Analysis of Trifles, by Susan Glaspell

964 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Trifles by susan glaspell in todays society

Trifles

Susan Glaspell
(1876 – 1948)

The story of Trifles was written in 1916 which is a period in time when women played a minimal role at solving situations, and was thought of as not having much to say or do of importance. There were important issues that plagued women, such as birth control, socialism and women’s suffrage. Also during that time few women went to college or sought employment outside of the home. Women were thought of only being interested in little things of no importance thus the meaning of Trifles.
The characters in the play trifles all played a significant role in helping to describe the plot and the theme to this story. The plot was to find the motive for the murder. The theme is some time things as small as they are can mean so much more.
George Henderson who is the young county attorney that wants to know what happened in the home of John Wright the deceased. However he believes Mrs. Wright is responsible for the death of Mr. Wright but he needs evidence he needs the motive of why Mrs. Wright would kill her husband. He is focused on finding evidence that will directly connect Mrs. Wright to the murder. And in looking he is so oblivious to the things in the kitchen that can possibly give him a motive.
Henry Peters is middle age married Sheriff. He leads the investigation to the murder of Mr. Wright. His character is of importance because of his occupation and what it symbolizes for his wife Mrs. Peters.
Lewis Hale the neighbor to Mr. and Mrs. Wright. He was the person to find Mr. Wright dead in his bed and Mrs. Wright sitting in the house quietly. He tries to speak of the character or Mr. Wright when he began to tell his story of the events leading to his visit with Mrs. Wright, but the sheriff woul...

... middle of paper ...

...the information they discovered a secret among themselves.
Overall this was a good story however this story reiterated something that I knew all along, that women are practical and smart.

Works Cited

”Historical Context”. BookRags. BookRags and Gale's For Students Series, 2103, Web.27 Nov 2013.
Cummings, Michael. “Plot Summary.”Cummings Study Guide.N.P, 2008. Web. 17 November 2013.
Glaspell, Susan. “Trifles.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing”. Ed. Edgar V.Roberts and Robert Zweig. 5th Compact ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2012. 914-26. Print.
Wang, Bella. Chazelle, Damien ed. "Trifles Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of Part I". GradeSaver, 31 August 2009 Web. 24 November 2013.
Wikipedia contributors. "Women's suffrage." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 27 Nov. 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • Susan Glaspell's A Jury of Her Peers

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    The unfortunate death of John Wright was a mystery to all. A team of individuals consisting of the sheriff, county attorney, Mr. Hale, and Mrs. Peters were on a mission to find the purpose of the murderer. At this point, Mrs. Wright is the primary suspect. Mrs. Hale was asked to join the party in order to give Mrs. Peters, the sheriff s wife, some companionship. In the story, Mrs. Hale leaves cues of guilty feelings. As an example, the narrator states,  Martha Hale had a moment of feeling that she could not cross that threshold.  The reason being given that she had been too busy to come by but  now  she could come (Glaspell 2). Another instance to be noted is a conversation between her and the young attorney. During this conversation, he asked if they were friends since they were neighbors. Her answer was sympathetic,  I’ve seen little enough of her late years. I ve not been it this house-it s been morethan a year.  Then she goes on to explain,  I liked her well enough. Farmers  wives have their hands full,  it never seemed a very cheerful place (Glaspell 6). At this point, Mrs. Hale s empathy toward Mrs. Wright is apparent.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Trifles

    528 Words  | 2 Pages

    My initial inspiration for this piece was Trifles, which funnily enough only shares the characteristic of detectives being involved within the plot. As per suggestion on my proposal, I developed my idea of detectives solving a case further by including dialogue and inter-personnel relationships similar to those found in Glengarry Glen Ross. Taking the idea of different members of the real-estate office discussing work and plotting in Glengarry Glen Ross, and applying them to a trio of detectives on a case was interesting to say the least.

    Read More

  • The Deception of Trifles: Gender Roles in the Play by Glaspell

    1559 Words  | 4 Pages

    and Trifles and 'A Jury of Her Peers,' by Susan Glaspell." Atlantis 24.1 (June 2002): 299-

    Read More

  • Comparing the Powerful Women in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House and Susan Glaspell's Trifles

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth Mahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 2002. 977-986

    Read More

  • Everyday Roles and the Female Choice

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    Trifles is an excellent example of gender stratification at the most basic level: everyday conversation and behaviour. Interactionists have observed common patterns which reoccur in everyday interaction between men and women. Like in Glaspell’s work, men have been shown to regularly change the topic of conversation and disregard a woman’s ideas. (Kumbamu) Throughout the play the County Attorney interrupts or considers the women’s concerns to be merely ‘trifles’ by wishing to ‘talk more of that…later.’(Glaspell 141) The women’s actions exemplify what are considered to be female behavioral roles. The women except and do not challenge the obvious male verbal dominance and instead prove to be adaptable to the circumstances and provide emotional support. (Kumbamu) Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are unwillingly put into a ‘lonesome’ environment they normally would have stayed away from. (Glaspell 143)

    Read More

  • Repression of Women Exposed in Susan Glaspell's Trifles

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    The coldness felt in the house as the sheriff and court attorney entered the house symbolized the same coldness brought about by Mr. Wright. For the house to be cold and gloomy and everything else outside the total opposite, was much more than just coincidence. It was as if when you entered the house a cadaver, cold and clammy, had embraced you in its arms. “ I don’t think a place’d be any cheerfuller for John Wright’s being in it”, Mrs. Hale told the court attorney (11). Mrs. Hale knew perfectly well what kind of personality Mr. Wright had, which is why she specified that she wished that she had gone to visit Mrs. Wright when only she was there. “There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm”, says Mrs. Hale, yet they are seen as mere trifles because it is the women who take on these tasks.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers and Trifles

    1190 Words  | 3 Pages

    Glaspell, Susan.  Trifles.  Literature and the Writing Process.  Eds. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. 4th Ed.  Upper Saddle River:  Prentice, 1996. 999-1008.

    Read More

  • Susan Glaspell's Trifles - Some Observations

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    Glaspell’s decision to present "Trifles" as a play instead of its short story original form (titled :"A Jury of Her Peers) gives the reader an opportunity to "see" the action better than usual, and therefore get a clearer understanding of the author’s meaning.

    Read More

  • The Theme of Justice in Susan Glaspell's 'Trifles'

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Trifles, the play takes place at an abandon house at a farm where John Wright and his wife, Minnie Wright lived. John was killed with a rope around his neck while his wife was asleep. The neighbor, county attorney and sheriff came to the crime scene for investigation. Along with them came their wives, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters; they were told to grab some belongings for Mrs. Wright that she may need while she’s in custody. Once they all entered the home the men dismissed the kitchen finding it as unimportant. The three men focused more on legal regulations of the law. The play was mostly revolved around the women, discovering the motive through “trifles” and other symbolic things that had significance to Minnie’s guilt. When Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters understood the reason behind the murdering they hid the evidence from their husbands, and kept quiet. Many readers would visualize this play as a feminist point of view due to women’s bonding in discovering Minnie’s oppressive life after marriage. However Glaspell, provokes two ethical paradigms that have different perspectives of justice. Glaspell uses symbolism to characterize women’s method in a subjective way, by empowering themselves through silence, memories of her and their own lives as well as having empathy about her sit...

    Read More

  • Gender Differences in Susan Glaspell's Trifles

    1046 Words  | 3 Pages

    Susan Glaspell's play, "Trifles", attempts to define one of the main behavioral differences between man and woman. For most of the story, the two genders are not only geographically separated, but also separated in thought processes and motive, so that the reader might readily make comparisons between the two genders. Glaspell not only verbally acknowledges this behavioral difference in the play, but also demonstrates it through the characters' actions and the turns of the plot. The timid and overlooked women who appear in the beginning of the play eventually become the delicate detectives who, discounted by the men, discover all of the clues that display a female to be the disillusioned murderer of her (not so dearly) departed husband. Meanwhile, the men in the play not only arrogantly overlook the "trifling" clues that the women find that point to the murderer, but also underestimate the murderer herself. "These were trifles to the men but in reality they told the story and only the women could see that (Erin Williams)". The women seem to be the insightful unsung heroes while the men remain outwardly in charge, but sadly ignorant.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Female Characters in Susan Glaspell's 'Trifles'

    1228 Words  | 3 Pages

    The title of this drama "Trifles" demonstrates how men have the assumption that women and their respective actions are seemingly unimportant. Trifles can be used in two forms in the English language. In verb form, trifle means to treat someone or something as unimportant or non-essential. The word trifle in noun form means something of little value or importance. Both definitions of this word yield an idea in this story that women are seen as trivial and are not worthy of respect by men. This idea is conveyed throughout the entire story by the belittling assumptions and attitude the men use toward the women. For example Hale says, " Well, women are used to worrying over trifles" (1003). Typically, a kitchen represents women's work and the idea of domesticity. In Glaspell's eyes, men tend to assume that nothing of importance occurs in the kitchen and this can be related to the idea that women are insignificant. As Glaspell writes,

    Read More

  • Susan Glaspell's Trifles

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    The two females noticed everything around and questioned everything. The find a bird cage and wondered if she owned a bird and it not, what was the bird cage for. Ms. Peters and Mrs. Hale find the bird and notice that the neck had been twisted. Mrs. Hale states how all the women live close together but feel far apart, they all go through the same thing. George Henderson, The County Attorney says that all these things the woman found and were about to take, weren’t relevant to the crime scene because they were things that weren’t dangerous, in other words I believe that he said these things were unrelated to anything that happened that night, because they were things that belonged to a women or mainly because there were small things that during the 20th century wouldn’t hurt a man or a man wouldn’t let himself be taken down, by something so irrelevant. At the end of the story the women conclude that Mr. Wright, killed Mr. Wright the same way he had killed her bird. Mrs. Hale and Ms. Peter decide to hide what they had uncovered about the event that took place that night Mr. Wright was killed. In my opinion the reason they decided to hide all this information was because like they said Mrs. Wright was very happy and her husband was very

    Read More

  • Trifles Title Analysis

    1511 Words  | 4 Pages

    Susan Glaspell’s Trifles (1916), is a play that accounts for imprisonment and loneliness of women in a patriarchal society. The plot has several instances where women issues are perceived to be mere trifles by their male counterparts. The title is of significant importance in supporting the main theme of the story and developing the plot that leads to the evidence of the mysterious murder. Trifles can be defined as things of less importance; in this story dramatic, verbal and situational irony is used to show how the insignificant trifles lead to a great deal of truth in a crime scene investigation. The title of the story “Trifles” is used ironically to shape the unexpected evidence discovered by women in

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Trifles

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wright was described as a beautiful women filled with such joy and life until she married John Wright. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale feels sorry for her because her husband treated her so bad. Due to female bonding and sympathy, the two women, becoming detectives, finds the truth and hides it from the men. The play shows you that emotions can play a part in your judgement. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale felt sorry that Mrs. Wright had one to keep her company no kids and she was always left alone at home. “yes good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debt. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters just to pass the time of day with him. Like a raw wind that goes to the bone. I should of think she would have wanted a bird. But what you suppose went with it?” Later on in the play the women find out what happens to the bird. The bird was killed the same way Mrs. Wright husband which leads to the motive of why he was killed. Mrs. Wright was just like the bird beautiful but caged no freedom not being able to live a life of her own. Always stuck in the shadows of her husband being told what to do and

    Read More

  • Feminism Through the Eyes of Joyce

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mays, Kelly J. “The Norton Introduction to Literature.” New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. Book. 592-638. October 27, 2013.

    Read More

More about Analysis of Trifles, by Susan Glaspell

Open Document