Trifles

3 Pages 703 Words

Literary Analysis of “Trifles”

In Trifles, by Susan Glaspell, two women battle with a decision that could change the fate of a woman who is assumed to have killed her husband. They are at the Wright house to gather some things to bring to Minnie and start to analyze the things in her kitchen. Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Hale talk about how Minnie was such a good woman before she married. They start to battle with the thought that she may have actually killed her husband.
Women in the early 1900’s were considered second class. They were house wives and nothing more. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale discuss everyday things in Minnie’s kitchen such as her fruit and her bread that was set and ready to be baked. Suddenly Mrs. Peters asks Mrs. Hale “Do you think she did it?” These two women know that Minnie would have had a motive but did not want to say it out loud. They continually bring up how “Minnie Foster” used to be. “…one of the town girls singing in the choir.” It is constantly inferred that John Wright was bad husband who changed her.
Ables 2
They had no children which left her home lonely along with the fact that he was not much company when he came home.
There is a large amount of foreshadowing in this play. The women find a bird cage in the cupboard with a broken door. They know that this is an abnormal finding. They come to the conclusion that she had a canary to keep her company. It also sang beautifully, something to remind her of how her life was before she was with John Wright, she used to sing and be sweet. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale also discover her quilting and find one that is messy and out of place. Mrs. Hale also knows that this is out of place and begins to fix it.
Somehow these two women know that if the men see these things they will use them against her. Unknowingly they hide things that are potentional evidence. They know, but never say, that Minnie killed her husband ...