• Home Page
  • Trifles By Susan Glaspell Symbolism

Trifles By Susan Glaspell Symbolism

Improved Essays
Show More
4.) In Susan Glaspell’s “trifles” Mr. hale is giving a statement about what he witnessed after showing up to Minnie wrights home the day Mr. Wright was murdered. He talks about Minnie wright as almost careless about her husband’s death. She seemed antsy and a bit nervous but she had a way about her that showed she wasn’t too torn up about his passing.Mr hale did not really know how to interpret her reaction. He seemed confused or unsure about whether or not she was upset or happy that her husband was gone. “And then she—laughed. I guess you would call it a laugh” (Glaspell). From a women’s point of view Minnie wright had a good reason to kill her husband because he was not good to her. The women are thinking of any excuse to give Mrs. Wright …show more content…
The quilt in the story is a representation of the way Minnie chose to kill her husband. The women look at the oddly sewn quilting and see that the badly sewn area is significant to the murder. The men however see that the sewing is just connected to trifles women worry about. The difference between men 's and women 's perception. The County Attorney says "Well, ladies, have you decided whether she was going to quilt it or not it?" The women answered "knot it" which shows that they are aware of the small details of how Minnie was thinking when plotting the murder. The Canary is one of the main symbol in Trifles. Mr. Wright basically strangled the life from Mrs. Wright, he brought down the once happy woman he first married. After she married she lost her ways of life she was no longer a cheerful women .The birds death symbolizes Minnie fosters spirit dying away.Mrs hale states 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. The cage also plays a key role the cage represents Minnie being trapped in the life she was living. With no freedom of expression she felt caged like a bird. As well as the house she is isolated far away from everyone

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Symbolism In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers
    • 1290 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Symbolism In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

    Perhaps the most utilized symbol in the story is the task left unfinished. It starts when Martha must go to see Mrs. Peters, leaving “Half the flour sifted and half unsifted” (1). Then, they go to the Wright’s house to find that Minnie had left her quilt unfinished and her counter in an odd state: “One half of it was wiped clean, the other half messy” (7). All of these projects were started and yet never completed: always interrupted by one thing or another. This is symbolic of how the women felt about their lives: all their goals interrupted by their home lives, left unfinished. This would explain why Martha “Hated to see things half done” (1). Another, more obvious, symbol in this story would be Minnie’s pet bird. The bird represented Minnie and her joy and aspirations. Right off the bat, we recognize that the bird in the cage demonstrates how trapped she feels. However, the situation is taken one step further. Her husband strangled the bird, representing how he took the joy out of her, and stopped her from singing (literally), as Mrs. Hale explained. “No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird… a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that too” (11).Also, she comes to strangle her husband just as he strangled her bird, creating a grotesque, karmic “circle of life”. Another similar symbol was her fruit preserves, which Minnie took immense pains to care for. The fruit preserves were something she cared about, but they were shattered when the women arrived at the house. The cold caused them to break, and cold continues to be a symbol at other points in the story. For example, near the beginning of the story, this exchange occurs: “The county attorney, turned around and said, ‘Come up to the fire, ladies.’ Mrs. Peters took a step forward, then stopped. ‘I 'm not--cold,’ she said” (1). Mrs. Peters’ reaction is very peculiar- taking a step forward and then stopping, as though…

    • 1290 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Compare And Contrast Trifles And A Jury Of Her Peers
    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Compare And Contrast Trifles And A Jury Of Her Peers

    The play is about a murder which is most certainly not a trifle but throughout the play the men refer to the women as having trifles “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (Hale 1262). The entire time the men are looking for some type of evidence to support their theory that Mrs. Wright had murdered her husband while the women and their “trifles” essentially lead them to the evidence that could convict Mrs. Wright. The women discover a quilt, an empty birdcage and eventually find the dead bird in a box in Mrs. Wright's sewing basket. The bird has been strangled in the same manner as John…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Trifles And The Story Of An Hour Comparison Essay
    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Trifles And The Story Of An Hour Comparison Essay

    The setting of the kitchen within “Trifles” serves as a representation of the important feminist subject that women are oppressed by men; they are looked down upon when they have an opinion and are especially looked down upon for their female abilities that are made to be inferior compared to the opposite sex. Mr. Hale, a neighboring farmer, and his wife Mrs. Hale; the town sheriff, Henry Peters and his wife Mrs. Peters accompanied by the county attorney George Henderson had all made their way into the Wright’s home to look for evidence that could lead them to John Wright’s murder being solved. Throughout the play Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale had taken the time to psychologically analyze Mrs. Wright’s home and her actions she undertook before she was detained by police all while in the midst of trying to figure out what exactly had happened to her husband. However, the men: Mr. Henderson, Mr. Peters, and Mr. Hale were in search of evidence that was tangible rather than psychological. All three men insisted on criticizing the women for worrying about unimportant things when in fact these “unimportant things” led to both women solving the case. When Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale were downstairs in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wright they had found an old, empty bird cage which confused them and brought…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Symbolism In Trifles
    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Symbolism In Trifles

    Wright’s sewing basket. In the basket they find a dead bird wrapped in a piece of silk. Despite discovering Mrs. Wright’s motive for killing Mr. Wright, the two women decide to keep the information they have learned to themselves. The house of Mr. and Mrs. Wright as well as Mrs. Wright’s bird prove to be powerful symbols in Trifles.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Symbolism In Susan Glaspell's Trifles
    • 1807 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Symbolism In Susan Glaspell's Trifles

    Winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1931 for “Allison’s House”, Susan Glaspell is responsible for creating the high school nation-read One-Act Play known as “Trifles”. Published in 1916, Glaspell defied the harshest restrictions set for women and shared her talent with readers all throughout the country. Back then, it was infrequent to hear about women completing such a major act. However, publication became an ordinary habit for Susan Glaspell. Additionally, Glaspell would often write about the oppression directed at women and revolve her stories plot’s around it. Being the author over roughly 74 pieces of works, in Trifles, Susan Glaspell uses symbolism to justify Mrs. Wright’s actions.…

    • 1807 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Symbolism In Two Kinds By Amy Tan
    • 1514 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Symbolism In Two Kinds By Amy Tan

    America, commonly known as the home of the free and the land of opportunity, but do any of those things prove to be true if you do not see them from that positive perspective? In the short story Two Kinds, written by Amy Tan, a young girl is faced with the barrier of being a daughter to an immigrant women from China. The obstacles that we read about can be perceived in different ways, however, we only see them from the specific point of view of the daughter. This obstructs the way we receive and analyze the message of the text. While considering point of view as a leading factor in how we read the story, the use of symbolism can also be brought into discussion. The symbols derived from the passage have a unique impression on the lesson of the story and the…

    • 1514 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    Symbols In Trifles
    • 127 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Symbols In Trifles

    In the nineteenth century, women’s right in the United States had not been granted. The era saw the emergence of several prominent female literary figures. Like many other women before Glaspell, they wrote of inequality between sexes and the inability of women to live their own lives without reliance on man. Through this, they helped writers of the twentieth century, such as Glaspell, to write on similar themes. In Trifles, Glaspell's distinctive use of symbols helps illustrate the uprising theme. A simple illustration of symbols are names. Most names are used to only label, but can idealize more about who a person is. In stories, names are used to serve both of those purposes of not only labelling a character, but to assume something about…

    • 127 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Common Themes Of Lies In Trifles By Susan Glaspell
    • 1063 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Common Themes Of Lies In Trifles By Susan Glaspell

    “It 's not the lie that bothers me, it the insult of my intelligence that I find offensive.” Everyone was taught when they were little that lying is bad and the truth will get you further in life. In some aspects lying can get you out of trouble now, but that lie that you will tell will come back to get you in the future. Each play has a character that lies just to prove a point, to prove that they are strong. The Children 's Hour, Trifles and A Doll House all have one common theme; each play has various different lies.…

    • 1063 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    The Use Of Metaphors In Susan Glaspell's Trifles
    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Use Of Metaphors In Susan Glaspell's Trifles

    Metaphors are figures of speech that bring comparison or analogies between two things that are considered to lack similarity. It brings in the visual description of what is being described. For instance in Sylvia Path’s poem “Metaphors”, the writer brings out the visual description of a pregnant woman using an elephant. The size of a pregnant woman is huge hence the comparison with an elephant which is also huge though a woman and an elephant are different in many ways like an elephant is an animal with a trunk but a woman is a human being with no trunk. Susan Glaspell’s use of the word Trifles as a metaphor contributes to and illustrates theme, tone and characterization in the play in the approach described below.…

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Gender Roles In Trifles By Susan Glaspell
    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Gender Roles In Trifles By Susan Glaspell

    They immediately go about picking some clothes for their imprisoned colleague since she had been arrested hurriedly the previous morning. While Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters engage in the “trifles” they stumble upon the incriminating evidence that can prove Mrs. Wright’s guilt beyond any reasonable doubt. The women conduct their own analysis, add up various inconsistencies regarding Mrs. Wright’s behavior and remarkably establish what provoked her into killing her husband. The men soon return to the kitchen after finding no success in the upstairs section of the farmhouse. Intriguingly, the women suppress the crucial information in an extraordinary demonstration of silent bonding and understanding. In fact, Mrs. Hale conceals the box containing the dead bird’s body as soon as the men reappear (Glaspell 1900). Mrs. Peters on the other hand does not behave in any suspicious manner and they succeed in keeping their secret from the…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    A Doll's House And Trifles Analysis
    • 1194 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A Doll's House And Trifles Analysis

    Henderson, and the Sheriff, Mr. Peters, who bring in Mr. Hale, their prime witness. The wife’s, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, tag along so that they can get clothes for Mrs. Wright, and to bring her a distraction in jail. Mrs. Wright has been taken to jail because she is the prime murder suspect for her husband’s murder. When the men arrive to the farmhouse, they do not think they will find anything of importance in the kitchen or anywhere downstairs, so the men decide to go upstairs to look for anything incriminating towards Mrs. Wright. Once the women are downstairs alone, Mrs. Hale start to remember how Mrs. Wright used to be before she married Mr. Wright, she would always be singing and cheerful but now she is just a serious and quiet person. While the two ladies are speaking they notice that Mrs. Wright had left and unfinished quilt, and as they look around for the knitting material, they discover a box with a dead bird inside. It seems that someone had wrung its neck. Then both women seem to identify with how Minnie felt. Which is why one of them hides the box with the bird inside, when they hear the men coming downstairs. When the men see the ladies with the quilt, one of them say that while they are investigating a murder, the ladies are admiring quilt work. In this story, Mrs. Wright made a drastic move by murdering her husband. Since she became tired of putting up with his coldness and mean…

    • 1194 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Script Analysis Of Trifles By Susan Glaspell
    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Script Analysis Of Trifles By Susan Glaspell

    The story could be considered as having began the day prior when Mr. Wright was killed or many years before that when Mrs. Wright married him and changed so much. “Trifles” has a climactic structure as is evidenced by restricted characters, locale, and scenes as well as a plot that starts very late in the story.…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Treatment Of Women In Susan Glaspell's Trifles
    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Treatment Of Women In Susan Glaspell's Trifles

    Hale and Mrs.Peter’s went to collect some items for Mrs. Wright while she was in jail. While they were in the kitchen collecting things Mrs.Peter’s stumble upon a cage for a bird and she said “why here’s a bird cage…There was a man around last year selling canaries but I don’t know as she took one”(Glaspell. Line 105-106). The bird cage represented the power that Mr. Wright had over Mrs. Wright while they were married. Mrs. Hale stated Mrs. Wright use to sing and be happy before she lost her own identity when she married her husband. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale also found a dead canary and a terrible knitted quilt in a box. The dead canary was inessential to Mr. Wright because he only wanted his wife to focus on the things that were important like him and the up keep of house. That’s the reason why he killed the bird and rung its neck and when he did that he also killed the little joy and spirit that Mrs. Wright had left in her. Mr. Wright killing the bird was the final straw for Mrs. Wright (in addition to being abused by her husband and being stripped of her independence). Mrs. Wright put some poison in the preserves so that when he did eat some of it he would…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Symbolism In Trifles By Susan Glaspell
    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Symbolism In Trifles By Susan Glaspell

    In conclusion, the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell has a lot of symbols throughout that helps the reader figure out what Mrs. Wright could really be feeling. Since we never get to hear directly from her, we can only analyze and figure out for ourselves through important symbols presented in the play. Each symbol has an equally important part in the evaluation of the life of Mrs. Wright and the relationship she had with her husband so we can figure out why Mrs. Wright may have been motivated to strangle…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Setting Of Trifles By Susan Glaspell
    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Setting Of Trifles By Susan Glaspell

    The early 1900’s were dramatically different from the current time period. World War I was held on a large scale at the time, but there was a more domestic issue at hand--the role of a woman. In her play Trifles, Susan Glaspell writes in relation to the current issue around her own everyday life. The role of a woman is told through a captivating story and a profound setting that is used to draw in her audience from the start. Glaspell focuses on the setting to reveal her story by applying character work, theme, and symbolism.…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2023 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings