A Jury of Her Peers quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which literary movement best describes "A Jury of Her Peers"?

   • Naturalism
   • Modernism
   • Gothic
   • Correct answer: Realism
   • Romanticism

   Realism is the best fit. Glaspell grounds the story in authentic rural Midwestern life with precise domestic details - preserved fruit, a broken stove, a half-sewn quilt. She uses these everyday objects to expose social inequalities and reveal psychological truth, hallmarks of American Realism.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Why did Mr. Hale go to the Wright farmhouse the morning John Wright was found dead?

   • Correct answer: He wanted to convince John Wright to share a telephone line with him
   • He was delivering groceries and supplies ordered by the Wrights
   • He had been summoned by Minnie Wright herself to come help her
   • He suspected foul play and wanted to check on Minnie Wright's safety

   Hale came to persuade John Wright to go in with him on a telephone line for their branch road. He hoped that bringing up the point before Wright's wife might help convince him - noting that Wright himself cared little for what his wife wanted.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What was Minnie Wright's maiden name - the name she had before she married?

   • Minnie Peters
   • Minnie Hossack
   • Correct answer: Minnie Foster
   • Minnie Henderson

   She was Minnie Foster before her marriage - and throughout the story Mrs. Hale keeps mentally referring to her as 'Minnie Foster,' the lively girl she once knew, not as 'Mrs. Wright,' the isolated woman she became.

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4. 4

   Question 4. According to Mrs. Hale, what was Minnie Foster like before her marriage to John Wright?

   • Quiet and reserved, rarely leaving home or socializing with neighbors
   • Correct answer: Lively and pretty, singing in the choir and wearing nice clothes
   • Ambitious and educated, always reading books and newspapers
   • Fearful and anxious, known for worrying about everything around her

   Mrs. Hale recalls that Minnie Foster was one of the town girls - sweet and pretty, sang real pretty in the choir, and wore nice clothes. Her transformation into the worn, isolated Mrs. Wright reflects twenty years of John Wright's suffocating influence.

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5. 5

   Question 5. How does Mrs. Hale describe John Wright's character to Mrs. Peters?

   • Violent and openly cruel, widely known in the community for his explosive temper
   • Correct answer: Decent on the surface - paid his debts and kept his word - but hard and cold as a raw wind
   • Generous and sociable, genuinely warm and well liked by most people in Dickson County
   • Lazy and irresponsible, neglecting both his farm work and his family's basic needs

   Mrs. Hale concedes that Wright didn't drink, kept his word, and paid his debts - the conventional markers of a good man. But she adds that he was 'a hard man' and compares being around him to a raw wind that gets to the bone. The story suggests his psychological cruelty was invisible to the outside world.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does the dead canary symbolize in the story?

   • Henderson's missing evidence of a violent intruder who came from outside and abandoned the bird
   • Minnie's carelessness as a housekeeper, showing she neglected the bird like her other duties
   • The ruined preserves in the cupboard, another domestic mess treated as unimportant kitchen evidence
   • Correct answer: Minnie Wright's murdered spirit, joy, and voice - killed by John Wright just as he killed her

   The canary symbolizes Minnie herself - once like her, 'real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and--fluttery.' Minnie used to sing; the bird sang for her. John Wright wrung the canary's neck just as he slowly strangled Minnie's spirit and joy over twenty years of isolation. The canary's wrung neck directly parallels John Wright's death by rope around his own neck.

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7. 7

   Question 7. How was the dead canary found - where was it hidden?

   • Correct answer: Wrapped in silk inside a pretty box in the sewing basket
   • Hidden underneath the preserves in the kitchen cupboard
   • Tucked among the aprons in the bottom cupboard drawer
   • Left in that isolated front room, too cheerless to linger in

   The canary was wrapped in a piece of silk and placed in a pretty box - the kind of box Mrs. Hale noted Minnie had probably kept since girlhood. Minnie had been preparing to bury her companion with care and tenderness.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What is significant about the sudden change in Minnie's quilt stitching?

   • It suggests poor eyesight meant she was struggling to see the fabric clearly
   • It shows she was merely tired, sewing poorly the way Mrs. Hale does when exhausted
   • Correct answer: The erratic stitching reveals her extreme distress at the time she was sewing
   • It proves Mrs. Hale had already replaced the bad stitching before anyone noticed

   The contrast between Minnie's normally dainty, accurate stitching and the sudden erratic block reveals her emotional state at a specific moment. The distracted, wild stitching communicates what she could not say aloud - she was in a state of extreme distress, likely after the canary was killed and before she killed John Wright.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Why do the men dismiss the women's observations about the kitchen as 'trifles'?

   • Because they already have Hale's story, so kitchen evidence cannot add anything useful
   • Because they expect a confession after Henderson's sarcastic speech about her story
   • Because they are corrupt officials trying to protect John Wright's reputation
   • Correct answer: Because they view women's domestic sphere as trivial and beneath serious notice

   The men dismiss the kitchen as the domain of women and therefore beneath serious investigative attention. Their condescension - laughing about preserves, mocking 'kitchen things,' joking about whether Minnie was going to 'quilt it or knot it' - blinds them to the actual evidence that would solve the case. Their sexist assumptions about what counts as important become their investigative failure.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What pattern was Minnie using for her quilt?

    • Flying geese
    • Nine-patch
    • Correct answer: Log cabin
    • Wedding ring

    The quilt uses a log-cabin pattern - Mrs. Hale identifies it when they spread the blocks out on the table. The 'log cabin' pattern carries ironic weight: the homely warmth its name evokes is exactly what Minnie's house never had.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Why do Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters ultimately decide to conceal the dead canary from the county attorney?

    • Correct answer: They understand Minnie's suffering, recognize the injustice she endured, and choose her over the law
    • They fear the evidence will be misread by the men and want to interpret it themselves first
    • They plan to use the canary as leverage to negotiate a lighter or reduced sentence for Minnie
    • They believe Minnie Wright is completely innocent and was wrongly accused of any crime

    Both women come to understand Minnie's suffering through their own experiences - Mrs. Peters' girlhood memory of her kitten being killed and her Dakota homesteading isolation, Mrs. Hale's guilt about never coming to visit. They form what scholars call a 'jury of her peers' and deliver a verdict of empathy over legal obligation, choosing the human truth of Minnie's trapped life over the formal demands of the law.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does "Tippet" mean in this story?

    • A bare neck left open, with no scarf, wrap, or covering worn at all
    • Correct answer: A small fur or cloth scarf worn around the neck and shoulders
    • A priest's long neck-scarf worn over church robes during a service
    • A heavy full-length cloak that covers the body from shoulders to ankles

    A tippet is a long narrow scarf or shoulder covering, often made of fur or cloth. Mrs. Peters hangs up her fur tippet when the women loosen their things in the warm kitchen - a detail that shows the story's careful attention to small domestic objects.

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13. 13

    Question 13. How does Mrs. Peters' attitude toward concealing the evidence shift across the story?

    • She begins firmly opposed to breaking the law and ends still firmly opposed to it
    • She starts eager to help conceal the evidence and gradually becomes reluctant
    • Correct answer: She begins cautiously law-abiding but gradually empathizes with Minnie and joins the concealment
    • She remains neutral throughout and lets Mrs. Hale make all the decisions alone

    Mrs. Peters begins deferentially repeating 'the law is the law' and reminding Mrs. Hale of their duty. But through the shared understanding of Minnie's isolation and the memory of her own kitten being killed, she crosses over. When the county attorney calls her 'married to the law,' she murmurs 'not - just that way' - and then desperately tries to hide the box herself, only to be stopped by her own inability to touch the dead bird.

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14. 14

    Question 14. What does "Acquiescence" mean in this story?

    • Careful legal determination that a person is innocent of a charge
    • Correct answer: Reluctant acceptance without open resistance or objection
    • Enthusiastic agreement expressed loudly and openly, without hesitation
    • Deliberate acquisition of property, possessions, or additional goods

    Acquiescence means quietly going along with something without openly objecting. Mrs. Peters' 'timid acquiescence' to the men's assumptions reflects her precarious position as the sheriff's wife - she has learned to defer. Her eventual defiance of this acquiescence at the story's end marks her transformation.

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15. 15

    Question 15. What does the Wright farmhouse's physical setting suggest about Minnie's life?

    • Correct answer: That the isolation, coldness, and cheerlessness of the place mirrored Minnie's imprisoned existence
    • That the remote location made it easy for John Wright to avoid paying his debts to neighbors
    • That the farm was typical of all rural homesteads in Dickson County at the time
    • That the Wrights were prosperous farmers who kept their distance from town by choice

    The farmhouse - set in a hollow, out of sight of the road, surrounded by lonesome-looking poplar trees, cold and cheerless - is a physical externalization of Minnie's inner state. The house's isolation enacts the social isolation John Wright imposed on her. The setting functions as a symbol of her entire trapped existence. Standing at the door, Mrs. Hale has 'a moment of feeling she could not cross that threshold' - and later admits, 'I've never liked this place.'

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16. 16

    Question 16. What is deeply ironic about the men's failure to find any evidence of motive?

    • The county attorney knows the motive all along but needs Minnie Wright's confession to proceed
    • The motive is clearly stated in John Wright's diary, which the men never think to look for
    • The men are actually excellent detectives who privately know the motive but choose not to say
    • Correct answer: Every piece of motive evidence is right in the kitchen the men dismiss as containing only 'trifles'

    The supreme irony is that every piece of motive evidence - the dead canary with its wrung neck, the broken bird-cage door, the erratic quilting, Minnie's worn clothes, the broken stove, the unfinished work - is sitting right in the kitchen the men have condescendingly dismissed as the domain of women and 'kitchen things.' Their sexist assumptions make them blind to the very evidence they need.

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17. 17

    Question 17. What does Mrs. Hale mean when she says: 'We all go through the same things - it's all just a different kind of the same thing'?

    • Correct answer: She means all women share the experience of domestic confinement, loneliness, and being undervalued
    • She means all murder cases have the same basic motive if you look closely enough
    • She means all farmhouses in Dickson County are similarly cheerless, isolated, and lonesome-looking places
    • She means all women do the same household chores, so Minnie's kitchen indicates nothing unusual

    Mrs. Hale articulates the core feminist insight of the story: that all women, regardless of their individual circumstances, share the common experience of being confined to the domestic sphere, having their labor dismissed as trivial, and enduring isolation and powerlessness. This shared experience is why she and Mrs. Peters 'understand' what the men cannot - and why they form a genuine 'jury of her peers.'

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18. 18

    Question 18. What does "Covert" mean in this story?

    • Anxious and nervous, easily startled by small disturbances
    • Formal and official, conducted according to legal procedure
    • Correct answer: Secret or concealed, not openly acknowledged or displayed
    • Generous and giving, sharing freely with others in the community

    Covert means secret or hidden from view. Mrs. Hale's covert glance at Mrs. Peters captures the story's central dynamic: the women's real investigation and the meaningful communication between them happens invisibly, in the spaces the men don't look - just as the domestic clues themselves are invisible to male eyes.

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19. 19

    Question 19. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • The county attorney and sheriff find physical evidence of a motive for the murder.

      Didn't happen

      The men find nothing useful - no evidence of an outside intruder and no motive. They spend the story looking upstairs and in the barn while the actual evidence sits in the kitchen.

    • Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discover a dead canary with its neck wrung.

      Happened

      They find the bird wrapped in silk inside a pretty box in Minnie's sewing basket - its neck wrung, mirroring the way John Wright was strangled.

    • Minnie Wright is present at the farmhouse during the investigation.

      Didn't happen

      Minnie is detained in town throughout the story. Her presence is felt entirely through her belongings, her unfinished work, and her neighbors' memories of her.

    • Mrs. Hale had visited the Wright farmhouse regularly over the past year.

      Didn't happen

      Mrs. Hale admits she hasn't been to the house in more than a year, and the guilt over this neglect drives much of her empathy for Minnie throughout the story.

    • The bird-cage has a broken door hinge, as if handled roughly.

      Happened

      Mrs. Peters notices the cage door has a hinge pulled apart, as if someone was rough with it - suggesting the violent moment when John Wright took the canary from its cage.

    • Mrs. Hale hides the box with the dead canary in her coat pocket.

      Happened

      When Mrs. Peters cannot bring herself to touch the dead bird, Martha Hale snatches the box and gets it into the pocket of her big coat just as the men return to the kitchen.

    • The county attorney says a sheriff's wife is 'married to the law.'

      Happened

      He says this with a chuckle, dismissing any need to supervise what Mrs. Peters takes from the house - not realizing she is about to defy the law he assumes she embodies.

    • The women tell the men about the dead canary after discovering it.

      Didn't happen

      They conceal the canary entirely. When asked about the bird-cage, they say the cat got it - though there is no cat.

    • Mrs. Peters recalls a childhood memory of a boy killing her kitten.

      Happened

      She tells Mrs. Hale that as a girl, a boy took a hatchet and killed her kitten before her eyes, and she would have hurt him if they hadn't held her back. This memory connects her to Minnie's rage and grief.

    • The men discover Minnie Wright's quilting and correctly read its significance.

      Didn't happen

      When the men overhear the women wondering whether Minnie was going to 'quilt it or knot it,' they laugh it off as a typical female preoccupation - they never examine the erratic stitching that reveals Minnie's emotional state.

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20. 20

    Question 20. Why is the story's title, 'A Jury of Her Peers,' deeply ironic for 1917 readers?

    • Because Minnie Wright was tried by a jury that included neighboring farm wives from Dickson County
    • Correct answer: Because women were legally excluded from serving on juries in 1917, yet the women judge most fairly
    • Because Minnie Wright demanded a jury trial instead of pleading guilty to the murder
    • Because the county attorney and sheriff formed an unofficial jury while searching the bedroom and barn

    The title is bitterly ironic: in 1917, women could not serve on juries in most U.S. states (women's suffrage itself wouldn't come until 1920). Yet Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters become the only true 'jury of peers' for Minnie - the only people who understand her life, her suffering, and her crime. The men who hold legal authority are the least qualified to judge her.

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