Reading Journals

Response to Trifles bye Susan Glaspell

Isolation is a common theme found throughout literature because it is a universal human experience . Whether truly isolated or just fearing isolation - loneliness can be deadly and a killer of the soul . Susan Glaspell articulately explores the isolation of women in The Trifles Minnie Wright is the protagonist . She is wife and childless in her late forties who is considered a suspect in a murder . However , the murder victim happens to be her husband . The collection of characters neighbors and police , all gather at the where

the murder happened These characters include Mrs Peters , and Mr . and Mrs . Hale . Mr . Hale the sheriff , Minnie Wright . Much of the action of the play takes place in this setting . The author uses many symbols in the play to represent different things . Each of the symbols have to develop the theme of isolation and even alienation in the text . It is John , a friend of the Wrights , that reports the death

The play Trifles is full of symbols which are used by Glaspell to help the theme of isolation or even alienation . The first symbol is that of that of a trifle . A trifle is something that is insignificant . Yet the audience knows that the trifle must be important because it is the title of the play after all . The first trifle is a blanket which Minnie has been working on it . It is found by the nosy women neighbors when they enter her sewing area . Minnie is very organized and skilled at making quilts . Her most recent endeavor is less then charming and considered chaotic . The women believe this is an indicator that Minnie might be going a little crazy and could in fact have killed her husband Of course the idea that the crazy quilt could implicate a woman for murder is absurd but it does raise some questions . The women observe "Why , it looks as if she didn 't know what she was about . Then they decide to resew the quilt . This particular quilt was knotted which is how John was killed by having a piece of material around his neck and strangled when he was in bed . This of course is an odd way to kill anyone , let alone a man . One of the women reflects "It must have been done awful crafty and still " The men start to believe that Minnie might be the killer but keep hunting for what they call hard evidence The lawyer says they need more evidence because "you know juries when it comes to women

The neighbor women continue moving around the house being nosy . The find many more trifles that reflect the guilt of Minnie Wright . There is a cage for a bird that seems out of sorts with no bird . Until later they find the dead thing wrapped in a piece of material . They think that someone , mainly Minnie , strangled the birdie too . However , this is another symbol . Minnie is sort of just like the...