Anna Theune Instructor: Young English 102 2 June 2023 The Impure Relationship In Trifles, Glaspell uses a variety of household objects to represent Minnie Wright and her marriage to her husband. One of these objects is a jar of preserves which shows the relationship’s fragileness. As the sheriff and county attorney look for evidence in the house, Mrs. Peters mentions a jar of fruit preserves and that Minnie worries about them when they turn cold because they break (1.1). This jar reveals the fragile relationship between Minnie Wright and her husband. Just as the jar is cold, so is the relationship between Minnie and her husband; the “flame” is extinguished from their relationship. Due to this, the jar breaks just like Minnie’s sanity with the …show more content…
The country attorney finds dirty towels as they look for evidence in the kitchen, yet Mrs. Hale mentions how towels get dirty quickly and that men’s hands are not as clean as they look (1.1). This suggests that the relationship, symbolized by the towel, is not pure. Minnie Wright slept around, yet Mrs. Hale’s comment suggests that Minnie’s husband may have had some fault in the relationship as well (1.1). In other words, Minnie Wright’s husband may have done something to provoke his wife to commit this crime. Since the towel dirtied quickly, it suggests that the relationship is not clean and pure. A third item found in the house is a canary and its cage which represents Minnie Wright’s freedom. Mrs. Peters finds a birdcage as they look for quilting materials and notice the bird is gone and the cage door is broken (1.1). The canary represents the freedom that was caged due to Minnie Wright’s marriage to her husband. The broken cage door symbolizes that she broke free to gain her freedom by killing her husband. The bird is not found initially, which symbolizes the freedom that the wife got once her husband died. However, Mrs. Peters finds the bird dead with a wrung around its neck (1.1). This