Literature Analysis of Characters

Name

Institution

Introduction

The story Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell features Martha and Mrs. Peter as the main characters in the short story. As the author narrates the story, there are key themes and traits which emerge that contribute to the development of the story and the protagonist such as the marriage conflicts, friendship, secrecy, scandals, and male-chauvinism and aggression. In brief, the authors of Two Kinds and Jury of Her Peers aim to show how the main characters have unresolved issues they did not know about their live until they engage in confrontations.

Character Analysis in Jury of Her Peers and Two Kinds

As the author narrates the story, these key features will advance the plot and help the reader to learn more about the protagonists. When the story begins, we learn that Martha is happily staying in the comfort of her home. She appears to be loving and supportive to her husband until he requests her to assist him to gather personal belongings of Minnie Wright, who had been jailed because she was suspected that she had murdered her husband. Major developments take place when George Henderson, the county attorney, Sheriff Peters and the two women visit the isolated farm house to gather evidence that would incriminate Minnie. However, they do not find any evidence because Martha and Mrs. Peter cover for Minnie hiding the dead carnage. Initially, we understand that Martha and Mr. Peter kept stayed distant for years because Minnie was aggressive. Martha laments that, “she still thought of her as Minnie Foster, though for twenty years she had been Mrs. Wright”. The discussion of Minnie and her husband used to fight as couples becomes the turning point of the two women because of their marriage conflicts. They realize that they are treated just as housewives by their husbands and men had been male chauvinists. They remember that even though Minnie was aggressive, they had been good friends since childhood and this makes them to hide the evidence in favor of Minnie. Mrs. Peter “…threw back the quilt pieces, got the box, tried to put it in her handbag” (Glaspell, 2012).

In the second story of Two Kinds by Amy Tan, the main characters are June and Suyuan. The centre of the plot of the story is the power struggle between a mother and her daughter. Throughout the story, June maintains a relentless and defiant character while her mother maintains a patronizing attitude. The conflict between what the mother wants June to be in future and what June wants for herself as her career develops the story till the end. For example, Suyuan tries to coach June to become a Chinese Shirley Temple but she decline and want to become a pianist. We learn that the conflict is used by the two characters to hide their pains at first; it makes them having emotional outbursts which makes them to achieve contentment. June comments, “Pleading Child” was shorter but slower;”Perfectly Contented” (Bloom, 2009).

Some flat characters in the two stories have helped to develop the plot. In Jury of Her Peers, minor characters such as Harry (Mrs. Hales eldest son) and John Wright (the murdered man) help to develop the characters of the main characters. For John Wright, although he is not physically, present his death and the investigations make the main characters to redefine their attitudes towards men. Harry acts as an intersection into the interrogation where his mention of the telephone paves way for Mrs. Hales to describe the event on the day john write was murdered. Although Harries does not tell the story, he introduces Mrs. Hales to give an account of the events that acknowledge Martha and Mrs. Peter that the county attorney would be looking for incriminating evidence since it was hard to pin down a woman without hard evidence. We can learn that Harry is a hard working man and was not around when John Wright was murdered. As a result, this paves way for Mrs. Hales to narrate the event. John Wright was a quarrelsome to her wife; as a result, they result fight that leads to him being murdered by his wife and the subsequent investigations that attracts the two main characters-Martha and Mrs. Peter (Glaspell, 2012).

In Two Kinds, Auntie Lindo and Uncle Tin are examples of flat characters. They were both skeptic that June would thrive in playing piano. They maintained a skeptic look while June poorly played the piano that after finishing her performance, they did no applaud her. The discouragement from the Auntie Lindo and Uncle Tin led to the final blow of the conflict between June and her mother; eventually resolving their conflicts (Bloom, 2009).

Conclusion

The two narratives are very illustrative of the characters who do not know that they have unresolved issues that have never been disclosed for long time. However, they engage in confrontations that make them to discover their true identities and to resolve their differences.

References

Bloom, H. (2009). Amy Tan, New Edition. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing

Glaspell, Susan. (2012). Jury of Her Peers. Annenberg Learner. Retrieved from:

http://www.learner.org/interactives/literature/story/fulltext.html