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Mistreatment Of Women In Trifles

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In Trifles there is a blatant mistreatment of women and a constant shaming of Mrs. Wright. From the beginning the women are afraid to venture to close to the County Attorney. When they first enter the men head straight to the fire and invite the women over, but they decline. The previous evenings below zero weather combined with the wiry frame of the Sheriff’s wife, she must have been freezing, but still stays near Mrs. Hale by the door. The women, who felt bad about her kitchen being scrutinized by these men, came to the conclusion that the towel was dirtied by Frank when he made the fire. When they come across the beautiful quilt squares and see the uneven stitches Mrs. Hale ripped them immediately, protecting Mrs. Wright without a second thought. Again …show more content…

Wright. The canary, the song bird, reminded Mrs. Wright of her childhood when she would sing in the choir. The canary also explains her choice to choke him. He snapped the birds neck so she killed him by his neck. When they were asked how the bird died they said the cat got it. The cat, the household predator of the canary, attacked with it’s size and strength. This combined with the fact that “I didn’t know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John” leads to a belief that he abused his wife. After thirty years of abuse and loneliness, “She didn't even belong to the Ladies’ Aid.”, she struck back when her happiness was taken from her. Mrs. Hale felt guilty for not visiting more and when asked why she did not she tells the County Attorney that “It never seemed a very cheerful place.”. The County Attorney instantly take the opportunity to criticize

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The bird cage, the quilt, and the series box were all part of the elaborate seam of Mrs. Wright killing her husband. The bird was the reason for all that transpire in the house. Mrs. Wright snap after the bird died. It cause her to kill her husband.

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Hales exclaims: “She – come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself – real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and – fluttery. How – she – did – change” (Glaspell 1044). Mrs. Hale clearly admits that the canary represents Minnie Foster, who once was that sweet, fluttery girl that was transformed into the lonely, depressed Mrs. Wright by years of her husband's neglect and emotional abuse. Additionally, the word “dead” next to bird suggest that Mrs. Wright is emotionally and mentally “dead.” For example, in the beginning of the play, Mrs. Wright displayed some usual sense of emotion or feelings towards her death of her husband, such as, her laughter and fearful look (Glaspell 1039-40).

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Her reasoning, that “bad sewing always made me fidgety” (1085). The women begin to suspect that Mrs. Wright killed her husband, and keep finding clues that support their

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The story opens with Mrs. Wright imprisoned for strangling her husband. A group, the mostly composed of men, travel to the Wright house in the hopes that they find incriminating evidence against Mrs. Wright. Instead, the two women of the group discover evidence of Mr. Wright’s abuse of his wife. Through the women’s unique perspective, the reader glimpses the reality of the situation and realizes that, though it seemed unreasonable at the time, Mrs. Wright had carefully calculated her actions. When asked about the Wrights, one of the women, Mrs. Hale, replies “I don’t think a place would be a cheerful for John Wright’s being in it” (“A Jury of Her Peers” 7).

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Wright it is easy to tell that she is not at all upset about her husband’s death. When being asked about the situation she “laughed and pleated her skirt” (4). Mrs. Wright is compared to a bird that is found later in the story. The bird was found in a pretty box with marks around its neck. Hale and Peters say that the death of her bird would have been her motive if she actually was her husband’s murderer, but the author utilizes the bird and its broken cage to be a comparison to Mrs. Wright’s life.

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The canary resides all alone in his own little world but always senses when Joe is near and will flutter rampantly. This represents Louisa because she makes sure everything is neat and tidy for when Joe visits. She “flutters” around her house cleaning and making sure everything is neat and orderly. The bizarre behavior in which the canary and Louisa act is explained in the quote: “A little yellow canary that had been asleep in his green cage in the south window woke up and fluttered wildly, beating his yellow wings against the wires. He also did so when Joe entered the room”(Wilkins Freeman 1).

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The dead canary and its cage was a pivotal piece of evidence that the women discovered. The dead bird represents the old Mrs. Wright— Minnie Foster and its cage represents how she was

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But that--oh, that was twenty years ago. " Here, we can tell that the married life for Mrs. Foster has changed, she isn't the same the girl she was twenty years ago. Throughout those 20 years, she has become the bird in the cage that cannot escape otherwise. The canary holds an immense amount of symbolism to the oppression that Mrs. Foster has withheld from John Wright. It is also made clear that if the women were convicted “but you know juries when it comes to women.

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Wright’s belongings are incomplete and out of place, particularly in the kitchen. The women find this to be abnormal and begin speculating the significance of these items. During one point in the play, Mrs. Hale notices an uneven stitch in Mrs. Wright’s unfinished quilt. She asks Mrs. Peters, “’what do you suppose she was so nervous about?’” Because of the death of Mr. Wright, Mrs. Hale views the stitching in a suspicious manner.

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Susan Glaspell uses the symbolism of objects to give hidden meaning to a moment in the play as two women discover the real reason Mrs. Wright kills her husband. Mrs. Wright was living a lonely, isolated, and depressed life. Her husband withheld his emotions and affections from her and eventually pushed her over the edge when he killed her precious canary. Glaspell writes:

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Murder today is something that most people do not think about because we are so accustomed to it. Minnie Foster, a lively woman who loses her childhood and becomes a married unhappy lady, so unhappy she kills her own husband. Although at first we are introduced to the bird as the main symbol of the play, we discover that Mrs. Wright is the bird and Mr. Wright is the bird cage trapping her life. By looking at the symbolism of this play we begin to understand that when Mr. Wright killed the canary along with Mrs Wright’s childhood, the motive to kill Mr. Wright was set for Mrs. Wright with the rope.

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Wright killed the canary and is also motive for Mrs. Wright to seek revenge. The women conclude that Mrs. Wright’s bird was her prized possession, the bird even reminds the women of Mrs. Wright, “‘She—come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself. Real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and—fluttery. How—she—did—change.’”

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460 Words | 2 Pages

In Susan Glaspell's 1916 play ‘Trifles”, the absent character, Minnie Wright is suspected of killing her husband, though there is no clear-cut motive available to the County Attorney or Sheriff. We are introduced to both the crime and the suspect through the eyes of those present to investigate the crime and the wives there to gather personal items for her. In the statement given by Hale, we are advised that Mrs. Wright seems incoherent or dazed upon his encounter with her. Hale further states, when he inquired of her husband, Mrs, Wright showed no emotion or concern at the notification of her husband’s death.

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581 Words | 3 Pages

Makayla Gordon Mrs. Korando English 1 February 17, 2023 “Trifles” Susan Glaspell’s short story “Trifles” was inspired by a true story. The story starts off with Mrs. Wright’s husband controlled her and she seeked her revenge. She gets accused of murdering her husbands, but Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale decides to lie for her and hide the very small evidence. Because of the men not paying enough attention and the women protecting Mrs. Wright, she was never found guilty. This states that everyone should pay attention to the little things because the little things might be more important than you think.

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439 Words | 2 Pages

She felt trapped, her life had no joy in it, and she was subservient to the men in society. Earlier in life she felt like the canary that she had, like a songbird that was free to do as she pleases. When she had the bird there was no reason for it to be put in a cage, but she wanted to make it feel how she had these inferences are also somewhat made in the play “ She- come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself…” (line 275) “How - she - did - change” (line 276). Then later we can assume that John got quite annoyed with the bird and its singing, so he decided to kill it and wring its neck.

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