Oppression of Women in Marriage
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A Jury of Her Peers and The Story of an Hour are both short stories written by women that shed light on how was the relationship between men and women, and marriage at the time the stories were written. A Jury of Her Peers was written by the journalist Susan Glaswell in 1917, while The Story of an Hour was published in 1894, by the author Kate Chopin.
Conflict: Women versus Men
In both stories, women feel oppressed by men. In A Jury of Her Peers, we know how they are oppressed by the way men treat the women in the story, always disregarding their opinions and judging their housework as something with no value. The sheriff showed his despise for it: “‘Nothing here but kitchen things,’ he said with a little laugh for the insignificance of kitchen things (Glaspell 587).” The narrator’s husband said, “But would women know a clue if they did come upon it? (Glaspell 588)” Ironically, the women were able to find out the motive of the murder while investigating in the kitchen. Because of their demeaning attitude, the sheriff and the attorney were not able to see the clues and find the information that could solve the case.
In The Story of an Hour, we understand how the protagonist feels oppressed not by the way she is treated, but by the way she reacts to the news her husband died in a train accident. She cries and feels sad at first, but then she realizes she is going to be free. She thinks “There will be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature (Chopin 570).”
Denouement
In both stories, there is the death of a husband. In A Jury of Her Peers, it was murder. Mrs.Wright, his wife, and the main suspect says: “He died of a rope around his neck (Glaspell 586).” In The Story of an Hour, the protagonist’s husband is presumed dead in a train accident, and his friend comes to bring the bad news: “It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of ‘killed’ (Chopin 569).”
This article by African feminist Olive Uwamariya, shows that in many parts of the world, women still live in marriages not much different from those in Victorian era. The author interviewed many women in rural Rwanda. Uwamariya says “These women spoke candidly about how they have to endure physically abusive, emotionally absent and financially depriving spouses. Many spoke about how they have to dim their light, compromise their careers, friendships and leisure time just to keep some peace at home.”
Setting
The setting of both stories is home, the place where women were supposed to be. In A Jury of Her Peers, most of the story takes place in the kitchen of a farmhouse, a place where women were used to spending most of their time. Mrs. Hale says “I’d hate to have men comin’ into my kitchen, snoopin’ round and criticizin’ (Glaspell 588).” It was in the humble kitchen that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters came upon a clue to the motive, and unveiled what made Mrs. Wright kill her husband, while the detective and the attorney were not able to find out any important information. In The Story of an Hour, the setting is also a house, but the protagonist spends most of the time in her room, thinking about how her life is going to change after her husband’s “death.” In this same house, the protagonist dies, after finding out her husband did not actually die (Chopin 570).
A Brief History of Marriage and Its ‘Unfeminist’ Origins is a video from 2020, by The Swaddle. It is scripted and presented by Rajvi Desai, who discusses the origins of marriage, its evolution, and how the patriarchal baggage still remains to this day. According to Desai, “Even in the most seemingly equal marriages today, the traditional roles still stick. We end up burdening the women with performing ‘wifey’ duties for the welfare of their husbands and their families. And most of the time, they end up shouldering the double burden of doing paid work outside the home and unpaid work at home. It is this entrenched notion of gender roles within marriages that we must try our hardest to dismantle.”
