Trifles and Cuban Swimmer Essay

As a parrot our narrator is forced to come to terms with the fact that no matter how hard he tries to communicate with his wife or other people, it will prove useless and even if the context fit's the conversation, they'd think of it as an humorous coincidence. As our narrator hangs onto and tries to repeat every word to his "wife" says he demonstrates his frustration of being unable to communicate and his yearning for her to realize it is him. Butler also keeps this story very comedic with the fact that he is a bird with a grown man's education and allows him to still think and have emotions similar to a human. Our narrator's wittiness and male pride are still evident in his words no matter how subtle they are. For example, "up, cracker, peanut, open" and even changing the context from "pretty bird to bad bird".

The gap between husband and wife is made even more apparent through dialogue.  The men hear that Mrs. Wright was worrying about her preserves, and they laugh at her saying that she should be

Wright when discussing Mr. Wright. “‘...Look at it! Its neck-look at its neck! It’s all-other side to.’... ‘Somebody wrung its neck,’” (10) Unwrapping the bird from the small silt fabric like a Christmas present, the wives connected the bird and Mr. Wright’s death together. The canary’s neck snapped in half which killed from liveliness and singing. Mr. Wright died from a rope tied around his neck that would snap the cervical vertebrae and damage the spinal cord. Just like Mr. Wright wanted the singing to come to a dead halt, Mrs. Wright wanted the torture to end not caring about the repercussion that followed behind her actions. No one understood the loneliness and abuse granted each day to Minnie Wright until after the fact of killing Mr. Wright. If Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Peters, or Mrs. Gorman got set in the exact situation as Minnie, drastic measures would get taken to enable oneself the freedom to survive in a dark lifestyle lined with heartbreak and pain. To truly make sense of a particular situation, one must undergo it themself, which the women in A Jury of Her Peers get due to Mrs. Wright happens to reflect identical characteristics in each

The narrative states,” ‘She just nodded her head, not getting a bit excited, but rockin’ back and forth. “Why-- where is he?” says I, not knowing what to say,’” (Arp 410). Minnie’s husband is dead but she does not seem emotional about it. The fact that she shows no emotion foreshadows the idea that she may have killed him, but it also could show that no sign of emotion is how she deals with death. In addition, the reader can see into Mr.Wright’s psyche despite him being dead throughout the entire narrative. The narrative states,” ‘No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird,’ she said after that--’ a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that too,’” (Arp 423). Mr.Wright liked peace and quiet so he killed the bird because it sang. This shows that he justified in his mind the killing of an animal because of something as simple as

There were several signs that Minnie Wright could have been quilty. However, these signs were nothing significant that could tie Minnie Wright to the murder of her husband. The first sign is the nervousness she presented when the neighbor, Mr. Hale, entered the house that morning to ask John about setting up a telephone. Mrs. Wright was nervously rocking back and forth in the rocking chair. pleating her apron and hysterically laughing at odd moments. Under the circumstances, these actions could represent signs of being guilty. Secondly, the women noticed a bird cage that had been tampered with. Soon after the dead canary was found in Mrs. Wright's sewing box. Surprisingly, the bird had died of nearly the same death as John Wright. This information

When the ladies discover Mrs. Wright's pet canary with its neck wrung, they immediately put the mystery together. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters know that the harsh Mr. Wright snapped the canary's neck, and that, after years of neglect and

In the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell the ruined birdcage suggest that Mr. Wright broke the cage and killed the bird. Mrs. Peters stated, “Why, look at this door. It’s broke. One hinge is pulled apart.” and as a reply Mrs. Hale stated, “Looks as if someone must have been rough with it” (page 667). The fact that Mrs. Wright wrapped the dead canary in silk suggest that she really loved and cared for it. The cage and the bird actually has a lot to do with Minnie Foster Wright in a personal manner. Those objects are a symbol of who she once was and what Mr. Wright had done to her. According to Mrs. Hale, “She-come to think of it, she was kind of like that bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and-fluttery” (page 667). Mrs. Wright

In the story the women talk about how Mrs wright's home wasn't cheerful, and how it seems lonesome, they were saying this as the found the bird cage, “I could’ve come. I stayed away because it weren’t cheerful--and that's why i ought to have come. I--I’ve never liked this place. Mbay because it’s down in the hollo and you don’t see the road” was said by Mrs Hale. They were wishing they would of come and visit Mrs Wright.

Wright’s limitations induced by her husband cause her to be trapped in her household, resulting in her desperation and eventual decision to kill her husband, leading to an investigation of her house that prevents justice from being served. Before marriage, Minnie Foster lives a happy, joyful, and fulfilling life, belonging to the community choir. Eventually, she marries a man by the name of Mr. Wright who isolates her from the outside world and only allows her to work in the kitchen. As a result of being unable to leave the house to interact with others, Mrs. Wright soon becomes desperate to escape the household. After her husband kills her last companion- a canary that is able to sing- Mrs. Wright faces insanity and madness, causing her to murder her husband. During the criminal investigation that is later held, two women who are able to empathize with Mrs. Wright protect her from being tried as guilty. When the two women find the dead canary and begin to empathize with Mrs. Wright, discussing how the marriage causes her to live an unfulfilling life, Mrs. Hale says, “I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be-- for women. I tell you, it’s queer, Mrs. Peters. We live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same things-- it’s all just a different kind of same thing… If I was you, I wouldn’t tell her her fruit was gone. Tell her it ain’t. Tell her it’s all right. Take this in to prove it to her. She-- she may never know

Once a vivacious young woman, she has been transformed into an object to be used and put aside by her tyrannical husband. All her opinions, hopes, and desires are imprisoned, caged like an inconsequential animal. Similar to the canary, Minnie’s freedom, lively spirit, and song were wrung from her life. Her friend, Mrs. Hale, recounts the once beautiful woman who wore a delicate white dress and

Mrs. Peter’s dialogue reveals Minnie’s happiness was taken from Minnie when she says, “Somebody-wrung-it’s-neck” (560). Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find a birdcage. Mrs. Hale feels Minnie would want a bird that sings because Minnie used to sing and singing gave Minnie happiness. Next, Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Hale find a dead canary with a broken neck. The canary is wrapped nicely in silk and hidden in a sewing box.

Correspondingly, in the play, the caged bird which represents Mrs. Wright, is one of the various symbols that amplified male oppression, because Mrs. Wright, felt trapped in the company of her husband. According to Mrs. Hale’s description of Mrs. Wright, “[Mrs. Wright] used to wear pretty clothes and be lively when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that-oh, that was thirty years ago” (664). Subsequently, this description of Mrs. Wright was thirty years ago before she married Mr. Wright. After marrying him, things seemed to change.

During the time period of the play, women rights were oppressed and the only option they had to earn an identity in the patriarchal society was by becoming a wife. Men were the superior and self-assertive beings while women were inferior to them and timid. Women depended on men to provide for them even if they were miserable during the early twentieth century. Men would work the farm during the day while women tended to the housework. From my perspective, Mrs. Wright murdered her husband because she wanted an escape from the pain and isolation in her marriage. According to Mrs. Hale, “I wonder how it would seem never to have had any children around. No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird—a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too” (1613). This implies that Mr. Wright killed Mrs. Wright’s bird as he did her aspirations. Therefore, Mrs. Wright’s anger built up in her over the years and it finally erupted causing her to strangle her husband as he did her one prized possession who kept her company. The bird represented Mrs. Wright because it was locked up in the birdcage just as Mrs. Wright was isolated from the world in her marriage. Her only escape from the horror was

Mrs. Hale reflects on the marriage of the Wrights, “Not having children makes less work-but it makes a quiet house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did come in”. She then focuses on mean John Wright, “He didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him-. Like a raw wind that gets to the bone. I should think she woulda wanted a bird. But what you suppose went wrong with it?”. Ms. Hale compares mean John Wright with sweet and kind Mrs. Wright, “She-come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and-fluttery.

Because of the importance of gender roles, her dreams were crushed and she was silenced, twice. The bird that she had represented her voice that she was once allowed to expel but ever since her marriage it was impossible. The other women within this story can relate to Mrs. Wright because they are also in the same position as her other than their husbands’ being dead. Throughout the reading, there are many stereotypical remarks made on the women by the men because they never viewed the women as smart enough to crack the case.