Minnie Foster in A Jury of Her Peers epitomizes the
struggles a woman faces when she gets married and is forced to give up her
identity and conform to society’s expectations of a married woman. Minnie Foster used to be happy and full of
life. She wore pretty clothes and loved
to sing in the choir (89). Mrs. Hale
tells the sheriff’s wife that she should have seen Minnie Foster back “when she
wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang”
(96).
All
that changed when Minnie Foster got married and became Mrs. Wright. She gave up her identity and was forced to succumb
to society’s expectations of her as a wife.
She traded in her name for one that identified her as nothing more than
belonging to her husband. She gave up
her pretty clothes for shabby ones. Her husband
killed her love of singing (95). He killed
her spirit. She spent her time taking
care of her husband and her home. That was
all she had left. Minnie Foster was gone
and Mrs. Wright was just a shell of a person.
She was defined by how well she did fulfilling the expectations of her
as a wife. Even the county attorney
seems to make all of his assumptions about Mrs. Wright based on the state of
her house. He finds a sticky mess from
jars of fruit that burst and dirty towels and makes quick judgments about what
kind of a housekeeper Mrs. Wright is (86).
Why is it automatically assumed that a wife is a housekeeper too? That is not what Minnie Foster signed up for
when she got married. Eventually all of
this pressure to be something that she was not forced Mrs. Wright to snap and
kill her husband. Being society’s idea
of a perfect wife was just too much to bear.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteIf I was Minnie Wright I probably would've snapped too because of how she was treated and how much she changed as a person. She had the life sucked out of her and was expected to act like someone she wasn't. The bird portion was an interesting twist because of how he died and how the husband died. She once was happy, but became someone other than herself after she got married to Mr. Wright. In the end, you can say she got her revenge for the person she became. I think the whole wives were supposed to keep up the house came from the thinking that women were, and still are, seen as nurturers.
Amanda I agree with you, Minnie's whole identity changed once she married her husband. It is sad to think that this does happen in real life. I am sure we have all witnessed someone that used to love life and thinks their life will be even better with their husband just to find out that he will destroy her mentally and change her into something different. If the community didn't know much about Minnie this story wouldn't be such an impact. However, since many characters discussed Minnie' personality of singing, loving life and caring about herself before marriage it makes you second guess the social norm and realize it isn't always the best decision.
ReplyDeleteThis story was a perfect example of how people are quick to judge those they know little about. The Sheriff and the county attorney knew very little about Minnie and feel they can make judgments based on her home and how it is kept. Luckily Mrs. Hale is there to provide the Sheriffs wife with information about how Minnie came to end up in the situation she is in. Together they discover the secrets that Minnie was keeping and why she came to such drastic measures.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that Minnie completely changed as a person when she was married. I think its really annoying as well that wives are automatically assumed as a housekeeper. I think we have sort have gotten away from this a bit as more women are working and not staying home however I believe the social expectation will always be there.
ReplyDelete