Susan Glaspell's Trifles

1062 Words3 Pages

A play written nearly a century ago holds symbolism to the everyday struggle that women fought to break free of societies’ norm they were ever so trapped in. Feminist fight for the resignation of women from dependent roles, expected standards, patriarchal living conditions and inequality due to sheer gender. Feminist also support one another in their pursuit of equality in the eyes of humanity and the law. Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” hold symbolic value to feminist progression strive for to attain a view of equality regardless of gender, roles, and normality. In this play, the actors are involved in a thoughtless society where the standard ideals were that men controlled the household and had limitless authority over their inhabitants. The …show more content…

For instance, the sheriff states, “Well, can you beat the woman! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves” (1201). The Sheriff does not try to understand that Mrs. Wright is concerned about her preserves due to the freeze and doesn’t want the jars to break or preserves to go to waste. Instead, he counts it as irrelevant as or less desirable than his ambitions to do anything about it. Mr. Hale goes on to say, “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (1201). Mr. Hale agrees with the attorney and the sheriff that women’s opinions were disregarded. This correlation with how these three men perceived the beliefs of the women shows that they regarded the women’s ideals as less favorable than their own. Lastly, the sheriff antagonizes the women when saying, “They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it! (The men laugh, the women look abashed)” (1204). If the women looked at one another abashed than these women felt ashamed. The correlation of these men ultimately teasing these women due to their personal interests indicates that the men saw themselves as higher beings. They believed that what they did was far more meaningful than that of their women

Open Document