In Rice's play (that I'd like to call a short novel - 143 pages! cmon!) we get to see the beginnings of a capitalist America that are more visible today than at any other time. I'd even go as far as to say that the play is timeless because the theme is as relevant now as it was in the 1920's. This is the life of "Everyman," as he struggles to make ends meet, stuck in a thankless job that numbs the brain, with a nagging housewife at home. I like the desperation that Rice creates by forcing Zero into inescapable corners. A lot of us have faced the disruption of family life as a result of downsizing. I know I have. It's difficult to come to terms with the fact that ultimately at the end of the day, to the behemoth corporation, the individual is nothing more than a profit or a loss in the monthly report. A number. You're either a 1 or a Zero. I like Rice's portrayal of the destruction of human values. How much is too much? Does an entire lifetime of loyalty, or in this case, servitude, deserve a cold dismissal? How could the boss not know the name of the employee who had never missed a single day of work? An eye for an eye - a death for a death. And then, a surreal world that can never meet with a single moment of reality. Unrequited love doesn't necessarily come with a romantic connotation. Why is it that what we want the most is exactly what we can never have?
What happens when loneliness consumes every waking moment of someones life? When a free spirit is caged and stifled, and forced into suffocation? When all that one wants is a little love and a little attention, and receives nothing but abandonment? I think Susan Glaspell answers these questions very well in her story, A Jury of Her Peers. From the distraught Minnie Foster on the sagging rocking chair, the kitchen in a heap of disarray, to the dead canary stuffed in a box, the story is replete with tragedy and vivid symbolism. The beauty, I thought, was in the subtle hints and clues dropped through out the story that Glaspell obviously intends for the readers to piece together.
The real story hides between the lines, with the characters slowly revealing their compassion for Minnie. It is often said that a woman understands another woman's pain best, and Martha Hale rising to Minnie's defense certainly proves this right. Between locked eyes, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters speak volumes to each other in trying to grasp Minnie Foster's motives for possibly killing her husband.
As far as symbolism goes, a couple of my favorites were the dead canary and the broken cage. The canary most likely symbolises the free spirit trapped in a cage, and the broken cage quite possibly was a prop to signify the freedom from entrapment. Minnie's absence from the scene was perhaps most important in order for the reader (and the characters) to realize that she may have killed her husband. But the only question that stands is, what broke her? Does a lifetime of unhappiness justify taking a life?
All said and done, I thought the climax was a little too open ended to interpretation. Was it the lady or the tiger?
Who would have thought that a hair cut might have served as a central theme for a literary story. A Fitzgerald story, no less. Rapunzel maybe, but this is college, I said. Well, not necessarily. The best part about being a Literature major is that I get to read work written by some of the best authors around, and get credit for it. Bernice Bobs Her Hair revealed the vanity of the upper crust society and the toll it takes on human nature and behavior. In the midst of taunts, segregation, and an emphasis on physical beauty, Fitzgerald's protagonist emerges with a complete about face to laugh back in the faces of her tormentors. So to speak. Personally, I was cheering Bernice all along, especially when she butchered off Marjorie's hair, but what truly caught my eye was the sheer vengefulness of it all. The irony is self evident, but I felt that Bernice took one extra step out of bounds after discovering her self confidence. Granted it was funny, but was there really a need to scalp the cousin? Hair is hair after all. It generally tends to grow back.
Another interesting theme that stood out was the mocking of societal conventions. The "rules" that people devote their entire lives to. Why is that a sweet, wholesome character is labeled a country bumpkin? Perhaps age is the reasoning. As Fitzgerald says, "at eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide."