Justified?

"A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell and "Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston made me think a lot about if people can be justified for their actions, especially extreme ones.  "A Jury of Her Peers" also made me question whether keeping quiet when you know about something wrong is just as bad as actually committing a crime.  As we also discussed in class, I, along with several other students, believe that Delia in "Sweat" was much more justified in killing her husband than Mrs. Wright was in A Jury of Her Peers.  While both women were clearly tortured in their everyday life, Delia appeared to be completely consumed by her husband's abuse and never had an escape from his consistent torture.  Mrs. Wright had friends, and seemed to be subjected to things very typical to women of this time, such as being bossed around and disrespected overall.  I feel that what connects these two short stories is not only the fact that these women are being degraded by the men they surround themselves with, but also the huge power of doing and saying nothing.  The women in Jury of Her Peers collectively decided that they weren't going to tell the authorities or their husbands about the information they had on the murder.  "The women did not speak, did not unbend". By saying nothing, these women made the choice to save their friend from being arrested for the murder of her husband.  This proves the power of keeping silent.  For Delia, keeping silent meant that her husband would end up dead and she would make it out of her horrible life alive.  By keeping quiet, Delia made the most powerful statement possible by letting her husband die.  "She lay there. "Delia. Delia!" She could hear Sykes calling in a most despairing tone as one who expected no answer. The sun crept on up, and he called. Delia could not move--her legs were gone flabby. She never moved, he called, and the sun kept rising." keeping quiet, these women all contributed to women universally joining together to create a bond that lead to an overall revolution for women.  Obviously not on the same scale as these women, my sister and I understand that in some situations it is more important to cover for each other rather than be in trouble by our parents.  Trust is extremely important, and just as the characters in these short stories weight out their actions to the consequences of confessing their actions, my sister and I sometimes need to do the same for each other.