Throughout history the male gender has always been seen as the dominant sex, while the female race suffered from oppression and regulation from a patriarchal society. In the past, a female’s identity could only be granted when associated with their dominating male partners. Females were belittled and pictured as weak in the cognitive areas which led to little to no authority in decision making in the household, or in law. The 1916 play “Trifles” author Susan Glaspell displayed the 19th century’s subordination and oppression through usage of symbolism depicting how a women’s intuition holds no validity in the eyes of men. Consequently, in the 19th century woman were fed-up with their voices being little to no importance, this lead to the fight for women’s rights. Not until 1920 …show more content…
As the men head to investigate the house for evidence, the women show how their intuition holds more impact on solving the crime. The women are left in a familiar area where they spend much of their time, the kitchen. As the ladies pay attention to the “little” things men find as trifles, they end up with more motives for the crime then the men. The ladies find a birdcage with the door broken. Glaspell symbolism of the birdcage shed light on the issue of subordination. The dead bird represented the main suspect Minnie Foster a.k.a Mrs. Wright, it represent the life of Minnie before she became subordinate to her husband. “She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that—oh, that was thirty years ago”, the birdcage represented how trapped Mrs. Wright felt and how her husband kept her secluded from the world. The dead bird was the motive for crime; Mrs. Wright killed the bird to represent freedom from her husband’s authority. The ladies intuition ends up finding the biggest clue to the