Society has often ignored or devalued gender equality and gender justice over the years. This includes men, as well. These points are made evidently throughout the short stories Lamb to Slaughter and A Jury of her Peers. Susan Glaspell focuses on Mary Maloney’s intelligence of getting off with murder. Mrs. Hale portrays Mary as a simple and guileless woman. Mrs. Peters focuses her understanding of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Peters towards understanding the significance of the evidence regarding Minnie Wright’s motives. Although they focus on different motives for their deaths, the stories both show how women can be more intelligent and insightful than what society has made of them. Because both Mrs. Maloney was surrounded and surrounded by males, her knowledge of each situation has been devalued. Mary Maloney wasn’t accused of murdering her husband. The motives of the killer were not known to the women, who were able to discover them. Mary Maloney serves as a domestic housewife and caregiver. She was described as a loyal, naive woman who loved her husband with all her heart. “She knew that he was not interested in speaking much until she had finished her first drink. He was a man she loved and allowed her to indulge in his company. She was upset when her husband asked her to leave her. Mary Maloney managed to manipulate the situation and the policeman to investigate. There was no trace that her husband had been murdered. Men underestimated Mary Maloney and assumed that the victim was a man. “Get your weapon. You’ve got the guy.” This again shows how Mary Maloney was under-estimated by her husband. Similarity. The intelligence of the men who found meaningful motives for Minnie Wright’s murder are undervalued by the women of A Jury of her Peers. He laughed at the insignificance and said that “the sheriff” had also looked all around. This illustrates how men believed that the kitchen was insignificant as it was only for women. However, the two women found all the evidence necessary to prove the crime. It is obvious that both Mrs. Maloney was and A Jury of her Peers’ women were undervalued of what they knew and not treated as equals by men. However the women were able convey that women are smarter, more intelligible than what men see. Mary Maloney for instance, who was depicted as a loving, naive husband, was able manipulate the situation and pretend that she did nothing to be suspicious of the men around. “Through her crying, she heard a few whispered sentences- “acted normal, cheerful, wanted a good supper and peas. Smart enough to hand the lamb leg to the men she loved so that it would not leave a trace. She outsmarted all police officers. Similarity. The women of “A Jury of her Peers”, the two women of the group, were able to outsmart their male counterparts by gathering more concrete evidence of Minnie’s motives for her husband’s death. “That look, that ability to see into things, and of seeing through an object to another, was now in the eyes of her husband’s sheriff.” After finding the motive for Minnie Wright’s death, the women felt compassion for Wright and kept the evidence that they could not find to their own benefit. The stories showed that both women were able surpass the traits men expected of them.
The conclusion is that even though Mary Maloney was devalued of her knowledge and overlooked in the eyes of men, Mary Maloney’s and the women of A Juy of her Peers were able to show that women can be more insightful and smarter than men due to the injustice of gender role. These women proved that gender roles don’t determine intelligence. You don’t have to be a man or woman to express opinions and take actions that are different from yours.
Works cited
Glaspell, Susan. “A Jury of His Peers.” Best Short Stories of 1917. Yearbook of the American Short Story. Ed. Edward O’Brien was a renowned figure. Boston: Small, Maynard and Co. published a book in 1918. 256. LitFinder. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.
Dahl, Roald. “Lamb to the Slaughter,” a tale included in The World’s Best Short Stories: Anthology & Criticism. Vol. Vol. 5: Mystery and Determination. Roth Publishing Inc. of Great Neck, New York released a publication in 1991. 58. The Most Exceptional Series. LitFinder. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.
