"Trifles"
...ot get out of. Mr. Wright is abnormally brutal to Minnie and denies her the personality and individuality that her and women of that time desperately were seeking. This can be seen when Mrs. Hale says, "I heard she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster" (Glaspell 935). This statement shows that Mr. Wright controlled his wife to the fullest and eventually took over her ability to think for herself. The caged bird is essential to interpreting the relationship they shared. Minnie can be depicted as the caged bird by the way she is denied her personality and individuality. Also, she is left caged in the house while Mr. Wright works. Being caged like this, Mr. Wright is metaphorically strangling the life out of Minnie and he then proceeds to literally strangle the bird, which causes Minnie to take serious action (Bourne). Minnie can’t handle this treatment anymore and strangles her husband to death, getting back at him for the serious pain he has caused her. From this I get the interpretation that males act like the cages enclosing women, who are the birds, in a male dominated society. The men in this story act in an uncaring and inattentive fashion, which are other typical characteristic of men during this time. The men come into Minnie’s house and head straight for the upstairs where they think all of the evidence is located without even paying attention to the fact that evidence could be located downstairs. While upstairs, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters try to piece together the events that may have taken place. Needless to say the women find substantial evidence such as, the strangled bird, and an incomplete quilt, which leads them to piece together what happened. However, the men look at these clues as trifles or small meaningless evidence that has no substantial meaning (Bourne). The men’s uncaring attitude comes back to get them because the women have successfully figured out what happened to Mr. Wright and the event preceding his death. Also, the men’s can been seen through the women’s concern to find the evidence and piece together what happened. Interpreting this leads me to believe that women of this time were just as smart as the men even though the men’s brilliance overshadowed that of the women’s. Keeping information from their husbands was another unrighteous act for women to do. However, the women go against this in “Trifles” and keep all the information they find from the men. Even though it would be in the women’s best interest to tell the men what happened, the women want to feel a sense of control over a situation for once. Thus, they do not tell the men what happened and get a rare sense of gratification from hiding this information. My interpretation of why the women do this is that the women of this time wanted individuality and when in groups, like the women in the kitchen, they can get a good sense of what it can be like if they had that freedom to be an individual. Another common role of women during this time was to keep the house clean. When the men a...