Wednesday, February 6, 2013
My Thoughts on A Jury of Her Peers
I think the main focus in A Jury of Her Peers is the conflict between morals and laws. And there are two characters that lean towards each side. Mrs Peters leans more toward the law side because she is "married to the law" and Mrs Hale leans more towards the moral side because she has known Minnie since they were young girls. In the end, morality won out but was that what should of happened? I mean John might of suppressed Minnie's complete personality and destroyed everything she loved but does that justify murder? I don't think it does, she should of ran. Now she has to live with a guilty conscience and if she gets found out life in prison or worse. One part of the story that caught my attention was how Mrs Hale blamed herself for Minnie's mistakes. I think they must of been closer friends in their younger years than the story tells. Although if the story was continued I think the sherifs wife would fold and tell about the bird resulting in all of the women getting arrested.
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Tyler- this is a very perceptive post. I think the underlying problem that this story holds is that we, as human beings, like to associate morality and the law. In an ideal world the laws would uphold our sense of morality. When they don't uphold it we have a choice- we can submit to the laws of the country or we can judge the laws by our own "higher law". both of these are dangerous options. If you're interested in this you should read Letter From a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King JR. You can google it and find it.
ReplyDeleteThe goal with all of this is to remember that if we believe there is a God who created the world, then we can rest assured that there is absolute truth and there IS a right answer to all situations. It's just sometimes we have to wrestle with it a bit before we see it. Keep searching:)