Feminist Analysis – Planning a Thesis Statement
In order to begin drafting your paper, you will need to form a working thesis statement. The thesis statement is the backbone of the analysis, and the rest of the essay should work to back up this statement. A great thesis needs to make an arguable statement about the text, so this is where you can draw from your notes, questions, and new interpretations.
Your thesis will likely be closely related to the theme you developed while inventing, but it is more specific to the work. The thesis statement for a literary analysis essay is also more specialized than a generic thesis. It includes the author’s name, the title of the work, the theme, and a method of development.
Your thesis statement needs to be specific. If we were to use Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers’ for example, you wouldn’t want to say, “Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” deals with sexism. That statement is far too vague. Choose something specific and arguable. For instance,“Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” illustrates how women’s confinement to the home sphere creates a shared female experience that men cannot understand.” This statement is clear, arguable, and specific.
It’s important to remember that your thesis may change over the course of developing your essay. This may only be your starting point, but it could also remain the same.
My thesis evolution
My thesis went through many changes during the drafting process, from vague statements of my initial ideas to a conscise thesis dependent on theory.
My Initial Thesis
Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” illustrates how women may be swayed by patriarchal views if they are trusted by men, but that women’s confinement to the home sphere creates a shared female experience that ultimately wins out because men cannot understand it.
My Second Thesis
Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” illustrates how women’s moral judgement is influenced by the authority of men and how a shared female experience gives insight that is ultimately more important to women’s moral judgement.
My First Introduction and Third Thesis Attempt
It is easy to see the sexist discrimination in Susan Glaspell’s 1927 short story “A Jury of Her Peers”. The men overtly belittled and laughed at the women, who are clearly uncomfortable in their presence. But how does this obvious gender dynamic play into the women’s ultimate decision to cover up evidence and become co-conspirators in a murder? The answer lies in feminist justice theory, and the idea that women are more concerned with the care when it comes to moral decisions. Mrs. Peters’ wavering decision to convict Minnie Foster illustrates the influence of male authority on women’s judgement and how care is ultimately more important to women’s morals.
My Fourth Thesis Attempt
It is easy to see the sexism in Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers”. In this 1927 short story, inspired by a true case of a woman who ax murdered her husband, the men overtly belittle and laugh at the women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. When the two women accompany the men to the scene of the crime, they are deemed incapable of helping to solve the case: “Mr. Hale rubbed his face after the fashion of a showman getting ready for a pleasantry. ‘But would the women know a clue if they did come upon it?”’(8) However, it is the women who, through attention to small details and an understanding of women’s experience, discover evidence that would prove Minnie Foster guilty of her husband’s murder. Ultimately they decide to conceal these signs of motive. So how does the obvious gender dynamic play into the women’s complicity in manslaughter? The answer lies in feminist justice theory, and the idea that women have a different orientation than men when it comes to moral dilemmas.
Author of “A Different Voice” Carol Gilligan advances one feminist justice theory that explains the women’s decision. According to Gilligan, women have a care orientation when it comes to moral issues as opposed to a justice orientation. This means that, unlike men, women view relationships as more important to making ethical decisions. Gilligan explains that “With the shift in perspective from justice to care, the organizing dimension of relationship changes from inequality/equality to attachment/detachment, reorganizing thoughts feelings, and language so words connoting relationship like “dependence” or “responsibility” or even moral terms such as “fairness” and “care” take on different meanings”(34). When deciding whether or not to incriminate Minnie, the women take into account the nature of her relationship with her husband John, which is important to their care moral-orientation. When Mrs. Peters’ wavers in her decision making process, it illustrates the influence of male authority and male-dominated justice-moral legal system on women’s judgement. In choosing not to convict Minnie despite the dominant view of justice, the women take an anti-patriarchal stand.
My Final Thesis
It is easy to see the sexism in Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers.” In this 1927 short story, inspired by a true case of a woman who ax murdered her husband, the men overtly belittle and laugh at the women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. When the two women accompany the men to the scene of the crime, they are deemed incapable of helping to solve the case: “Mr. Hale rubbed his face after the fashion of a showman getting ready for a pleasantry. ‘But would the women know a clue if they did come upon it?”’(8) However, it is the women who, through attention to small details and an understanding of women’s experience, discover evidence that would prove Minnie Foster guilty of her husband’s murder. While these signs of motive would give the men the clear guilty conviction they are searching for, the women decide to conceal these signs of motive and by doing so effectively deem Minnie innocent. The obvious question, then, is how the women’s complicity in manslaughter relates to the overt gender dynamics at play. The answer may lie in feminist justice theory and the idea that women have a different orientation than men when it comes to moral dilemmas.
Carol Gilligan, author of In A Different Voice, advances one feminist justice theory that helps explain the women’s decision. According to Gilligan, when it comes to moral problems women tend to have a care orientation as opposed to a justice orientation. A care-moral orientation considers fairness in terms of relationships and attachment while a justice-moral orientation considers fairness in terms of rules and a standard of equality. Though using the term “justice perspective” to describe male-favored moral reasoning potentially implies that the care perspective is not just, this is the term designated by Gilligan, and should be considered separate from a general definition of justice. Gilligan explains that “With the shift in perspective from justice to care, the organizing dimension of relationship changes from inequality/equality to attachment/detachment, reorganizing thoughts feelings, and language so words connoting relationship like “dependence” or “responsibility” or even moral terms such as “fairness” and “care” take on different meanings”(34). While justice and care considerations are not mutually exclusive when considering moral dilemmas, there is a penchant to value one perspective over the other, with women often leaning towards care. As the American legal system was established and run by men who are largely justice oriented, the popular understanding of morality was determined by men. Neil Noddings, author of Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education, explains that because of this it was not considered that women’s understanding of morality was potentially different, but women were simply viewed as immature moral thinkers by theories based in a justice-moral system (Noddings 23). Glaspell’s short story is an illustration of how women’s morality differs from the legal and masculine system of justice.
The women’s moral orientation comes into play when deciding whether or not to incriminate Minnie because they take into account the nature of her relationship with her husband John. Mrs. Peters’ wavering in her decision-making process illustrates the influence of male authority and male-dominated justice-moral legal system on women’s judgement. In choosing not to convict Minnie the women choose a care-oriented moral system despite the dominant view of justice, and therefore take an anti-patriarchal stand.