Friday 1 November 2013

Trifles

Susan Glaspell (Trifles: Explorations of the text)


2. What clues lead the women to conclude that Minnie Wright killed her husband?

The women first saw the uneven sewing as if it is a sign of confusion, when Mrs. Hale says that “it looks as if she didn't know what she was about”, Minnie Wright seems to be totally lost her concentration and not thinking in a straight way. Then, Mrs. Peters saw a bird-cage with one hinge of it is pulled apart, they were thinking that someone must have been rough on it, though they have not mention directly who is responsible for that, the readers are able to judge it through. Mr. John Wright is always portrayed as a hard man; “Just to pass the time of day with him-(Shivers.) Like a raw wind that gets to the bone,” says by Mrs. Hale, from this there is a great probability that he could have been that cold towards the bird as well.

The last clue is the discovery of the dead bird with its neck on the other side as if someone wrung it. Such a horrible doing couldn't be done by Minnie Wright which according to Mrs. Hale “real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and-fluttery”. Someone like her wouldn't torture the bird, but Mr. John Wright could have done that. On the whole, it is not impossible for Minnie Wright to kills her husband over such a great torture and suffering she have to endure.

3. How do the men differ from the women? from each other?

The men seems to be looking for solid evidence and reason for a murder to happen, that if someone would killed a person, it must been have well planned, involve struggling, violence scene and with a possible weapon. They didn't realize that it was a woman that is the main suspect here, so they must think like woman in order to find out that one woman don’t need a violence act to kill a person. While the women, they didn't exactly there to look for evidence but their innate behavior lead them to the real motive for a wife to kill a husband. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are only wondering around the kitchen, talking and minding their own business, but not to reveal who is the murderer but why murdering a person.

Men here is a problem solver, they went up and down the house, going out to the barn, thinking what a murderer chose to use and why John Wright didn't attack the person back even though he had a gun in the house. Their role here is to think of a solution towards question and confusion of the whole case. However, the women in ‘Trifles’ using their instinct to react over something, and thought deeper over the situation, not to look for a solution but to picture themselves at the same condition. This had helps them to find out what cause Minnie Wright to attempt murder.

County Attorney in this drama shows so much curiosity to find out more about the case, he’s been leading most of the conversation regarding the flow of the event. Even so, he is constantly criticizing the women, Mrs. Wright for having a messy kitchen, Mrs. Hale for wondering about the knot and quilt and Mrs. Peters for worrying Mrs. Wright preserves. He is a young man, his experiences over life hasn't broaden his thought yet, so he didn't aware that he was wrong to left out women characters when investigating a woman suspect. While Hale is a bit passive though he did contribute to the opening of the investigation, he is obedient towards authority of County Attorney and Sheriff. The way Mrs. Hale talks to Mrs. Peters, it could be assume that she and her husband Hale having a pretty much a normal family routine. Sheriff didn't very much says anything over the cases but acknowledge his wife to married to the law by the fact of marrying him, but similarly to County Attorney and Hale, he also thought that women could only been worrying about the preserves.

4. What do the men discover? Why do they conclude “Nothing here but kitchen things”? What do the women discover?

The men discover that there is a gun in the house, there is no sign of anyone having come from the outside, and the rope used to kill John Wright seems to be his own rope. They manage to find out the whole process of the murder but they can’t figure out the reason of doing it, County Attorney says, “a thing that would connect up with this strange way of doing it”. They conclude that “Nothing here but kitchen things” because they now sees Mrs. Minnie Wright as a murder suspect, they didn't realize that before that she was a housewife of a farmer, a normal woman with a normal everyday routine which definitely will involve the use of the kitchen. The men assume that a murder should constantly act suspiciously unusual and horrible; they left the fact that even a murderer is a human being.

The women incredibly manage to discover not only the motives for Mrs. Minnie Wright to attempt a murder but also the cruelty of oppression by John Wright towards his wife. The uneven quilting and the stillness of the kitchen shows how much messy the mind of Minnie Wright, she was depressed by loneliness and quietness of her home and life. The broken bird-cage is a solid prove how awful the way John Wright treat Minnie Wright by damaging something that would never give him any harm by any sense. He obviously must have killed the bird too, a singing bird that reflect the character of Minnie Foster, it is as if killed a part of his wife. Though it is never being directly spoken by the characters but it is clear that Minnie Wright wouldn't have killed anyone if she were to live like she did before her marriage.  


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