Women In Trifles

Hard Times
Life for women in the 1870’s- 1930’s was a hard time period for women. Women did not have any rights and had just received the rights to vote. They were not given many career choices. Overall women life was hard and they were not treated equal at all compared to the men. The historical settings in “Trifles”, “Sweat”, and “The Storm” helped provide to the readers the woman’s actions in the different literatures are morally right or wrong.
The historical setting taking place in “Trifles” helped make the woman action understandable. In 1880’s-1940’s time period with everything that was stacked against the women starts to make me feel what she did was okay. She had no choice. She was trapped and had no way out. I look at it like this,

it was going to be him or her who was going to be killed first. It was coming like in the story when Mrs. Peters found her little fancy box and what it revealed.” That identification becomes quite evident hy the time the women find the most compelling piece of circumstantial evidence against Mrs.Wright—the hroken bird cage and the dead hird, its neck wrung and its hody placed in a pretty hox in Mrs Wright's sewing hasket. When the men notice the cage and Mrs. Hale misleadingly speculates that a cat may have heen at it, it is Mrs. Inters who confirms the matter” (986 glaspell). That made me wonder if they were trying to cover up for her. As a women in that time period and a friend they could relate more and understand the situation better than the guys could. So by noticing her getting put through problems everyday by her husband they are trying to help cover up for her because they support her actions. “Mrs.Hale she liked the bird . She was going to bury it in that pretty box” (988 glaspell). So Minnie Foster husband killed her bird something she really loved and it hurt her. He trapped her and took everything away from her then. Her back was against the wall and she had no other choice. The way he killed the bird was the exact same way she killed him. It was a warning to her and she feared for her life so I look at it as the actions she took was morally right. She defended herself and did a good job of it.
The historical setting taking place in “Sweat” was in Florida in 1920s-1930s. It involved this hard working women Delia who worked for the white folks working washing clothes. Her husband Sykes on the other hand down talked her a lot and would be very mean to her like on this one day. “ Sykes, you quit grindin’ dirt into these clothes! How can Ah git through by Sat’day if ah don’t start on Sunday?” “ Ah don’t keer if you never git through. Anyhow, ah done promise Gawd and a couple of other men, Ah aint gointer have it in mah house. Don’t gimme no lip neither, else Ah’ll throw ‘em out and put mah fist up side yo’ head to boot.”(page 2 Hursto). The things he would say and do to her was very mean. The things he did caused her to really start to dislike him. She still hade love for him because he was her husband but people eventually get feed up. Sykes also had a snake. His wife did not like snakes at all and he would often do wrong things to her trying to scare her with the snake just because he was a bad person. In the story “When the snake first appears, it is not an actual snake, but a whip-itself a sign of the physical abuse Sykes has used to oppress Delia-thrown over Delia's shoulders in an effort to scare her. This act of psychological terror only enrages Delia into a confrontation with Sykes, one which Delia finds worth the risk despite its potential to turn physical. When next we encounter the snake, it is now a real snake, which Sykes has brought home and leaves in a soap box on the front porch of the house. His intention is to employ Delia's fear of snakes in order to imprison her in the house” (“Hurston) .When someone that suppose to care about their wife says things like that over and over it builds up on them. Sykes was a cruel dude. He would often get money from his wife and take it and spend it on his side girl. Bertha seen them together before but she brushed it off. They would fight with each other often and would sleep and eat in silence. She just got tired of arguing and being put through a tough time with Sykes. Then one day he brought a snake in the house and let it lose to try and scare Delia, but the snake started to strangle him instead. He screamed out for Delia over and over again and she just listened and let the snake kill him. The actions she took to me where morally ok. In that historical setting she let the snake kill him because she could not leave Sykes herself. That just how she was, she just put up with his crap even though she was unhappy. She was tired of him and the things he did to her was wrong. They say what comes around goes around and now it was time for him to pay.
In “The storm” it is historically taking place in California.

This story describe two affairs taking place with two of the wrong people out of lust. Calixta was in love with Alcee but was married to Bobinot. In the historical time period they were not suppose to talk to one another because they were not in each others class. Time passed and they started to see how much they had and common and really started to fall for one another. So Alcee told his parents he wanted to marry Calixta. With them not being in the same class meaning one is wealthy and one is poor Calixta person told him no. They told Alcee he is going to marry Clarisse, because her family was wealthy and owned a lot of land. So Alcee obeyed her parents and married Clarisse, but still had feelings for Calixta. Then one day it was storming and Alcee came to Calixta house when Bobinot was gone. Calixta and Alcees started to become very intimate with one another. Alcee states, “ The contact of her warm, palpitating body when he had unthinkingly drawn her into his arms had aroused all the old-time infatuation and desire for her flesh” ( Chopin). That was he really wanted to be with and she really wanted to be with him and on that day they finally met up and feel in love with each other all over again. “Despite the passage of time and their marriages, Calixta and Alcée’s passion for each other has not abated. As they stand at a window, lightning strikes a chinaberry tree. Calixta, startled, staggers backward into Alcée’s arms; this physical contact arouses “all the old-time infatuation— in Assumption, Calixta” (Chopin). Historically dealing with the time period it stop them from being with one another. I feel it is morally ok for her to be happy and do whatever with the person that makes her happy and instead of the person someone is telling her or him they are suppose to be

with.
Throughout all the three readings based on the historical setting each character has a reason in my eyes for the actions they did that was morally ok to me .In life people get put in different situations, and based on the different time periods back then the characters were put through a lot of them. Never judge someone situation, and in life always try to do what makes he or she happy.