Saturday 9 November 2013

Exploration of the text: ''Trifles''

2. What clues lead the women to conclude that Minnie Wright killed her husband?

The clues leading the women to conclude that Minnie Wright killed her husband are unbaked bread, half-cleaned towels, and messy stitching on the quilt. This showed that Minnie Wright was distracted by something in doing her daily lives activities. The quilt presents clearer evidence where Mrs. Hale found the other stitches was fine and tidy. Nevertheless, the most intrigued evidence found is the bird cage leading to the dead bird in a fancy box where the same way Mr. Wright was strangled, so did the dead bird too.


3. How do the men differ from the women? from each other?

The men were too confident of themselves which they underestimate the ability of the women. In most of the crucial points in the play, the men overlook the evidence as trifles. However, the women initially already had a separated personality into discovering the farmhouse compared to the men. Where the men were in the kitchen, and the women were at the door fearful and curious. The men missed the actual reasons of why and how the murder occurred. They went to the bedroom to look for evidence. In other way round, the women analyzed each and every possible clues which could be the evidence for the murder such as the condition of the jars, the telephone, the apron, and the bird cage itself.


4. What do the men discover? Why did they conclude "Nothing here but kitchen things"? What do the women discover?

The men discover nothing but the dead body in the bedroom strangled. They concluded that nothing in the kitchen but only some kitchen things because the men overlook the evidence. They missed the clues where they thought Mrs. Wright was not skilled enough to take care a home. However, the women discovered all the clues which leading to the evidence and found a strong clue (dead bird) which can be the most significant evidence of the murder.

Susan Glaspell: About the author


Susan Glaspell (1876-1948), America's first modern woman playwright, winner of the 1931 Pulitzer Prize for drama, one of the most respected novelists and short story writers of her time, and a central figure in the avant-garde movement in Greenwich Village between 1913 and 1922.

In her own life she explored uncharted regions, breaking new ground for women; and in her writing she created undaunted, idealistic women characters who became models for future feminist writing. Her depictions of women's struggles for self definition and her visions of a more egalitarian America are still pertinent today.



Born in Davenport, Iowa, just as America entered its second century, Glaspell took her cue from her pioneering grandparents as she sought to rekindle their spirit of adventure and purpose. A social and cultural critic by age eighteen, she worked her way through university as a news reporter, and then turned to fiction. In the bohemian Greenwich Village community, she was a charter member of the Liberal Club, its social and cultural center, and Heterodoxy, the radical organization for women.

Her most important contribution was her work with the Provincetown Players, the first indigenous American theatre company, which she helped found. Her plays established a different type of drama on the American stage, offering new dramatic forms and focusing on pressing social and political issues, particularly the roles of women in society. Although frail and ethereal, Glaspell was a determined rebel throughout her life, willing to speak out for those causes in which she believed and willing to risk societal approbation when she found love.



"Out there—lies all that's not been touched—lies life that waits," Claire Archer says in The Verge, her most experimental play. The biography of Susan Glaspell is the exciting story of her personal exploration of the same terrain—toward the verge.




Notable works:
  1. Alison's House; (Drama)
  2. Trifles (Drama) - (adapted into a short story of "A Jury of Her Peers")
  3. Fidelity; (Novel)
  4. The Verge; (Drama)
  5. Inheritors (Drama)



http://www.eoneill.com/references/x01250.htm
http://qctimes.com/news/local/education/susan-glaspell-s-writings-found-in-davenport-schools-museum/article_cb8a2084-6b33-5828-9250-daa233181a67.html
http://college.cengage.com/english/kalaidjian/understanding_lit/1e/students/drama/glaspell.html
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=The+Verge+A+Play+in+Three+Acts+by+Susan+Glaspell+2012+Paperback&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=