trifles

When you consider the number of characters in this novel, it amazing to think that so many conflicts come into play during the course of the story. First we have Minnie and John whose conflict is at the forefront. John is a domineering husband; he keeps Minnie under wraps and resents relationships outside of their marriage. His resentment may be born in the fact that they have no relationship. John isn't open or warm, most of all he lacks in communication skills, and because of this his wife is forced to look for companionship outside of the home. Where other husbands might encourage their wives to get out and about, John does the exact opposite by opposing her participation in church functions and not even allowing her so much as a telephone in their home. The culminating event of their conflict and the crime in question is a direct result of Minnie's retreating from his anger by sewing; John's acting out of his inner anger when he strangles her canary, and Minnie's somnambulistic strangling of her husband.

The second conflict is between the men and their wives. Of the five people who enter the home after the murder, two are women. One, the wife of the sheriff, and the other Minnie's neighbor. From the start, the women have their own opinions about what has happened, but the men dismiss their intuitions and observations without thought, and they dismiss them in a way that the women find condescending. The title "Trifles," is directly associated with how the men perceive the women; women's work is considered "trifles," whereas the work and concerns of men are of the utmost import. The women's resentment of their husband' opinions is the most contributing factor to the reason they decide to protect Minnie.

Our third conflict takes place between the two women, and involves the process they go through in deciding exactly what information they'll withhold from the men in order to protect Minnie, and the fourth is the conflict that each of these women fights within themselves. Mrs. Peters battles the knowledge that she, a woman married to a man in the field of law enforcement is "obstructing justice, " and the wife of the neighbor has misgivings of how she perceives the exact definition of "doing the right thing."