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Racism and sexism in children's literature
Importance of setting in literature
Importance of setting in literature
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Recommended: Racism and sexism in children's literature
Like writers of fiction, playwrights have many tools with which to craft a dramatic work for theatrical use, amongst those are, engaging plots, textured characters, clever dialogues, expository settings, and lofty themes. Often playwrights may have a specific message in mind. For instance, a popular such topic, is social injustice, by using the elements of drama, plot, characterization, dialogue, theme and staging to expose the evils of sexism and racism, artists can drive social change in a way that is not otherwise possible. The experienced playwright can use these elements to expose injustice through plot constructs and through interactions between characters or dialogue that depict real life situations. Each element creates a story that …show more content…
It is the sequence of occurrences that allow for exposition of setting or paradigm with which to view the social context for the drama. Furthermore, it can acquaint the audience with the characters, and finally it can guide us through the action to the conclusion to illuminate the theme. One such vivid embroidery is the play Trifles, by Susan Glaspell. In the exposition we learn that a death has occurred in a bleak, cold, disordered out of the way farm house in 1918. The entire play takes place in just one episode or scene. The subject of the play is the mystery of a man’s death, but the theme of the story is the sexist view of women prevalent at the beginning of the last century. The title of the play foreshadows the dynamic between the male and female characters. This gender bias is quickly exposed through the use of dialogue as we see in this line, delivered by the sheriff, “well women are used to worrying over trifles”. The two men in the play are looking for evidence with which to convict the farmer’s wife of murder, yet in a twist of irony, the women, towards whom the men have little respect, conspire to hide the very evidence the men are searching for. They instead band together in a show of sisterly solidarity with abused wife. All of these plot points are strung together with the use of dialogue, and symbolism, and with the benefit strong …show more content…
The setting can place the story within the context of history, describing the environmental or social conditions that allow the conflict to be possible and believable. Furthermore the setting gives the story tone, for instance, a run down dirty and overcrowded space conveys a sense of dread, or psychological stress in the characters or plot. Conversely the costumes can magnify a characters personality quirks or circumstances. Often the facets of setting allow the introduction of symbols that can communicate abstract concepts without having to spell them out. Additionally it can set an atmosphere that foreshadows future
In a play, the audience should be intrigued and ready for what is to come next. It is a play that works by understanding. It has the audience on their seat to make them be part of the play. Susan Glaspell wrote a play based on an actual murder. “In the process of completing research for a biography of Susan Glaspell, [she] discovered the historical source upon which Trifles ...Glaspell covered the case and the subsequent trial when she was a reporter for the Des Moines Daily News”(Ben-Zvi 143). In the early nineteen-hundreds women were seen as weak. They were females knew the understanding of every clue that was leading to the case and the reasoning behind it.
The plays, Trifles and A Dollhouse use the literary tool of symbolism to portray the way women were treated throughout the nineteenth century. Susan Glaspell uses the bird cage and the dead bird to signify the role and life of women in marriage and society, whereas Henrik Ibsen uses the dollhouse. These symbols allow the reader to recognize the plays main similarities in the treatment of women, such as men dismissing women as trivial and treating them like property; however, the plays portray the women’s lifestyles as different which seal their fates.
Susan Glaspell in Trifles explores the repression of women. Since the beginning of time, women have been looked down upon by men. They have been considered “dumb” and even a form of property. Being physically and emotionally abused by men, women in the early 1900’s struggled to break the mold formed by society.
Each play represents the issues faced by each gender during the time period in which it was written. However, many of the issues are similar in each time period, as well as throughout most of history. These issues will likely continue to affect both women and men for a long time in the future.
The first reading I enjoyed was Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles”. The main character in the plat is a sheriff, his wife, the county attorney, and Mr. and Mrs. Hale. The opening scene is all of them in John Wright’s kitchen. Mr. Hale tells the sheriff and attorney how he a visited the house on the day before day and Mrs. Wright greeted him but her demeanor was little suspicions. She told him that her husband was upstairs dead. She says she was asleep when someone choked her husband to death. All the men suspect she is the murderer. While the men look for evidence in the house they criticize Mrs. Wright’s housekeeping skills and that really irritates Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter, the sheriff’s wife. While the men continue to look around the house, they missed the bad fruit preserves and bread that was left out the box, a quilt that she didn’t finish, a half cleaned table, and an empty birdcage. The men were preoccupied looking for scientific evidence and end up completely missing the psychological signs that Mrs. Wright was miserable living with Mr. Wright cold-natured attitude.
Many define drama to be a literary work that is to be performed in front of an audience. But to truly define drama one must comply with its themes in order to understand it fully. Drama is a form of art that is visually presented. It displays key characteristics of human emotions to give deeper meaning to what is being presented. Sometimes drama brings out what a person is truly feeling through a tragedy play or a play portraying good fortune. Drama plays are sometimes taken out of real life instances to extend the controversy of the event or elevate the excitement of the situation. Much like in Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles”, where a woman is being put on trial for killing her husband. Trifles are small insignificant things that can be ignored. Women are being ridiculed in this drama due to their lack of voice in society; however their superiority is shown through their keen eye for evidence. Symbolism in this play acts as a precursor to predestined events that take place. It can be observed by looking at anything that has specific significance to a scene, which Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters methodically point out. The unfinished quilt, the strangled bird, and fruit are the symbols that give insight what really happened between Mr. and Mrs. Wright, and what went wrong during their marriage to result in such a dreadful end.
However, the setting of a story is more than simply a where or when that makes a nice background to a story. In a story, the psychological setting or cultural definition of a scene are associated with the values,
Conventions are commonly known as a customary feature of a literary work such as the use of a chorus in Greek tragedy or an explicit moral in a fable. They are found in stories, plays, essays, poetry, and movies. Conventions are found frequently in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, and Othello. They are also detected in D. H. Lawrence’s The Horse Dealer’s Daughter and The Rocking Horse Winner, and lastly in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House. These literary devices all grasp the same conventional concept. The use of a prop in a literary work is a perfect example of a convention—each prop is used to show a significant idea in its respective literary work.
Setting a makes up a good portion of determining a theme in a piece of literature. Physical location and time are the key points of the setting. Helping to progress the plot along with the details of the setting and the morals and attitudes of the characters throughout the piece. There are many hidden ideas demonstrated throughout this work of literature from the setting. Trifles effectively displays many underlying points from locations and using many different props from the play. While conveying the thoughts and emotions of the writer, the setting can also provide more information about the conflict of the work. The details of the setting of Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles provide clues for solving the murder of John Hossack, and give vivid details about what women were going through during this time period of suffrage.
The setting or settings in a novel are often an important element in the work. Many novels use contrasting places such as cities or towns, to represent opposing forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. In Thomas Hardy's novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, the contrasting settings of Talbothays Dairy and Flintcomb-Ash represent the opposing forces of good and evil in Tess' life.
Drama, and Writing. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th ed. New York: Pearson-Prentice, 2010. 40-49. Print.
The setting of a story is the physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs.(Meyer 1635) The setting can also set the mood of the story, which will help readers to get a better idea pf what is happening. The major elements of the setting are the time, place, and social environment that frame the characters. (Meyer 1635) "Trifles by Susan Glaspell portrays a gloomy, dark, and lonely setting. Glaspell uses symbolic objects to help the audience get a better understanding for the characters. The three symbolizes used are a birdcage, a bird, and rope.
According to the Merriam -Webster Online Dictionary an assumption is a belief that something is true or a fact or statement that is taken for granted. Susan Glaspell wrote "Trifles" to demonstrate the male assumption that women are insignificant members in a male dominated society. Because the men underestimate them, the women are able to prove they are not insignificant. The improper assumptions by men toward women can have dire consequences, as demonstrated in Glaspell's world. Combating these narcissistic assumptions displayed by men can result in a unity among women that can overcome any male caused disrespect and oppression.
In the 1960’s women roles were changing they were getting more involved in the American society. While working as a journalist Susan Glaspell reported a case of a murder which influenced her to write the play Trifles. In the play, Trifles the women are being presented as weak and powerless, a murder has been committed by Minnie Wright. There are a total of five characters in the play, three of them are men and the other two are females. The males are the county attorney, sheriff, and a neighbor farmer. The women are Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Hale. The men are searching for clues to convict Minnie of the crime, while the women find the most important pieces to the crime. In the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, the author demonstrates feminist stereotypes, representations of genders during the era when women had less power.
Throughout various mediums, queer and gender portrayals are not shown in the best light. Majority of media show clear negative connotations of homosexuals and queens while constantly being a target of discrimination and ridicule. Though as time went on many writers decided to speak up and gain awareness for queer and gender biases by incorporating messages of societal discrimination in their plays. Much of their ideals were that of how sexual/gender identity portrayal, lifestyle stigma, and preconceived notions of the homosexual community. These ideals were combined in what is called gender studies and queer literary theory. Some of these concepts and ideas of queer and gender theory can be seen throughout the play