Jan: A Trifle Between Her Peers

Jan C. Navarro

Professor Cynthia Pittmann

ENGL 3103-134

6 March 2018

A Trifle Between Her Peers: Comparing “Trifles” and “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell

            Before we begin analyzing the concept of the stories themselves we can compare the two literary works just by looking at them briefly. To start off, “Trifles” is written in the format of a play, a play is meant to be acting in front of an audience, with the help of props, lighting, music, and tone of the actors. It also helps the fact that it’s being acted out since the audience won’t have to imagine how or where the scene is taking place since it shows it perfectly. Now if we look at the way that “Trifles” was written, and we compare it to the way “A Jury of Her Peers” is written we can see a great difference between these two. 

After reading the two lectures written by Susan Glaspell, titled “Trifles” and “A Jury of Her Peers”, it’s possible to notice many similitudes and some remarkable differences. Both lectures are in literary context the same one, both have the same plot and message but, the main difference is the structure in where they were written. “Trifles” have a play structure in which every character has a line and stage instructions, it’s the constant dialogue between the characters which developed the plot of the story. In a play the actions and gestures of the character are a key part to understand the intention and the real purpose of their words. Instead, “A Jury of Her Peers” is written in short story structure. The whole story is organized in paragraphs and it provides more details and information to the reader. In the short story isn’t necessary the performance of any character to understand their role, the same reading gives you an insight and the necessary details to comprehend their intentions. I read first “Trifles” and it was kind of difficult and ambiguous for me appreciate the tone and personalities of each character. I couldn’t establish the role and the mood of the characters, it was so messed up and all over the place without centering any of the characters of the play. In contradistinction to the play, when I read the short story everything was totally clear and understandable. With the short story I could notice the meaning of every character and their way to think to the situations and moments presented in the story. A perfect example is when Mrs. Hale was worried of the declarations that could say her husband. “She hoped he would tell this straight and plain, and not say unnecessary things that would just make things harder to Minnie Foster”. In the play I couldn’t notice her concern about unnecessary declarations from her husband.  

     The titles are another difference that can be mentioned by any reader at first sight. The title differences are very useful to contrast the focus between both lectures. In the play the little things and details are the focal points through the whole text, that’s why the title “Trifles” fits perfectly with the intention of the play. Are those little details which guide the reader through the whole text to create and predict the possible denouement of the story? But “Trifles” is also related to the point of view of the men about the women role and their work, it is more of a symbolic title. An example of this is when the three men go into the kitchen and start criticizing the aspect of Mrs. Wright ‘s kitchen. “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles”. “Not much of housekeeper, would you said, ladies?” The short story has the same plot but a different focus because in this case, the characters of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are the focal point. Like I said previously, the short story allows for more descriptions and information about the character’s feelings and relationship with the other characters of the story. The short story is centered in the interpretation that both women had of all to the success of the story, there were giving their judgment of the murder according to their findings and perceptions. In other words, the short story “A Jury of Her Peers”, entirely describe the judgment given by the two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, about the murder of John Wright.

     Even though both lectures have the same plot, the content management is quite different. In the short story, there are descriptions that facilitate the reading and the concepts of the story. The setting is one of the primordial factors to make possible the imagination of the background and the place in which the story takes places, and the short story has a better description of the setting than the play. In the short story, the setting is described as a lonesome place with an unpleasant weather. “It looked very lonesome this cold March morning.  It had always been a lonesome looking place.” In the play, the setting isn’t presented with the primordial key details, and it leaves a lot to the imagination for the reader.

     In conclusion, I could say that, for reading purposes, the short story is much more effective than the play. The story written in a paragraph contains very important information that is necessary to understand the plot of the story at maximum. For reading, purposes are more effective give a few clues and details that help him to appreciate the real intentions of the author, while in the play those clues are expressed by the actors who perform the characters. In addition, in the short story, the thoughts and emotions of the characters are presented in an explicit way, which make everything more easily and concordant.