Gender Roles in A Jury Of Her Peers and Trifles by Susan Glaspell Twentieth-century society assigns few stereotypical roles to men and women. Men are no longer the sole breadwinners, as they once were, and women are no longer the sole housewives. The roles are often reversed or, in the case where both parents work, the old roles are completely irrelevant. Many literary works deal with gender roles and their effect on society as a whole or on the individual as a person. “A Jury Of Her Peers” and Trifles, both written by Susan Glaspell, are literary works that deal with socially gendered roles in the early 19th century. The two plays are almost exactly similar in that the dialogue from "A Jury Of Her Peers" becomes the actor's line in Trifles. Gender roles in the early 1900s placed women in the kitchen, serving meals, baking bread, and preserving fruit and jellies. She was also expected to be a mother to her children and a caretaker to her husband. The man, on the other hand, had to take care of his family, providing for the house and the food that his wife would prepare. Often, when gender plays too large a role in a family, communication is lost. The husband cannot see a person when he looks at his wife. This was the case with "A Jury Of Her Peers" and Trifles. The men totally ignored the thoughts and roles of their wives and, therefore, missed the whole point of the real motive behind Mr. Wright's murder. The social divide between men and women in the early 1800s provided the basis for Glaspell's story, "A Jury Of her Peers" and his play, Trifles. In 1917, when "A Jury Of Her Peers" was written, women were the housewives. Even if Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale adapt to the domestic context... in the center of the card... her husband will also be her salvation. Works Cited and Consulted Glaspell, Susan. "A jury of his peers." Literature and the writing process. Eds. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day and Robert Funk. 4th edition. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 1996. 293-307.Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Literature and the writing process. Eds. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day and Robert Funk. 4th edition. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 1996. 999-1008.Glaspell, Susan. "Trifles." Comedies by Susan Glaspell. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., 1920. Reprinted in Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. XJ Kennedy and Dana Gioia Eds. New York: Harper Collins Publisher, 1995. Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Ed. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 127-137.