Wife and Mrs. Hale

Women without Freedom In the drama Trifles, Susan Glaspell uses actions, characters, settings, objects as symbols to show the reader that men did not appreciate women and women at that time period did not have any freedom and happiness. In the drama, when Mr. Peters, Mr. Hale, Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Hale enter the kitchen of the Wright household, their conversations and their actions show that men do not appreciate women. For example, County Attorney says, “And yet. For all their worries, what would we do without the ladies? Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies” (1228). Mrs. Hale answers “There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm,” (1228). County Attorney says, “To be sure. And yet I know there are some Dickson County farm houses which do not have such roller towels,” (1228). This dialogue shows the man do not appreciate women at all, Mrs. Hale try to show how much work women has to do in a day and from County Attorney words, it shows men just thought women should be a housekeeper. Finally, in the drama Trifles, women are not portrayed as happy and free. When the women, Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Hale, gather up the quilting material, they discover a fancy little box. Inside, wrapped in silk, is a dead canary and its neck has been wrung. The importance is that Minnie’s husband did not like the canary’s beautiful song. The canary is a symbol of his wife’s desire for freedom and happiness, so Mr. Wright busted the cage door and strangled the bird. In Trifles, the writer Susan Glaspell uses character’s conversation and their action throughout the drama to show reader that men did not appreciate women and the canary is a symbol of Mrs. Wright’s past as her freedom and her happiness.

Work Cited
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Eds. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 10th ed. New York: Longman, 2007. 1225-1236.