Comparing Susan Glaspell's Trifles And A Rose For Emily

I. In the short stories “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner they display the neglect of their characters social and emotional needs.
a. Individuals who are detached from others, or from the general public, are at risk of having harmful effects of their thinking and actions.
b. In the stories “Trifles” and “A Rose for Emily” both women murder their significant others. Although their reasons for killing them is different, both Mrs. Wright and Miss Emily kill the men in their lives due to their isolation and the negative effects it has on their mental state of mind.
c. Thesis: Regardless of their differences in content and themes, the short stories “Trifles” and “A Rose for Emily” both portray the harmful

impact isolation has on the reasoning and behavior of these two women.
Body
I. Differences in content:
a.

In “Trifles,” Glaspell shows us how misery and isolation can drive a woman mad enough to murder her own husband.
i. Mrs. Wright was once a happy and cheerful woman, however, when she marries Mr. Wright her life becomes filled with misery.
1. Mrs. Hale: “… he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him – (Shivers.) Like a raw wind that gets to the bone.” (Pauses, her eye falling on the cage.)” (Glaspell 1392).
2. The readers discover that Mr. Wright is a violent man to his wife, and they also discover a bird cage that’s door appears to be ripped off.
ii. After the women discover the bird cage they find a dead canary in Mrs. Wright’s sewing box as if she tried to bury it.
1. Mrs. Hale (jumping up): “But, Mrs. Peters – look at it! Its neck! Look at its neck! It’s all – other side too” Mrs. Peters: “Somebody --wrung – its – neck.” (Their eyes meet. A look of growing comprehension, of horror…) (Glaspell 1393).
2. We can infer that Mr. Wright kills the bird which is the only joy that Mrs. Wright has in her life, so she strangles him like he does to the bird.
b. In “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner shows us how isolation and the fear of being alone can lead a woman to kill her significant other in order to keep him from

leaving.
i. Emily’s father turns away all possible suitors, but after his death, she starts dating Homer Baron, who everyone believes she is going to marry.
1. “When she had first begun to be seen with Homer Baron, we had said, “She will marry him.” Then we said, “She will persuade him yet,” because Homer himself had remarked – he liked men…” (Faulkner 102).
2. Homer is last seen by the community entering Emily’s house. We can assume that Emily is keeping Homer somewhere in her house because she discovers that he is gay and she doesn’t want him to leave her.
ii. The community discovers how mad Miss Emily really is when they come upon her death and find Homer’s body in her upstairs attic.
1. “Then we noticed in the second pillow was the indention of a head…and leaning forward…we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (Faulkner 105).
2. Emily’s longing for love and her fear of being alone leads her to kill Homer, so he can’t leave her.
II. Differences in themes:
a. There are several different themes for “Trifles.”
i. One possible theme is loneliness.
1. Mrs. Hale: “I stayed away because it weren’t cheerful – and that’s why I ought to have come… Maybe because it’s down in the hollow and you don’t see the road… but it’s a lonesome place and always was” (Glaspell 1392).
2. Mrs. Hale feels guilty for never visiting Mrs. Wright and both women feel that the canary was a substitute for her lack of interaction with others.
ii.

Another possible theme is revenge.
1. Mrs. Hale: “No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird – a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that too” (Glaspell 1393).
2. Mrs. Hale believes that Mrs. Wright kills her husband due to revenge because he kills the one thing that makes her happy and that reminds her of the person she use to be.
b. There are several different themes for “A Rose for Emily.”
i. One possible theme is denial.
1. “She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days” (Faulkner 101).
2. Emily’s father is the only close person she has ever had in her life, so when he passes, she doesn’t want to believe that he is really gone.
ii. Another possible theme is fear.
1. Miss Emily’s father believes that “None of the men were quite good enough…” (Faulkner 101).
2. After her father’s death Emily has no one, so when she finds Homer she grows fearful that he will leave her, so she kills him instead.
III. Regardless of the differences in content and theme, both women are alienated from the outside world which leads to their retaliation against the men in their lives who they believe to have deceived them by murdering

them.
a. Mrs. Wright kills Mr. Wright upstairs in their bedroom by strangling him with a rope in his sleep.
i. Hale: “She just nodded her head… rockin’ back and forth… She pointed upstairs… and she just went on pleatin’ at her apron” (Glaspell 1388).
ii. Mrs. Wright shows no signs of sympathy and does not call for help. We can assume that due to her isolation she does not know how to react and in a way she probably feels relieved.
b. Miss Emily kills Homer by poisoning him with arsenic and leaves his dead body upstairs in her attic placed in a bed.
i. “I want some poison,” she said to the druggist. “I want arsenic” (Faulkner 102).
ii. Emily tells the druggist that she wants arsenic to kill rates, but really she is looking for a poison strong enough to secretly kill Homer. She does this not only to keep him from leaving, but so the town’s people will not take him away like they took away her father.
Conclusion
I. Although the content and themes are obviously different in both literary works the true difference is between why the women’s isolation lead them to kill their significant others.
a. In “Trifles,” Mrs. Wright murders her husband because he kills the canary, which is her only sense of joy in their lonely and dark home.
b. In “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily murders Homer in order to keep him from leaving her because without him she will have no one.