Deconstructing Assumptions in A Jury of Her Peers

Abstract

A Jury of Her Peers is truly a small masterpiece. Set in limited rural community, it reaches far back to eons of lost history. From the vivid dramatic scenes and from the heart of a feminine reticence embedded in them, it seems that a desperate cry against injustice toward women echoes. The Minnie Foster who we never meet has an imposing spiritual presence from start to end. Her pitiful silence seems to lament the dark shadow of cruelty and suffering which has overwhelmed of the life of despondent women throughout history. Following her final, desperate attempt to defend herself from being wholly crushed she is subdued by a burden heavier than that from which she had tried to escape. From the rough unsympathetic hands of a husband she is put under the glaring stare of cold uncaring law. What becomes of her remains unknown, just as the lament of her pitiful cry for justice remains unfulfilled.