Student Question
What is the function of laughter in "A Jury of Her Peers"?
Quick answer:
In "A Jury of Her Peers," laughter underscores nervousness and irony, highlighting the tension surrounding the murder. Minnie's nervous laugh reveals her awareness of her husband's death, while Mrs. Peters' nervous laughter reflects her fear of the situation. Additionally, laughter exposes male condescension. The men dismiss the women's insights, laughing at "trifles" that turn out to be critical evidence, thus illustrating their ignorance and arrogance, central themes in the story.
Laughter serves two functions in Glaspell's otherwise dark story of a woman who kills her husband. First, laughter shows nervousness and irony. When Hale is relating his contact with Minnie Wright and her response to his asking about her husband, he says that
" 'she--laughed. I guess you would call it a laugh.' "
Of course, Minnie knows that no one will be talking to her husband again because she murdered him. She most likely laughs out of irony and also nervousness, thinking about how she will be treated when it's discovered why her husband isn't available.
Mrs. Peters, the more timid of the two women who go to the farmhouse, also laughs nervously. When Mrs. Hale and she discuss the manner in which Mr. Wright was killed, Mrs. Peters talks about how strange it is and then
"she [begins] to laugh; at sound of the laugh, abruptly stopped."
Obviously, Mrs....
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Peters does not laugh because she thinks that Mr. Wright's death is funny; she is simply nervous and rather frightened at the thought of someone killing another person in such a unique way.
Secondly, Glaspell employs laughter to illustrate the male characters' condescending attitude toward women. When the sheriff discusses the crime scene, he disdainfully looks around the kitchen and says,
" 'Nothing here but kitchen things,' . . . with a little laugh for the insignificance of kitchen things."
Shortly after this incident, he laughs again at his wife's foolishness at being concerned about "trifles"--which later end up being the evidence that men so desperately need but which the women cleverly hide.
What is the function of laughter in Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers"?
Laughter is primarily something that is used to highlight the ignorance and the arrogance of the men in this excellent short story. We are presented with a murder site and a group of bumbling men who try to work out a possible motive from it. However, it is the women, who are variously ignored, humoured and patronised by the men, who, through their unique insight into the world of kitchens, sewing and preserving, are able to work out the motive and thus hide it, protecting Minnie Wright from conviction. One example of their knowledge, which of course is completely ignored by the men, is the quilt that Minnie Wright had started. As Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters talk about whether she was going to quilt or knot it, the men walk in. Note there response:
"They wonder whether she was going to quilt it or just knot it!"
There was a laugh for the ways of women, a warming of hands over the stove, and then the county attorney said briskly, "Well, let's go right out to the barn and get that cleared up."
The central irony of the story is that the men, whilst they are so intent on trying to investigate the scene and find the motive, actually overlook the evidence that is right beneath their noses and laugh at the women and their knowledge which makes them successful where they fail. Thus laughter could be said to underline the male arrogance and patriarchy that is such a central theme of this story.