Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers by Diego

Diego E. Ruiz Ruperto

Professor Cynthia Pittmann

Intermediate English 3104 - 134

8 May 2018

Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers

The play Trifles and the short story A Jury of Her Peers are very similar in their essence, they present a fairly identical situation and are written by the same author, they differentiate in their style of writing. These similarities and differences allow us, as readers, to feel the contrast between two styles of writing and expression. While reading, key differences like the development of the story with its exposition of events, setting, and descriptions of characters are noticed. When reading the play, you follow the story through the characters words and have other details that a narrator can miss in a short story but likewise in a play you can miss other details like the background story of the characters, events, and details of situations. The play is like a “raw” representation of the situation were many times you have to analyze more thoroughly the characters expressions to decipher their true meanings and background.

The setting of the story is well described in the play at the beginning of the scene. The description of the house, given at the beginning, also sets partly the mood of the situation. Referring to the house as “gloomy” and a kitchen “left not being put in order” can also foreshadow of what one might expect of the play, contrary to the short story, these details are not given so directly but they are given in the development of the story. Marking a primary difference between the styles because in the play you have many details at the beginning of the work that in the short story you get through the development of it.

Reading the play, the events are exposed through the characters words, in a way that can be catalogued as “raw” in comparison to the short story were the situation is presented in a “digested” way. For example, in Trifles, when the County Attorney arrives to the scene, that he is talking with Mr. Hale, Mr. Hale begins to give details of the situation through his words. Different from the short story which is narrated based on what happened and is more of a “walkthrough” the situation. The short story is narrated in a third person omniscient point of view, so the narrator can give additional details of ideas that the characters might be thinking of. This adds to a better understanding because the narrator can say details from the past to make a background. In the play, characters can’t express details of background, or give much context because they are in their present and are affronting the situations, this shortens their space to do so and makes the reader have to analyze the words more so they can “decipher” their true meaning.

Both styles have key concepts that help better understand their stories. The play sets the scene from the beginning which can motivate a reader to continue reading because of the elements it can foreshadow and the mood it can set. In contrast to the short story were you can identify the mood and other elements in the development of it. Like in this case were Trifles establishes the setting, the mood and other details at the beginning of the play while in A Jury of Her Peers, these elements are set through the story. The “walkthrough” structure of short stories, is great to better understand the stories elements because of the concepts used in its writing. The “raw” form of a play can afar readers from it because since its nature is a script and dialogue, it can be harder to read because of the switch between characters while reading. Different from the short story which is made in a paragraph form, making the process of reading more likeable.

Works Cited

Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Publisher Not Identified, 2014.

“A Jury of Her Peers -- Full Text.” Annenberg Learner,

www.learner.org/exhibits/literature/story/fulltext.html.