Question

Which excerpt from “A Jury of Her Peers” best shows that Mrs. Peters is caught between her role as the wife of a law enforcement officer and her empathy for lonely, isolated women? A. It was as if something within her not herself had spoken, and it found in Mrs. Peters something she did not know as herself. B. "I know what stillness is," repeated Mrs. Peters, in just that same way. Then she too pulled back. "The law has got to punish crime, Mrs. Hale," she said in her tight little way. C. "When I was a girl," said Mrs. Peters, under her breath, "my kitten—there was a boy took a hatchet, and before my eyes—before I could get there—" She covered her face an instant. D. Mrs. Peters reached out for the bottle of fruit as if she were glad to take it—as if touching a familiar thing, having something to do, could keep her from something else.

Answer 1

The excerpt that best shows Mrs. Peters caught between her role as the wife of a law enforcement officer and her empathy for lonely, isolated women is B. "I know what stillness is," repeated Mrs. Peters, in just that same way. Then she too pulled back. "The law has got to punish crime, Mrs. Hale," she said in her tight little way.

It's the second time she says "I know what stillness is", the first time she starts to tell he story about her dead toddler and gets interrupted. She understands the pain Mrs Hale must be suffering, but the law must be enacted anyway.