Trifles
in "Trifles" By Susan Glaspell , How do you feel about the gender rules shown through language in this play ?
Details and evidence from the Story :)
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ali m #253283
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jill d #170087
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Aslan
In Trifles, the men believe that they grant female identity by virtue of the women's relation to men rather than through their inherent qualities as females. Except for the absent Minnie Wright, the women have no first name and take their husband's last names, despite being the protagonists of the story instead of the named male characters. This institutionalized male superiority is so pervasive that the men feel comfortable in disparaging Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale's interest in "trifles," with the clear implication that the women are too flighty and small-minded to worry about important issues such as the investigation at hand. In addition, when the men observe the troublesome state of the kitchen, they immediately conclude that the woman must be at fault in her homemaking abilities because they all know John Wright as a good, dutiful man and in consequence form a unified front protecting John Wright's reputation. Because of this male solidarity, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale can only aid Mrs. Wright if they ally with their own gender.
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jill d #170087
"The inferiority of women in this play is through body language. They stand close together. "The women have come in slowly and stand close together near the door" (Glaspell). From the very first part, they are somewhat timid in their place. As the drama goes on, each time the men seem to criticize Mrs. Wright, the women move closer together physically. This shows the bond of women in understanding how they are viewed by men. In this play, the characters can empathize so much with Mrs. Wright that they end up hiding the evidence of the murder (the dead bird) and take justice into their own hands by letting her off the hook. This is also why the play was entitled "A Jury of Her Peers." Women in this play understand what life is for other women. The men completely do not understand. They assume that their way of solving the crime is the best way and are completely uninterested in all the "clues" that the women turn up. They are also completely uninterested in emotional response, which the women are in tune with. They feel sorry for Mrs. Wright that her preserves have been broken. One of the women remembers how hot it was on the day she made her preserves. They feel sorry for the death of the bird as they remember how terrible it was to have something you loved taken away from you."
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http://voices.yahoo.com/differences-between-men-women-susan-glaspells-3438810.html
