Literary analysis on “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell
Gender roles continue to change with time. It has only been a very short time that woman have broken through their defined roles and begin to be equal with men on a total basis. In Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles”, the story challenges the gender roles through the events that occur during the course of the play and through their own inner workings. The story is set in the Literary Renaissance –Drama period and leaves plenty of room for female characters to shine in certain roles. The story provides interesting points that challenge the reader to step back and look at gender roles in a new light. “Trifles” is centered on several married couples and is presented around the point of view of female characters. The story takes place at Mrs. Wright’s home a day after her husband has been murdered. Much of the long script takes place around a conversation between Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. The two women are in the home because one is the Sheriffs wife and the other is the wife of the Attorney. The story is presented as though Mrs. Wright is suspected of killing her husband and there is no doubt that she did kill her husband. During Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters conversation it is established that the two women are lashing out against their gender roles by withholding evidence from their husbands.
In the story woman compare themselves to birds. Mrs. Hale openly speaks about Mrs. Wright “was kind of a bird herself” (Glaspell 169). It seems to be an innocent metaphor on the surface, but as the play goes on the reader realizes that “birds can be trapped in cages in the same way that woman might be trapped into their gender roles”(Marsh 5). Where their womanly duties might not be to themselves but more to their husbands. In the story the woman find a canary strangled and its dead body is sewed into a quilt. The canary was strangled