Trifles

Huh? What in the world?! I just completed Trifles by Susan Glaspell, and frankly I’m
not sure whose crazier Mrs. Wright or myself for trying to understand why she performed
such odd tasks. Trifles’ story plot consists of a murder that was performed upon Mr. John
Wright, and clues are being sought out as to how such a crime could have been
committed. Immediately the first person under conviction is Mrs. Wright. During a
night’s allegedly a person entered there bedroom where Mr. Wright was strangled with a
rope. Peculiarly Mrs. Wright does not awaken from such a travesty, because she claims
she is a sound sleeper. Would not the vibrations from the body of a struggling man
awaken you? Mrs. Wright is taken in for questioning, and her house is searched for any
sort of evidence that may lead to the solving of this case, Mrs. Hale, and Mrs. Peters are
left in the gloomy kitchen reflecting, as the attorney and sheriff search the house.

Plays are movies on paper. In order to creatively capture your audience, you must
strategically create mental pictures with colorful language, and vivid imagery. Every
slight gesture is explained. There is a huge distinction between rubbing your chin, vs.
rubbing one’s chin in an empathetic thought. Glaspell made sure that every action was
derived from an emotion. There was not an instance when a character performed a simple
gesture without a history of events leading up to its climax. “It looked… [Stops, his face
twitches]… but Harry, he went up to him.” (pg. 7 line 7) Hale is reflecting on the
moment, when John’s (Mr. Wright) body is uncovered. The facial twitch bought a sense
of naturalness to the scene. Anyone’s first natural reaction to uncovering a dead body
would be one of shock; his facial twitch was that moment of shock and vulnerability.
Hale most likely was in a vulnerable position, imagine going to a friend’s house, and you
open the door to find their significant other sitting there in silence only to inform you that
they are dead. What are you to do? This element of human nature through gesturing
keeps the audience in tune with the characters in thinking that they are just human; as
humans we are all universally relatable.

Props are used as a way to keep the audience engaged in the events that are occurring.
In addition they often may be used as a symbol, or a way of communicating an overall
idea to the audience. In the kitchen, the objects, or props were arranged in a way to make
them appear un kept, and carelessly overlooked. The kitchen contained dirty pots and
pans, a loaf of bread that was forgotten about outside the bread box, and chores left un
completed; this added to the tone of the room being gloomy. The stove inside the kitchen
contained a fire that shed warmth to the room. This warmth was once the happiness that
was felt within the home, before it took its final toll of being considered a gloomy place.
The fire is comforting, and sheds light on the dark spaces of the kitchen. Mrs. Wright was
found in the kitchen sitting in the cold as if it did not disturb her, as if she had been so
used to such a chill atmosphere that she had soon fallen immune to its effect. The fire was
somewhat of a reminder that at one point this house was once filled with warmth and
love, when the fire dies out so will the memories. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters soon
uncover that Mrs. Wright had been working on a quilt. Mrs. Hale begins to pull a stitch
out of the quilt, because it is not lined as neatly, crisply, and precisely as the other
stitches. This false stitch is peculiar, because she was a wonderful homemaker; she was
amazing at making preserves, and made several jars, her beautiful quilt spoke for itself at
how talented of a homemaker she had resulted. The stitching did not become uneven until
she became nervous. This shows a caring vulnerable side to Mrs. Wright despite how she
was originally presented. Mrs. Wright was first introduced as sitting in a cold room,
hemming her apron as her husband’s cold body lay dead upstairs; the fact that she became
nervous indicated that she did have an overcoming feeling of nerves. At the end of the
day Mrs. Wright is not completely heartless. While fondling the quilt the women decide
on what items they will be taking Mrs. Wright, they look in the cupboard for some simple
sewing appliances, and uncover a birdcage whose door had nearly been torn off the
hinges. Despite the fact that the bird is missing, which shows that someone was careless
in its upkeep, the bird cage shows what a beautiful personality of Mrs. Wright. During the
introduction of the birdcage, they refer to Mrs. Wright as Minnie Foster, a woman who
always dressed fashionably, and contained a beautiful spirit. They compared Minnie
Foster to the canary, (“-- real sweet, and pretty, but timid and -- fluttery. How -- she -- did
-- change.”) (pg 22 Mrs. Hale) Minnie Foster can be thought of as the alter ego of Mrs.
Wright. When the women speak about a cold hearted topic such as murder they refer to
Ms. Foster, as Mrs. Wright; however when they speak of what a beautiful voice she
contributed to the choir they refer to Mrs. Wright, as Minnie Foster. As the women peer
into the sewing basket they uncover a beautifully decorated box. Slowly opening the box
they uncover something wrapped delicately in silk. Unwrapping the object with great
care, they discover that the box was turned into the final resting place for the canary. This
is the climax of emotions for the women. Does this mean that she actually plotted killing
her husband in such a quiet manner? The canary indicates that it may have been used as a
practice run before the actual killing of her husband; this is inferred because the canary is
uncovered with a neck that is snapped. The canary symbolized Minnie Foster, as a
beautiful woman, and then somehow down the road ended which in turn transformed into
Mrs. Wright. In the end women stick together, and the women conceal the box containing
the container from the men, deep in their hearts they want to believe she is innocent.

Trifles was a great play with a very compelling overall message for the audience. In
the end you are only going to have your female race behind you. Women have stuck
together through thick and thin for centuries. Slave mothers bonding over the loss of a
child, outraged political women bounding together to make one voice in order to gain our
rights, or even just walking three days to support each other in the fight against breast
cancer. Mrs. Peters and Hale remained on the side of Mrs. Wright even after she was
suspected of murder. Just as John Wright, men come and go, but your women will be
there for you till the end. “We girls have to stick together.” (Melanie Wanderer)