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Conformity And Rebellion In Lynn Nottage's Play POF !

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Lynn Nottage's play titled POOF! delves into themes of conformity and rebellion through the lens of a woman trapped in a violent and oppressive marriage. Set in the 1970s in America, the play explores the patriarchal and gendered power dynamics constraining women and how women push back against such constraints. Through powerful symbols and the usage of irony, Nottage creates a thought-provoking commentary on the societal expectations of women and the effects of both conforming to and rebelling against these expectations. One of the most prominent symbols in the play is the kitchen. Traditionally viewed as the domain of women, the kitchen becomes a site of tension and conflict as Loureen's argument with her husband, Samuel, takes place in the …show more content…

However, this is not the case in this story, as the police here represent the irony that Loureen could end up in prison for the disappearance of Samuel. This is somewhat of a product of the time period, as in the 1970s, it was a rather common practice for men to abuse their wives, and the justice system did not see anything wrong with this. The fact is that someone who kills their abusive husband can go to jail and even be sentenced to death row. The only way Loureen could find peace was for Samauel to disappear; yet, if the police found his ashes, she would again lose all her freedoms and possibly her life. Florence even comments about the idea of calling the police, "Why? What are you gonna tell them? About all those times they refused to help, about all those nights you slept in my bed 'cause you were afraid to stay down here? About the time he nearly took out your eye 'cause you flipped the television channel?" (Nottage 102). For Loureen, the police were not a source of protection. When she felt unsafe, they did not help. Florence was the one who protected her from the abusive Samuel; if Loureen were to go to the police in this case, they would again ignore her pleas for help and put Loureen in

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In addition, the men also made a claim of “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (Glaspell, 187). This shows the men in the play was stereotyping the women’s roles because they assumed that women only worry about the smaller things around the house. However, the women did agree that their role in society was very strenuous. In the Trifles, Mrs. Hale said, “There’s a great deal of work to be done on the farm” (Glaspell, 187). This quote suggests that the women agreed that their duty was mostly domestic work like taking care of the farm and the house and they also defended Mrs. Wright by saying that it takes a lot of effort to keep the farm neat and clean.

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