The small things end up telling the whole story. The kitchen is where the women spend most of their time in a “Jury of Her Peers”. The kitchen is able to tell the women what kind of mind frame Mrs. Wright was in by the way it was left. The men just think she was a lousy house keeper. They dismiss the kitchen as a crime scene, yet the women see more into it.
Question: What does the canary symbolize in the story? In Susan Glaspell’s play “Triffles” symbolism is used to represent the meaning of the play. The play starts out to be a very open and shut case of the murder of John Wright. The play begins with the county sheriff, sheriff and witness Hale, all men, visiting the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wright where the murder occurred. While the men are retracing the steps of possible motives throughout the house, the women, Mrs. Peters (the sheriff’s wife) and Mrs. Hale (wife of the witness), are left in the kitchen where they unknowingly find clues that lead to the motive of John Wright’s murder.
While looking at the cage, Mrs. Peters sees that the door to the cage is broken. The two women assume it was because of a cat they did not know about. While going through Mrs. Wright’s sewing box, Mrs. Hale discovers a dead canary with a broken neck wrapped up in silk. Mrs. Hale thinks "the cat got it." (1379).
Curley’s wife has taken complete control of the situation by implying that she would get him lynched, this was typical of the time period the book is set in. Crooks goes from being exceptionally confident and self-assured to not saying anything and trying to make himself as small as possible. “Crooks stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself.” This shows that Crooks feels that he is out of place and certainly intimidated by Curley’s wife’s sudden outburst of hostility, he knows he has no hope of winning the confrontation. Curley’s wife enjoys the power she is exercising over Crooks, knowing that she has the power in their relationship and exercising it
Title The play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell does not only tell the audience about a mystery crime case but explores the inequality between the genders in a male dominant society and the sympathy for the female destiny of the two main characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale. The play has the same style with other mystery stories as the important trivial evidences are always passed over by the police officers and only noticed by the intelligent and careful detectives. Mr. Peters affirms, “Nothing here but kitchen things” (Glaspell, 1916, p. 938). Ironically, the detectives in the play are not the attorney or the sheriff who is supposed to investigate the case. Nonetheless, the sheriff’s wife and the neighbor’s wife who come to the house to take in some stuffs for Mrs. Wright have found out the motive and the real murderer.
After Candy has brought George to the barn to show him Curley’s wife, George leaves and Candy cries. What is the true source of Candy’s sadness and why? Compare the killing of Curley’s wife to the night Candy’s old dog was shot and killed by Carlson. 2. Death is the beginning and the culminating event in the chapter, but the killing of Curley’s wife is regarded with a lack of emotion by the characters, even less than the killing of the puppy or the shooting of Candy’s dog earlier in the book.
He is ashamed of her foreign family and remembers with disgust how Jelka's father advised him on their wedding night to beat her once in a while, Their Marriage is not a nor mal because Jelka is quiet and spends her time making Jim's happy and taking care of the house. Jim's hot dinner is waiting no matter what time he comes in from the fields. Also, Jim makes no emotional connection with her and eventually looks elsewhere for companionship. Therefore, after a year of being bored with Jelka, Jim starts to long for the company of silly, chatty women and begins to go to the "Three Star," which is a brothel in Monterey where he often amused himself prior to his marriage. One particular Saturday night Jim decides to go to town and is meets his local farmer who tells him he found a slaughtered calf's remains with Jim's brand upon the hide.
The women use their emotions in order to figure out that Mrs. Wright did commit the murder. By the end of the play they decide to protect her because they seemed to relate to the abuse she endured in the household. The murder was justifiable because during this time period there was no such thing as divorce. Mrs. Wright was dying slowly because of her husband, and the only way to escape was to kill him the same way he killed her bird through strangulation. Mrs. Wright’s situation is comparable to a prisoner who is condemned to incarceration for life with no parole when they have never committed a crime.
Not for a few pages did she reveal that the birds had killed the Triggs and the mailman. Then, Nat realizes there are no signs of life from any of his neighbors' homes because they have all been attacked and eaten by the birds. After that, the reader is left wondering if Nat and his family will remain safe. The author does not tell us, however. The story ends when Nat smokes his last cigarette, and the birds are still attacking.
There are hints and clues to determining if Mrs. Wright murdered her husband or not. There are clues that lead the county attorney and sheriff to believe that Mrs. Wright committed the crime. The first would be in the beginning of the story when Lewis Hale a neighboring farmer is explaining to the sheriff and attorney what he saw. Hale explains that he and a friend were on the way into town with a load of potatoes when he said he wanted to stop by the Wright’s place and invite them to a telephone party. As he knocked he thought he heard someone say come in, as he walked in all he saw was Mrs. Wright sitting in the rocking chair, just rocking back and forth, pleating her apron.