What Was Minnie's Rights

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Julia Jowers Professor Bush English 1020 11 March 2024 Was Minnie Right? The play Trifles by Susan Glaspell presents the story of a patriarchal society in which men have all the power. After discovering Mr. Wright's deceased body, Mr. Hale calls in the sheriff to assist him. Initially, the play appears straightforward: two policemen and a witness examine a crime scene to find clues about its motive, but as the story continues, several other factors deserve to be featured. By examining the characterizations and dialogue in Trifles by Susan Glaspell, this paper explores the themes of justice and injustice in the context of gender inequality in rural America. Symbolism is a significant feature of Susan Glaspell's play. A strong example of symbolism …show more content…

what is it you call it, ladies?” (Glaspell 1163). That line at the end of the play shows that Mrs. Wright knew how to tie a knot, symbolizing that she killed her husband by strangling him with a rope. With that being said, it shows the bond some women have that is relatable to a knot. The two ladies have solved the murder but have kept an oath to keep it a secret. The messy stitching of the quilt remains unfinished, which could represent the incomplete crime of Mrs. Wright. She writes about Mrs. Wright, who kills her husband because she blames him for her sad, tedious life. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are the two characters who solve the murder, while the county attorney and sheriff devise different strategies to solve the crime. In Glaspell's novel, symbolism was used as a clue for understanding, but only the women were able to do so. The two ladies showed that the female perspective is just as important as the male perspective. The first example is the jar of cherries when the county attorney and sheriff were looking for evidence or "clues" in the kitchen. As they looked at the bad preserves from Mrs. Wright, the women noticed that there was still one …show more content…

Then she married, and everything changed. Minnie Wright’s social life dwindled to nothing during the years of her marriage. If she felt trapped in her home and if he had threatened violence against her, she may have felt justified in taking his life as a way of saving her own. The fact that the community and even law enforcement didn't recognize domestic abuse during the time that Minnie lived could explain why she felt trapped with no way out. The condescending attitudes of the sheriff and county attorney in the play imply that any attempt Minnie might have made to bring charges against her husband for abuse could have been dismissed. In this argument, due to her fear for her safety and the absence of assistance from society at the time, Minnie was justified in killing her husband. According to the evidence, Mr. Wright was highly emotionally abusive toward Minnie and most likely physically abusive as well. The dead bird provides a perfect metaphor for what happened to her. Physical abuse is not discussed as part of the story, but it may have been at the crime scene. There is a lot of evidence that he was controlling and emotionally abusive toward

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