Saturday, April 18, 2015
Triffling things.
Adding to my list of short stories I've read this semester is 'Trifles' by Susan Glaspel.
A short story or a one-act play that in a nutshell is centerd on gender discrimination against women as it is about how a woman, Mrs. Wright who murders her abusive husband John Wright and then distant friends Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters that both blame themselves for distancing from her and allowing her to get to the point of murdering her hsban and not only do they solve the case but they end up keeping the knowledge to themselves in a way of self-preservation and to help their friend. Both of their husbands show blatant disregard for their wives saying that they should worry about silly or trifling things. Prompting them to obviously keep vital information about the murder from their husbands.
The murder in itself was a metaphor. You see, John had killed a canary that Mrs. Wright had bought off of a traveling salesman that reminded her of her pre-married life in which she used to sing all the time, in effect it was as if he was murdering her or her spirit all over again. And she in effect killed him. In reality I as a reader know that there are methods of getting away from an abusive relationship and what Mrs. Wright did was obviously a tad excessive however, I can't really blame her for wanting a way out of that situation...
I can't say that I'm thrilled to have read this short story however I didn't dislike it. Its a very in between piece of literature for me.
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Hey, totally get your point on the women in the story. Maybe you wanna give more details on why where this women being discriminated in the story. Either way, great analysis.
ReplyDeleteNice analysis. Like I said on my blog, the crime is not justified by any means, but we clearly see that Mrs. Wright was very miserable.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think of the fact that these women covered Mr. Wright's murderer? Would you have done the same because you felt sympathy for Mrs. Wright or would you have condemned her to a life inside another prison?
ReplyDeleteHello Crystal! I truly don't know what I would do if I were in the position of these ladies... I think its more of a decision made in the heat of the moment.
ReplyDeleteIf you can recall, Mrs. Peters told Mrs. Hale at one point after the county attorney left the scene that she once had had a cat that got killed by a boy in her neighborhood. She expressed to Mrs. Hale her hate towards that boy, saying that she wanted to kill him for killing his pet. We can see that this is a very similar case with the husband John Wright when he kills the canary, as you mention. For doing so, Mrs. Wright practices tying a knot on the bird, meaning that she planned killing her husband.
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