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Trifles By Susan Glaspell Essay

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Morgan heidel
Professor Jacobs
ENGL 1020-006
March 13, 2018
Wright or Wrong The play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell emphasizes the value of men and women’s perspectives of the murder of Mr. Wright in his and his wife’s, Mrs. Wright, old farmhouse. It questions the gender role of women being confined to the house work while it all goes unnoticed. The title of the play hints to that women’s work is considered trifles while the mean do all the “real work”. In this play Mrs. Wright is being accused of murdering her husband by tying a rope around his neck, strangling him to death. The different genders search the house to find clues as to why she would have committed such a crime shows the opposite views. Susan Glaspell exhibits that women are important and not to be trifled with. This supports the idea that men see women’s actions incompetent. This idea is continuously portrayed all through the story by the way the men act towards the women and …show more content…
PETERS. Oh, her fruit: it did freeze. She worried about that when it turned so cold. She said the fire’d go out and her jars would break.
SHERRIF. Well, you can beat the woman! Held for murder and worryin’ about her preserves.
COUNTY ATTORNEY. I guess before we’re through she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about (1003).
The preserves are meaningless to the men but to women it is a lot more than that, it is for the well-being of the whole family. The men do not understand that is indeed a reason for the crime. The symbolism in the play is directed at the need for equal rights, and the role men play in keeping that from happening. Some metaphors in “Trifles” is the bird and the bird cage which shows the laws that prevent women from being free. Mr. Wright breaking the birds neck represents men who oppress women. The women sticking together throughout the play symbolizes the women’s suffrage movement. The dedication the women put into their work truly shows how hard women fought for their equal

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