The Danger in Susan Glaspell's Trifles Essay

The home was certainly not cheerful but not because of Mrs. Wright but because of her husband. The women are Mrs. Wright’s only hope of being understood because they are ones that can understand what it is like to be under the oppression of having no rights to say or do anything against their husbands. Being that they were just simple housewives, they had to do things like store cherries, quilt, and wash towels. This allowed the women to see the importance of small things, for example, the question of whether “she was going to quilt it or just knot it” (Glaspell 8). The women can “notice the smallest details of Minnie's life, respectfully acknowledging their significance” (Kamir). The women’s comments and questions were menial to the men, and they even scoffed at them, but without the women being inquisitive, they may have never discovered the dead bird. The bird being a major clue in the motive of the crime.

The play Trifles by Susan Glaspell has many examples of symbolism. the bird is one symbol that is a huge part of the story. The bird’s symbolism and what it meant to Minnie Wright provides the reason for Mr. Wright’s murder.

In the story, the author places a quilt, an object that represents African America traditions, to show us the different perspective that a couple of sisters has about family heritage.

the household things. She wondered how a person could be strangled without waking up or wakening

The poem “Aunt Ida Pieces a Quilt,” by Melvin Dixon, imagines what the life of a religious woman who has been encouraged to make a memory quilt of a family member (Junie) who passed away due to AIDS. Junie was a young man, who loved to sing in front of the church and was good at it. Aunt Ida always has made quilts at a young age and when she was done she would secretly her name in red in the back of every quilt (because each one is important to her). She worked hard on Junie’s memory quilt and she forgot about her arthritis when quilting. She didn’t make quilts for a long time before she made the one for Junie’s memory. Aunt Ida talks about how her mom and grandma taught her and it stayed with her until she was older and moved up north with

“I can ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts” is what Maggie says to her sister, which shows Maggie’s value of family. Both critics believe the ongoing tradition of quilting must be represented through the generations of quilting and the background history or it all. Where the quilt came from is the most important value. The quilts contains passed down stories whereas they form a link between the generations (Weidmann 260).

In the short story, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker there are a select few of themes and symbols. Alice Walker’s story telling on Mama, Dee, and Maggie’s life from when they were young until the present is crafted beautifully. The relationship between the three main characters is written throughout as Mama and Maggie sometimes have problems with Dee’s actions and responses. The most important theme in my opinion is the true definition of Heritage and understanding it. When Dee arrives at Mama’s house to visit she certainly doesn’t leave a good first impression with her new ways of life.

The women discover that Mrs. Wright killed her husband by tying a rope around his

The quilt cause a lot of tension when Dee ask Mama for it. Mama had promised the quilt to Maggie once she gets married. It was an inheritance to Mama from her mother. The quilt symbolizes the family’s heritage because Mama and Aunt Dicie contribute making the quilt. More than a few of their generation contribute in making the quilt; each piece is part of their ancestors. Mama considers the quilt is part of her personal history of the pride, struggle and her connection to the women in her family. It is a family treasure. Dee wants the quilt as a part of a display piece in a museum; she wants to hang up the quilt. On the other hand, Maggie wants the quilt and because she connects with significant values of the quilt, she understands her family

A quilt that Mrs. Wright was working on is also an important symbol in the play. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find the quilt Mrs. Wright had been working on. Mrs. Hale says, referring to the sewing, "Why, it looks as if she didn't know what she was about" (63). Mrs. Wright was nervous when she was sewing the quilt and had knotted it. Knotting the quilt would symbolize knotting her husband's noose. It is evident that she is upset about the bird, and her mind was not on quilting, but plotting her husband's death.

One of the fìnal clues in the story, the irregular stitching in Minnie’s quilt patches, connects immediately with Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. In the late nineteenth century, explains Elaine Hedges, small, exact stitches were valued not only for their durability. They became a badge of one’s prowess with the needle, a source of self-respect and of prestige, through the recognition and approval of other women

She knew the scraps of fabric came from clothing her grandparents and great-grandparents had worn. One very small bit of fabric had actually been saved from “Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the Civil War” (476). To Dee’s credit, she did recognize Mama and Maggie’s sentimental attachment to the quilts and the significance of displaying hand stitched instead of machine-sewn quilts. However, Dee’s lack of understanding Mama’s underlying argument that the importance of quilts is their “everyday” traditional function becomes clear when Dee remarks that Maggie would “be backward enough to put them to everyday use” (477). Mama’s

Even in plays gender roles can really show through the characters that the author makes. In Susan Glaspell’s Trifles, the woman in the play illustrate sexism that was taking place during the 1900s. The “understanding” of Mrs. Wright’s situation as to why she was so calm for her husband’s death takes on many turns. The wives of the sheriff and the neighbor of the Wrights, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale represent a big part of the story. How they are portrayed and their actions show how strong gender roles and sexism were back in the day.

This concept is talked about throughout the whole play, and the aftermath, which is very odd. Due to the strict gender roles in the nineteenth century, women were not allowed a chance at men's work, like crime solving but by reversing the roles, Glaspell affords them a superiority they wouldn't have. First, the play begins with the men searching for reason for the murder in the house of John and Minnie Wright. The characters spend most of the play looking for clues to solve the case.

While the men were off looking for evidence besides what they considered trifles, the women explored what was the life of Minnie, they saw her anxiety in the sewing and knew how upset she would be about her preserves. Besides this, they understood how lonely it would be to be all alone with no one besides John Wright, who most knew as a cold man. Even if they didn’t see the abuse in the Wright’s relationship, they still saw that he was insensitive and didn’t care about her feelings. The two women begin to “participate in this vision of solidarity,” (Holstein) after they understand why Minnie murdered her husband, they decide to cover it up. When talking about the items Minnie requested, the two women remark how she wanted items that wouldn’t be very helpful in a jail cell, however, these items are to provide a sense of stability for Minnie, Mr. Hale remarked that she looked like “she didn't know what she was going to do next” (Glaspell, 1006). Victims of abuse commonly gain a dependence towards their abuser, as they are the largest controlling factor in their life. Her wanting of an apron or her sewing projects is just something for her to hold onto the