Question

Read this excerpt from "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell. Which line shows Mrs. Hale's attitude of pity and compassion for other women? She [Mrs. Hale] dashed her hand across her eyes. Then, seeing the jar of fruit on the table she reached for it and choked out: "If I was you I wouldn't tell her her fruit was gone! Tell her it ain't. Tell her it's all right—all of it. Here—take this in to prove it to her! She--she may never know whether it was broke or not." She turned away. 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. She got up, looked about for something to wrap the fruit in, took a petticoat from the pile of clothes she had brought from the front room, and nervously started winding that round the bottle. "My!" she began, in a high, false voice, "it's a good thing the men couldn't hear us! Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a—dead canary." She hurried over that. "As if that could have anything to do with—with—My, wouldn't they laugh?" Footsteps were heard on the stairs. "Maybe they would," muttered Mrs. Hale—"maybe they wouldn't. "

Answer 1

The line "[if] I was you I wouldn't tell her her fruit was gone! Tell her it ain't. Tell her it's all right - all of it." shows Mrs. Hale was sorry and compassionate.

In the story, Mrs. Wright is accused of murdering her husband, two women and two men go to the Wrights' house to collect evidence against Mrs. Wright. The two women see the conditions in which the house is and feel sorry for Mrs. Wright. They believed that Mrs. Wright lost all her joy and happinness when she got married. As Mrs. Hale knew that the fuits were important for Mrs. Wright, she assumed that telling her her fruits were all right would bring some sort of relief and comfort to Mrs. Wright who had such a miserable life.