ipl-logo

Susan Glaspell's Trifles: An Analysis

1207 Words5 Pages

Many female characters in stories are realistic to females in the real world. For example, Susan Glaspell’s story called Trifles has female characters that resemble the females living in Glaspell’s society. The female characters in the story are wives to the investigators for the case. As a matter of fact, the Women’s Rights Movement (WRM) was also taking place during Glaspell’s society. “This movement was far from unified, however; strife and division often arose as activists faced the difficulties of meeting the diverse needs and priorities of the women of America” (Andreas et al.).The WRM did start in the 1800’s which is long before Trifles came out, but the movement lasted until the twentieth century. Through the WRM, Trifles is able to suggest that Glaspell lives in a society of women gaining the ability to protect each other and themselves by fighting for their freedom and rights. Despite the stereotypes and restrictions placed on women based on their gender, they still united as one to gain equality.
Trifles came out in the twentieth century and the story illustrates an abusive emotional relationship between a married couple to which Mrs. Wright becomes a suspect in killing Mr. Wright. The investigators for the murder case are named Mr. Peters and Mr. Hale, and they could not find any clues to convict the Mrs. Wright. On the …show more content…

Women faced various complications during the WRM and those complications led to them to fight for equality for all females. For example, women wanted to end sexism, gain voting rights, access higher education, and access higher job positions. Despite their challenging work for equal rights, full equality from governments for women was not accomplished until 1920. Given these points, it took a massive group of women a while to do so, but the WRM gave them the opportunity to accomplish major positive changes in their lives against unfair

Show More
Related
1369 Words | 6 Pages

Research papers require a lot of critical thinking, planning, and research. First, one needs an interesting topic. Then, one needs at least one critical reading strategy to analyze the literary works in the topic. Finally, one needs to do preliminary research and write a basic thesis statement. After that, one has the beginning of a good research paper.

Read More
1795 Words | 8 Pages

Section 1: Introduction Susan Glaspell’s Trifles is a play about the effect of gender differences on perceptions of duty, law, and justice. The play Trifles was a murder mystery that got investigated by the County Attorney (George Henderson), the Sheriff (Henry Peters) along with his wife (Mrs. Peters), and a neighbor farmer (Lewis Hale) with his wife (Mrs. Hale). The story took place in an isolated farm house that was miles from the rest of the community in the Midwest. The victim of this murder mystery was John Wright as he was found dead with a rope around this neck.

Read More
699 Words | 3 Pages

Mrs. Wright is the main character in Susan Glaspell’s one-act play Trifles. While Mrs. Wright is being held by the police for her husband’s murder, a few men go to investigate her home, and a few women go along to gather some of her things to bring to her in jail. As the ladies collect Mrs. Wright’s possessions, they begin to come across trifles. The trifles include: a messy kitchen, a poorly sewn quilt, and a broken bird cage with a missing bird. The women view these items as important clues, and withhold their findings from the men so that they could help Mrs. Wright out of her troubles.

Read More
775 Words | 4 Pages

After the Civil War, women were willing to gain the same rights and opportunities as men. The war gave women the chance to be independent, to live for themselves. Women’s anger, passion, and voice to protest about what they were feeling was the reason of making the ratification of the 19th amendment, which consisted of giving women the right to vote. One of the largest advancement of that era was the women’s movement for the suffrage, which gave them the reason to start earning

Read More
1611 Words | 7 Pages

There is no question that women have struggled over many years to be seen as equals by their male counterparts. Years of struggle and oppression continued throughout time, but the oppression took different forms over the course of history. Susan Glaspell wrote, “Trifles” which explores a woman’s status in society during the 1920s and the political leanings that perverted society at the time. The play demonstrates how women were subjected to mental abuse and viewed as intellectually inferior as dictated by American society and politics. “Trifles” exposes how political leanings in the government favored and enabled a patriarchal society as well as displaying how the Women’s Rights movement was beginning to combat these prejudices.

Read More
713 Words | 3 Pages

Stereotypes are widely accepted pieces of judgment about a person or group but can be very biased, even though they aren’t always accurate especially when it's about being given a gender a role in today’s society. While there are some differences between Fences and other stories read are quite obvious, the similarities between the plays Fences and Trifles are the harsh gender roles given to women and they deserve to be spoken deeper about. Although gender roles today are better than it was ten or more years ago, looking at Trifles’ text pieces one can reflect and say women not so long ago had it hard too, possibly more than in today’s time. In Trifles, Mrs.Peters (Sheriff’s wife) and Mrs.Hale were neglected by the County Attorney,

Read More
796 Words | 4 Pages

In Susan Glaspell's play “Trifles,” there is a difference between the men and women’s way of perceiving evidence to Mr. Wright’s murder case. The men spend most of their time searching for solid evidence upstairs where Mr. Wright's murder takes place. However, the women spend most of their time in Mrs. Wright’s kitchen. Instead of seeking tangible evidence, they inspect the condition of the items and acknowledge how they have been muddled around. Different perspectives lead to a variety of discoveries such as the women’s way of perceiving evidence.

Read More
1577 Words | 7 Pages

In this section of Drama and Dramatic Poetry, my English class read “Trifles” and “POOF!”. “Trifles” is a one-act play that is dramatic and serious. In this play, the husband, John Wright, was found strangled with a rope in his bedroom and all of the evidence points to his wife, Minnie Foster. The question explored throughout the play is why she killed him. The story hints that she was a victim of domestic violence, but the audience cannot be absolutely sure because it does not outright say it.

Read More
691 Words | 3 Pages

Quen Head Comp 2 11:30 Literary Analysis “Trifles” Gender Roles Everyone around the world has a mindset that certain genders have certain rules in relationships and everyday life. The author, Susan Glaspell, showed many ways in the story “Trifles” how males can look at things in a different perspective than women sometimes do. For generations, women have fought for power and rights, one of the biggest events in history is The Women’s Rights’ Movement starting in 1848 and going on for years until 1920 when the 19th amendment that granted American women the right to vote. Throughout history the fight between women and men has been a long process from rights, to gender specific roles in career, pay, and equality.

Read More
972 Words | 4 Pages

According to "American-Historama.org", "The 'New Women' of the 1920s had been given the right to vote.... could attend college, get a job or career..... clamoring to learn how to drive" This shows how the introduction of the "New Women" were influential because before the 1920s, women were housewives and had little education. However, on August 18, 1920, women were finally given the right to vote. This means that their issues such as alcohol, child labor would now be addressed. In addition, many of the "New Women" fought for equal education and job opportunities. Although women did not get exactly what they want, they would lead the way for many other women of different eras to help get equal opportunities for both genders.

Read More
1091 Words | 5 Pages

As women became more involved their ability to further improve their societal standing increased as they gained more power through reform. Women became more involved in the workforce. They were paid more, better protected, and more well respected. World War One showed the nation that women could fill the role of men and produce on a level that made them important. Women also changed the progressive era by focusing on the welfare of the poor and low class.

Read More
1238 Words | 5 Pages

Susan Glaspell's play "Trifles" explores the theme of silencing of marginalized groups such as women. The play is set in the early 1900s and centers around the investigation of a murder in a rural farmhouse. As the male investigators search for evidence, their female companions begin to uncover clues that the men overlook, leading them to solve the case, but decide not to tell the men. In order to portray the theme, Glaspell employs many literary techniques such as irony, dialogue, and symbolism.

Read More
828 Words | 4 Pages

Title A trifle is an object that is of little to no value. In Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles, the reader is shown the true value of these trifles. Throughout the play, it is shown how Mrs. Wright was isolated from others because of her husband. There are many different themes that one can look at through this play.

Read More
835 Words | 4 Pages

The women of this movement were fighting for something they believed they deserve. Because of the Seneca Falls Convention and the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolution, women were able to express their own opinions. The women’s rights movement led to many different events, impacted other countries, and created a new amendment. The feminist efforts in the mid 1800s were successful enough to allow women to take on occupations and educations they weren’t able to obtain

Read More
802 Words | 4 Pages

I believe that despite all controversial views this event was a huge shift for social change and future breakthrough in this area. For the American feminist movement such impetus was the successful story of the suffrage movement during the First World War, including the adoption of the 19th Amendment. The history of women’s struggle for their rights is very long and sometimes seems endless. “The Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries opened up job opportunities for women, released them from domestic confines and provided them with new social freedoms” (Repetto, 2010,

Read More

More about Susan Glaspell's Trifles: An Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document