Social Customs in "Trifles"
Susan Glaspell's "Trifles" is another look into how men treat women and what kind of despair it can drive women to. Social customs are at the heart of this play, as the two women reveal as they visit together while the men investigate the murder. They both knew Mrs. Wright was not happy and that Mr. Wright was cruel and domineering, but they never did anything about it. They did not visit or befriend Mrs. Wright when she needed it; they were all too busy with their own work and lives. The social customs of these rural people were to keep to themselves and not meddle in anyone else's business, even if it seemed like someone needed help. They essentially left Mrs. Wright to solve her own problems, and finally, when she could not take any more abuse, she did.
Although these characters were all neighbors in a small town, the men seem very removed from the realities of living and working on a farm. They do not see the difficulties the women face, or the personalities of the couples around them. They admit that Mr. Wright was difficult and "cheerless," but no one seemed to worry about Mrs. Wright or how it affected her. Perhaps most interesting is how perceptive the women are, while the men are investigating and "in charge." It is the social custom in this area that the men tend to their work, the women tend to theirs, and they do not confer very much. The women find the motive for the murder, and understand how far Mr. Wright pushed his wife, and the men do not have a clue. They simply think the "little women" are quaint for worrying about frozen preserves and quilting. The social custom is for the men to take charge, but it is the women who are perceptive enough to understand what happened and feel remorse for their own lack of friendship and understanding. The moral of this story is that sometimes social customs need to change with the times or circumstance, and this is certainly one of those times.
How -- she -- did -- change."(Glaspell) the second sense of the play's title becomes obvious: there is no place in the male world of overt action for women's fragility and sensibility, symbolized by the singing bird. The two wives intuitively understand that Mrs. Wright's husband could not understand or like "a thing that sang": "No, Wright wouldn't like the bird -- a thing that sang. She used to
Susan Glaspell,(Trifles). Please ensure original wor Formal Approach There is a great deal of irony found in Susan Glaspell's work of literature entitled "Trifles." Irony, of course, is when words are used the exact opposite of their literal meaning. The concept of situation irony also exists within literature, in which characters act the exact opposite of the way that a certain situation calls for. An examination of Glaspell's work indicates that
The words on the page are powerful as Williams uses symbolism to emphasize moods. Viewing the play with the plays of light and shadows would be a delight because we could see the characters moving in and out of darkness. August Wilson's play, Fences, is titled such because of the fences people tend to build between one another. This is demonstrated with Troy and Cory, who cannot agree upon much.
Wright as well as their own lives. Putting aside the fact that Toomer's Cane is a much different piece -- it is not a play and is much lengthier than Trifles -- the language, form and mood vary significantly. For example, "Fern," one of the stories in the Cane collection, first appears to be a portrait of an exquisite woman who nobody understands. However, the reader soon realizes that she
Holmes always solves the crime, and that fact is very satisfying to the reader. Similarly, the two women are inadvertently unearthing the clues to the murder alongside the searching investigators. Glaspell endears us to the two women through the use of personal experiences and memories. Through their similarities, the two women also endear the reader to Minnie Wright. This closeness in character makes it perfectly acceptable when the women
Susan Glaspell's Trifles The title of Susan Glaspell's drama Trifles indicates that it will deal with seemingly small matters: as Mrs. Hale says of the pivotal prop in the stage-play -- "Wouldn't they just laugh? Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a -- dead canary!" (Glaspell 27-8). Yet Mrs. Hale's sense that, if a male audience could see her dialogue with Mrs. Peters in Trifles by Susan Glaspell,
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