ENH110
Blog Post Questions
1.
Explain what the title of the play
refers to. Cite at least three or more examples of these "trifles."
The
title Trifles refers to
both the clues the women use to solve the case and the things the men miss
because they see them as womanly. The word trifle refers to something
"of little value or importance." In the play, the Sheriff Henry
Peters, attorney George Henderson, and Lewis Gale go to the home of a married
couple, the Wrights, to investigate the death of John Wright. The title Trifles is ironic because the play deals with wife abuse, which
is a very serious matter. It also deals with how female reasoning is ignored by
men in favor of male reasoning, as shown when the men ignore the clues present
throughout the house that show that Mrs. Wright was abused by her husband. The
women, however, notice and pay attention to the clues.
2.
Explain how the most important props
in the play--the canary, the birdcage, the quilt, and the sewing box--each
relate to the theme of the play? What do they symbolize?
· The canary: The little yellow songbird is
representative of Minnie Foster, once a bright young woman of the town who was
in the church choir where she loved to sing, just as the little bird sings in
her lonesome and isolate farm house. While Minnie owns the bird, she is able to
experience some joy as she delights in its song.
· The
birdcage: represents how Mrs. Wright was trapped in her marriage, and could not
escape it. The birdcage door is broken which represents her broken marriage to
Mr. Wright. It also represents Mrs. Wright escaping her marriage from Mr. Wright.
When the door is open it allows Mrs. Wright to became a free woman.
· The quilt: The erratic stitches in Minnie's quilt
represent Minnie's emotional state after the little songbird is killed. These
missed stitches represent, or symbolize, the state of mind of the desperate
Mrs. Wright.
3.
What is the dilemma Mrs. Peters
faces in the play? What complicates matters for her? Why does she decide to
suppress the evidence against Mrs. Wright? Why does Mrs. Hale experience no
such dilemma?
A
relative newcomer to the town who never knew Mrs. Wright before John Wright
married her, Mrs. Peters is "a slight, wiry woman" with a "thin,
nervous face." She is married to the sheriff and prefers to follow the
law, often apologizing for the behavior of the men because they are only doing
her duty. Mrs. Peters understands loneliness and the world of the female
domestic. The wife of the local sheriff, Mrs. Peters becomes torn between
her loyalty to her husband's position and her growing understanding and
sympathy for Mrs. Wright. Depicted as the submissive wife in the beginning of
the play as she defends what her husband does. Then, after she listens
to what Mrs. Hale has to say about Mrs. Wright's alienation from others and her
difficult life as the wife of John Wright, alone all day with no children, no
telephone, no communication with others, Mrs. Peters begins to wonder about the
circumstances surrounding the death of John Wright.
4.
Explain the significance of the last
line of dialogue in the play (and explain the pun involved--"not
it"). How could the men have repeated this throughout the play?
The
significance of the last line of the play is that the attorney has no idea what
the women are doing in hiding the evidence against Mrs. Wright. She did in fact
kill her husband, but in the women's minds, this act was justified considering
the years of abuse Mr. Wright had inflicted on his wife. The men in the play,
however, continue to think of women's thoughts and actions as 'trifles,'
centered on domestic activities like quilting. Mrs. Hale, however, has the dead
canary, the evidence, in her pocket. That last line is an affirmation of what
the women have accomplished in protecting Mrs. Wright.
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