A Jury of Her Peers

Explain the irony of John Wright's name and the way he died.

Well, Mr. Wright was NOT Minnie's "Mr. Right".  He was cruel, angry, and intent on isolating her from her friends, family, and the things she enjoyed doing.  When she bought a bird to sing with as she used to sing in the church choir, he killed it by wringing its neck.  It is most fitting, then, that he should also be strangled.

The irony lies in "Wright" being translated to "right."  Mr. Wright did not treat his wife well at all.  He destroyed two very important parts of her life:  her love of singing and her pet canary, who provided her with so much joy with its singing.  Remember that when she was younger, her husband suppressed her love of singing, which had been one of her passions.  This soured her and crushed her spirit. After years of this type of abuse, the death of her canary was the last straw.  He had killed the one thing that she loved at that point, so he was, in fact, very wrong for treating her so badly.  It truly was a form of abuse.  Also, because he killed the bird by wringing its neck, it is ironic that he died by the same method.