What Does Trifles Mean

There are several similarities and differences in the way that Trifles and “The Story of an Hour” portray gender roles. Both of these stories portray two women very unhappy in their marriages and portray men as the dominant force. Trifles and “The Story of an Hour” both deal with very specific gender roles throughout the stories that relate to the time period they were written in.

Hale and Mrs. Peters find a dead canary and a broken bird cage, it becomes obvious that Mr. Wright was an aggressive and controlling husband. Mrs. Hale states, “No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird- a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too” (1012). The canary represents Minnie Foster. Before she married Mr. Wright, she was a joyful girl who sang in the church choir. After her and Mr. Wright get married, she is forced to stop singing and is stripped of her happiness. The broken cage represents Mr. and Mrs. Wright’s controlling marriage. The bird cage is violently broken to represent how Mrs. Wright violently escaped her marriage. The women’s discoveries cause Mrs. Peters to sympathize with Mrs. Wright. Ultimately, Mrs. Peters decides to stand up for what she believes.

In the early 1900´s women did not have the same rights as men and are not respected as much as men either. Women did not get their voting rights till 1920, four years after the play Trifles by Susan Glaspell. In the play women are suppressed by men and society, Mrs.Hale and Mrs.Peters prove that women are not constrained by society's rules and are in fact, the most astute characters in *Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles”*.

Trifles, written in the early 1900’s by Susan Glaspell, is a one-act play illustrating how women can overreact to their own emotions, allowing these emotions to cloud their judgment. This is shown by describing the feelings of two women who are willing to defend a suspect, blame the victim, and go so far as to hide evidence, to protect another woman from being charged with murdering her husband. Mrs. Wright is the suspect in the murder of her husband, who was strangled in his sleep, found with the rope still around his neck. The sheriff and an attorney are examining Mrs. Wrights home for evidence. Mr. Henderson, the attorney, speaking of Mrs. Wright says, “Here’s a nice mess, ..Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper,

The men were still looking for evidence, but women are replaying the scene of murder in there minds. They conclude that Mrs. Wright was sewing in kitchen, when Mr. Wright came into the kitchen and saw the bird. This explains why Mrs. Wright was sewing nervously. I assumed that Mr. Wright didn’t like birds, because they are very noisy referring to conversation with Mr. Hale about the joining party phone line. Mr. Wright must have seen the birdcage with the bird. He must have broken the birdcage and broke the bird’s neck. This was enough of a motive need for Mrs. Wright to kill her husband. The

Therefore, Mrs. Wright murdered her husband simply because he murdered her pet bird, and she did so the same way he murdered the bird, making the motive is unethical. Mrs. Hale finds a dead bird with a broken neck inside of Mrs. Wright’s sewing box wrapped in a cloth. Obviously as lonely as Mrs. Wright was the death of her bird would have been catastrophic for her. This is evidence of a motive proving Mrs. Wright killed her husband out of sheer revenge of the death of her bird, it was the last thing he was ever going to take away from her. Along with the broken cage Mrs. Peters states, “Why, look at this door. It’s broke. One hinge is pulled apart” (8). Then Mrs. Hale comments, “Looks like someone must have been rough with it” (8). This is how it happened, Mr. Wright came home from work in

In “Trifles”, a division between the two sexes is quickly established as the men enter the house and huddle by the stove while the women remain still by the door. As the men start their detective work the women wander around the house to gather some of Mrs. Wright’s belongings. While searching for her belongings, the women discover an empty birdcage and find a dead bird in a “pretty box” (Glaspell, 956) inside of Mrs. Wright's sewing basket. Mrs. Hale jumps at the sight of the bird’s neck and Mrs. Peters points out how “somebody-wrung-its-neck” (Glaspell, 957) similar to the way Mr. Wright was found earlier. Mrs. Wright's murder of her husband can be seen as an act of feminine revolt against the male-dominated society. Another example of women defying against patriarchy is of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters hiding the evidence that can prove Mrs. Wright to be guilty of her husband’s murder. Before their departure from the Wright’s house, as the men are returning, the sheriff suggests that the county attorney take a look through the items Mrs. Peters had collected for Mrs. Wright. However, he decides that anything collected by the women cannot have much significance and overlooks it. His assumption that the women would have came forward if they saw any possible evidence costs him. The sheriff’s belief is that women derive their identity solely from their relationships with men; the dominant gender.

The broken birdcage can also be seen as a symbolic item within the story. The birdcage represents how women were oppressed, or “caged in” by men during this time in history. The bird, which symbolizes Mrs. Wright in the story, is not mentioned by the men when they notice the birdcage. This is because Glaspell wanted to emphasize that most men during this time were focused on what women were limited to doing, not who they were as a person. As the men overlook yet another important detail, the women realize that the door to the birdcage is broken. This symbolizes Mrs. Wright breaking away from the chains of oppression put on her by her husband.

     Next, Mrs. Peters finds a birdcage, and shortly after, Mrs. Hale finds the bird. There are many peculiar things about both of these items. First, the cage has a damaged door, which shows signs of forced entry. Now, Mrs. Wright is said to have loved the bird, and actually was heard to sing to herself more, after she bought the bird. So that leaves only John Wright to be the one who broke the cage. And, after the bird is found, we know why the cage was damaged. The bird, dead in the sewing box, is found strangled to death. Exactly the way that Mr. Wright died in his sleep. This is the single most important piece of evidence, yet both ladies decide to hide it from the detective.

In the end Susan Glaspell uses many objects in the setting to add symbolic meaning to the story. Glaspell uses the dead canary, the broken bird cage, and the dirty kitchen all to give hidden insight to the story if read correctly and deciphered with an open mind. Trifles was written to show the struggles of women in this day and age and uses the stereotypical assumption that women stick to the kitchen and making quilts when really and truly the woman solve the case without even having to try while the men are searching for clues in all of the wrong

The women empower themselves through silence, particularly in the kitchen communicating and reflecting upon things around them in the limited space they were given. The men dismiss the kitchen finding nothing that is relevant to the murder case. The men keep crisscrossing through the kitchen, ignoring and not realizing they could find the vital evidence through trivial details. Even though they were having difficulty in finding clues that lead to the murder. While the women were alone looking through Minnie’s kitchen they found the most valuable evidence the “missing piece to men’s puzzle” (Holstein 283). Mrs. Hale found the dead bird strangled in the sewing box telling “Mrs. Peters-look at it! Its neck! Look at its neck!” (782). Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters recognize the bird was strangled brutally “their eyes meet. A look of growing comprehension, of horror” (Glaspell 782). Both of them realized the bird was killed the same way as Mr. Wright with the rope around their neck. The strangled bird represents Minnie Foster how her freedom and joy was strangled to death. When the men came in the kitchen, the county attorney noticed the bird cage, wondering if the bird flew away, but Mrs. Hale lied and said “we think the- cat got it” ( Glaspell 782). The county attorney seek only visible evidence for murder he was wasn’t thinking critically what it may mean. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters covered the evidence keeping it between themselves for their own knowledge. They

The play Trifles takes place in a rural area and centers around a woman, Mrs. Wright, who has been accused of killing her husband by strangling him. The act starts off in Mr. and Mrs. Wright’s home on a cold, winter morning the day after Mr. Wright’s body was discovered by the neighbor; the county attorney, the sheriff and his wife and the neighboring farmer and his wife are all inside the

What is a trifle? A trifle is something that has little to no importance (dictionary.com). For instance, the color of your nails would be considered a trifle. In Trifles by Susan Glaspell, women are criticized and made fun of by men because of the little things they worry about, such as the color of their nails or their hair. This exhibits the gender role difference portrayed during the play’s time period. The central conflict is what the plot is centered around. In Trifles, the central conflict involves the investigation the Mr. Wright’s murder. As the story progresses, we learn that the women’s trifles would’ve helped the men solve the murder, which is ironic. Numerous accounts of symbolism, relating Mrs.Wright to the bird, is also found

“Trifles”, based on the murder investigation of John Wright takes place in a farmhouse. The play follows the murder investigation of John Wright as a group of people enters the farmhouse, led by county attorney George Henderson, followed by local sheriff Henry Peters, his wife Mrs. Peters, and neighbor of the Wrights, Mr. and Mrs. Hale. As the play began, Mr. Hale describe the moment he discovered the murder of John Wright. According to him, when he visited the house on the previous day, he found Mrs. Wright behaving in an unusual manner, as she tells him that her husband is hung dead upstairs. The men proceed to the scene where John Wright was found dead, while the women remain downstairs to pick up few things for Mrs. Wright. While the men

Susan Glaspell uses the bird to justify the murder of Mr. Wright in Trifles. Within the play there is a broken bird cage. This cage is symbolic of Minnie Wright’s marriage. She lives in the middle of nowhere with John. This isolation breaks Minnie Wright’s spirit, just like the cage is broken. In the story it says, “She used to sing real pretty herself” (986). Since Minnie is out in the country with no one but John, that bird is her lifeline to the outside world. She lives through that bird. John’s oppression of Minnie, and the fact that he cold-heartedly killed her bird takes away her desire to sing, or dance, or dress pretty. Arthur Waterman states “She was figuratively strangled by John” (3). In turn, Minnie literally strangles John with a rope in his sleep. The women don’t always find this action morally or ethically right. Mrs. Peters, in the beginning, said “But, Mrs. Hale, the law is the law” (Glaspell 984). After finding out about the bird, and pondering the situation among themselves, the women all agree with Minnie Wright. It was justifiable homicide in their eyes, thus making it ethically and morally right in their eyes.