The label “PSA” or “public service announcement” is relatively new (with scholars generally postulating that such announcements were first used prior to television broadcasting by the U.S. government to spread messages about war-related matters during WWII), but of course authors have used their speeches, letters, literary works, and publications for centuries as a way to promote and provoke public thought about difficult (if not taboo) subjects.
There is a way in which Glaspell’s short story serves a similar rhetorical purpose—to raise awareness about the then-socially-taboo topic of the oppression of women within marriages, and particularly those living with physical or psychological abuse by their partner, during an era in which women’s rights were being debated.
This topic option asks you to do some thinking about the similarities and differences allowed by the “genre” that is being used to provoke discussion and also to consider current social attitudes towards an issue.
For Option A:
After watching No More’s three PSAs on domestic violence—“Listen,” “Text Talk,” and “Speechless”–and thinking back to Glaspell’s short story, write an essay in which you compare/contrast what works by Glaspell and No More demonstrate about “voice” (both having and not, speaking and listening) in relation to domestic violence or abuse (think, too, about “silences” and “silencing”). Further, comparing the ways in which Glaspell’s story then and No More’s PSAs now raise awareness, what does this demonstrate about how the social dynamics of domestic abuse have both changed and stayed the same over time? About how our society understands and addresses this topic?
You may conduct and/or make use of secondary research on domestic violence today.
You may conduct and/or make use of secondary research on domestic issues that Glaspell may have been interested in during her time.
Required Primary Sources:
Glaspell’s short story, “A Jury of Her Peers”
No More’s 3 PSAs: “Listen,” “Text Talk,” and “Speechless” (you may also consider No More’s other PSA campaigns as well)
Required Secondary Sources:
One online source located via a general search engine
One peer-reviewed article located using a library electronic databases (i can figure this part out myself since you wont have access to the library at my school)
Exploring Audience/Readers for MA 3 Topic Option A:
Remember that your audience/readers live here in the 21st century. So it is likely that they have some familiarity with general debates about gender oppression and representations of women in today’s media, and some general knowledge about the advancement (and continuing problems) of women’s legal and civic rights. Your audience may even have heard about/know about No More’s PSA campaigns (two of the 3 PSAs were aired during past Super Bowls as commercials). Even so, you will still need to introduce those PSAs to help readers see them in the light in which you are examining them—in relation to the theme of “silencing” or “voice.”
However, your audience may not be very aware of some of the differences between “then and now” in social expectations and silences on taboo topics like domestic abuse and oppression of women that Glaspell was concerned with in her works. And though most generally educated readers would know something about Susan Glaspell as an early feminist writer, most readers will not likely be specifically knowledgeable about Susan Glaspell and her work with this issue back in the very early 20th century. You will need to introduce them to Glaspell’s work so that you can talk about what her work demonstrate about “voice” and the power that women did or did not have in that time period, as well as what could or could not be “said” and/or “heard” between genders.
Suggestions for approaching and organizing Option A:
This topic is asking you to both analyze and compare Glaspell’s story and No More’s PSAs to demonstrate what they show about the concept of “voice” as connected to domestic violence, and determine what such a comparison shows about domestic violence and our understanding of it then and now.
The best way to approach such a comparison/contrast essay will be to focus on different aspects about voice (having or not having, speaking and listening, silencing, etc.) and to use your primary sources (Glaspell’s story and No More’s PSAs) as evidence to illustrate this idea about voice.
Thus, each body paragraph should focus on one idea about voice (a/o domestic violence) and note this in the topic sentence, and then present and cite specific evidence (quotes, paraphrases, descriptions) from Glaspell’s short story and one or more of the PSAs. You should then analyze what is similar or different about what they show about voice and what this suggests about domestic violence or our views/understanding of it today compared to 100 years ago. Thus, each body paragraph should contain the following:
Topic Sentence: One aspect about voice (as connected to domestic violence) this paragraph will focus on
Quote/paraphrase from Glaspell’s story (how we see this idea about voice in Glaspell’s “Jury”)
Quote/description from one or more PSAs (how this idea is shown in the PSAs)
Analysis of what this shows about our understanding of domestic violence today compared to then
Note: in certain cases where the contrast is extreme (we see something in one work but no correlation to it in the other), you may cite evidence from only Glaspell’s story or the PSAs.
Use the secondary sources where appropriate to support your thoughts or to help you to explain your ideas.
See MA 3 Example Paragraphs for a model of how to approach this essay and construct paragraphs.
