthy enough he purchased the fish mart in which he once worked ending his streak of early morning awakenings and thus ending his woes of always being up when others aren't. This would not end Amos's problems. The ability of waking up early had been instilled in him. Amos wasn't running from waking up early, he was running from the idea of something being wrong in his life.

The Demands of Society

Minnie Wright is a character from Her America and the wife of deceased Mr. Wright. The death of Mr. Wright was being looked into and the women were at the house to pick stuff to bring to Minnie. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discovered and made assumptions on what must’ve truly happened in the Wright’s house, but decided to keep it to their selves to protect Minnie because they saw how she was changed. They stuck up for Minnie because they knew she wouldn’t not stand a very good chance at a fair trial if they’re husbands were to know about the things they found. Minnie Wright had a really difficult time with individuality because her marriage changed her and made her an unhappy person. She was struggling with individuality because society expected her to be a perfect wife for her husband. Her husband that did not care much for her. She used to sing, wear nice clothes, and be cheerful, but she was not cheerful, wearing nice clothes or singing in the choir anymore. Society expects all women to be this ideal wife that doesn’t exist because a husband and wife do not agree on every topic and the wives have their own opinion. It’s hard to be this ideal person when the one you’re with is unappreciative. Minnie could’ve stayed a happy person if her husband respected her the same way she was expected to respect him. She could not conform to the expectations of society because that wasn’t who she was and what was expected of her made her break down.

Peters' Pressure

In Glaspell’s A Jury of Her Peers, Mrs. Peters is one of two jurors on the case of a woman being accused of murdering her husband. She’s a soft-spoken, polite woman who doesn’t want to be on the case, but must. On top of this, her husband is the sheriff who appears as a prime example of what a sheriff should be. The past-stereotype of “strong husband, oppressed, quiet wife” is very present throughout the story, relevantly with regard to both Mrs.Peters and the woman she’s juror of.  Mrs. Peters’ character arc is heavily influenced by her having lived this way for some time.

On one side, Mrs. Peters desires to remain her quiet self and not stray from her current public image. It’s the easiest thing and doesn’t provoke any sort of conflict or negative views from the majority of others. On the other side is what Mrs. Peters wants, and what she goes after. She finds out that the woman accused of killing her husband did in fact do it, but tries to prove her innocent. Mrs. Peters does this rather than telling the truth because the woman had been abused and controlled by her husband for a long time. She can relate and feels the murder was justified, so she pursues satisfaction towards her individuality, and deals with the negatives that occur as a result.

Mrs. Peters proves that she’s strong-willed by taking the difficult path. She fights, lies, and struggles for her fellow oppressed women. While the case is based on one woman, Mrs. Peters actions are for all of them.

Escaping from the Cage

Minnie Wright fell into social conformity when she married Mr. Wright. At that time it was expected that you marry, a woman without a husband was seen as an outcast. But the worst part was that once she did marry she lost herself to the expectations of a wife and woman at that time. She lost her happiness, her joy, her smiles, and most importantly her love to sing. These expectations that her husband held for her, led her to become a person she would have never thought she would have become. "That rocker didn't look in the least like minnie Foster- the Minnie Foster of twenty years before. It was a dingy red, with wooden rungs up the back and the middle rung was gone, and the chair sagged to one side," Susan Gaspell used the chair as an example of what had happened to Minnie once she married Mr. Wright. He looked down on her, seeing her only as an asset instead the person she really was. There was no equality between them, he held himself higher than her, and that was not going to change. But these were all things that were expected at that time, women were not seen equally, and men were not expected to see women other than as their house maid and mother of their children.

Killing her husband (although that is not the right thing to do) was the only way she could really escape from the darkness of being confined in the cage of her marriage. At that time it was looked down to divorce your husband, actually it was probably not even allowed. Because if a woman brought up the idea to leave her husband he would see that as a way of taking his authority away, the authority only males were able to have at that time. Anyways, Minnie was stuck in a trap of gender expectations at that time, bringing her to ultimately snap and kill the man who had taken away her spirit.

Sketchy Mr. Blatchford

In Susan Glaspell’s book, “Her America ‘A Jury of Her Peers’ and Other Stories” I found Mr. Blatchford to be in a bit of a struggle with individuality and conformity.  One such instance came when he agreed to take care of Clara for Miss Dorothy Ainsley.  Mr. Blatchford lets on that he has feelings for Dorothy and the reader finds out that his views reflect the societal expectation that men should get married.  This made me feel like Mr. Blatchford conforms to the idea of wanting to be the traditional family man, not someone that just wants to have “fun”.  The fact that Mr. Blatchford decided to take care of Clara for Miss Dorothy is shocking.  As Mr. Blatchford makes his way back home with the cat nestled in his coat, he receives strange looks from a cop, as well as from two ladies on the subway.  The funny thing is how we come to find out that while he carries this feline, it makes Mr. Blatchford look like the complete opposite from what his character normally looks like.  For instance, even when he heads upstairs when he first arrives at home with the cat, the sentence reads, “…as the key turned, and, with glances of fear to right and left, he stole stealthily up the stairs he had never before ascended with anything but manly tread” (26).  Basically, Mr. Blatchford is used to walking tall, not skulking about.  He tries so hard to keep his composure in public while smuggling this cat, that he ends up standing out not as the well-respected man he normally appears to be, but as a sort of hoodlum or suspect to a crime.

Money Isn't Everything

           Amos Owens, an extremely anxious man in Susan Glaspell's book, Her America, really reassured me that money isn't everything. With society today, you have to have money to do pretty much anything or go anywhere. Also, society sees rich people as happier because they can afford all these luxurious and nice things. However, I truly believe that money is not the key element to happiness. Amos Owens did everything he could to be filthy rich, which he did succeed in doing, but he was never truly happy. Owens was constantly paranoid and anxious about having money and even got upset when he saw that his wife and children were spending his money. He grew up this way thanks to his mom making him provide for her. Even when he finally bought the fish company and then sold it for a great sum of money he was still paranoid of losing his money. He was still waking up at 3:30 in the morning and still wandering the streets after his work was finished. One sentence that really stood out was how the numerous number of houses with their shades pulled down does something to you (135). Owens was lonely because everyone was sleeping but he was awake because of being so worried about money.
            Amos's story struck home because he reminds me of my boyfriend's father. He is an extremely well-off man but he is the most narcissistic and lonely person I know. He created this because of how in love his is with his money. He had no true and loving relationship with his now ex-wife and has no true and loving relationship with his children. That relationship is strictly money. Just like Amos, he is lonely. He is happy with his money but always wants more and is constantly thinking about it just like Mr. Owens. Society in 1918 and 2014 seem to be similar in thinking that money will buy you happiness and give you all that you need. In reality, money can take over someone's mind and completely control and destroy you. The anxiety of money had literally killed Amos and has also figuratively killed a father.
           Mr. Owens also struggled with conforming to the times that other people woke up. He woke up so early but others slept in. This made him extremely lonely and like I said above, even the shades being closed on houses was a bad feeling. However, because he was so used to and grew up this way, it made sense to him. He couldn't sleep in even if he tried. People thought him to be strange and weird just because of the time that he woke up. He was so obsessed with money that it made sense to wake up at 3:30 in the morning but others didn't see it that way such as his wife and children. He couldn't conform and this is one of the reasons why he ended up killing himself.

Early riser, money saver, and tragic fall

Amos Owens in “Beloved Husband”, was a hardworking man that had issues with anxiety. For years he would get up at 3:30 am to deliver papers when he was 10 to then having to catch the 4 am train to take the fish off the train and put it on ice. We was always worried about money. His mother kept instilling in him that he always had to work and provide for her. When we got the job at the fish company, wanted to eventually buy it. He wanted to be able to invest and put his savings into it but fought with himself and kept thinking that he was going to completely loose his money. When Amos finally bought the fish company he got married to Josie. They ended up having two kids named Walter and Edna. One morning he was up earlier then needed and went around to the rooms of everyone and noticed that they had each bought something new. He thought about this to the point of not focusing and falling on ice and breaking his ankle. After this he sold the fish company. He was still unable to sleep and not get up early. His body was just used to it and he didn’t want to change. He followed someone at the train the one morning and his neighbors couldn’t understand why he was doing what he was doing. His wife would always yell at him to let everyone sleep. Although they were pretty well off with money he stressed about it constantly. One day he was up and noticed that his wife, Josie, had purchased another dress and couldn’t understand why she would need another one after already having so many. He went to leave but before he did he went into his son’s room and took his gun. He went to the train station and noticed that there was no one there to get the fish from the 4 am train. As he ran back and forth to try to find someone, his anxiety and stress took over him and he ended up killing himself. Although he didn’t know it, his funeral cost lots of money that he wouldn’t have wanted to spend. He had the struggle of fitting in at home and his community because of his anxiety and his need to keep a routine. He conformed to his own set of rules and structures and didn’t worry about what others thought but in the end that is what ended up killing him. 

Unveiling the Pressures of Society

I believe the story Unveiling Brenda is the perfect example of how societal expectations can stifle people’s lives. In this short story Peyton Root is a Harvard graduate who is pressured to ignore the feelings he begins to feel for a girl, Brenda, who is the daughter of a milkman. Because of his apprehension he is tormented by the thought of her until he finally has the courage to find out more about her. While his growing affection for this common girl causes quite the commotion among his peers at the University, he continues to see her and allows his feelings to grow even stronger. Brenda, is pressured herself by society as an outcast because of her upbringing. She has grown to take pride in the fact that she is considered to be wild and rebellious because it is rumored she was adopted or stolen from the gypsies. When not knowing her true background leads her on a quest to find out the true story of her birth and adoption by the Munroe family, Mr. Root follows her to a small town in Dakota. By the time he locates her in the small town of Waterburg, she has already discovered the truth of her biological parents. She is devastated by the fact that she is not a gypsy, she had come to accept the fact that that was who she was. She finds out that she is the daughter of a well-respected shop owner and had a mother who was a Sunday school teacher. Under normal circumstances this would be wonderful information but after years of identifying herself with the whispers that she was a gypsy she is disappointed she turned out to be just a normal girl who was orphaned at an early age. She had been judged by society for all those years and finds out it was all just the rambling of those who chose to judge her because she was different.

Lack of Individuality Leads to Conformity

I think that it’s interesting how the Glaspell depicts the character of George Henderson.  Often throughout the text he seems to be small minded.  Since he is a lawyer, he is part of the prosecution that was assigned to find evidence to assist in proving that Minnie indeed had murdered her husband.  He certainly appears to be upholding to his lawyer title, with regards to how society tends to perceive lawyers to be.  By this, I mean usually lawyers are portrayed to be rude, slimy people.  All throughout Her America whenever George speaks or questions anything, there seems to be a very sarcastic tone to his voice.  His obvious sarcasm is most present when he interacts with the woman of the story when he seems to dismiss their views as almost inferior.  However, when one considers the time that the story was written it was almost a social norm that woman weren’t respected in general.  So when one considers this, it is obvious that George isn’t breaking social norms with regards to his lack of respect for the woman’s valid opinions about the case throughout the novel.  He really conforms to the social pressures in my opinion when he does this and that clearly is related to his lack of individuality.  I’d say that had he been at least more willing to hear out the woman’s thoughts on the case perhaps he might have a sense of individuality, but alas he seems to be too stuck in his ways to ever change.