Week 14 Discussion: Trifles

Renee Sandberg

I believe that the characters in Trifles were very significant in the play. They added a complexity to it that wouldn't have been there if it were for the characters personalities and traits. While reading the play, the reader is on the edge of their seat, unsure who is good and who is bad. When I started reading Trifles, I thought the women were purposefully trying to hide any evidence or anything they knew. It made me unsure who to trust and what to believe, adding to the suspense. When you realize that the women are about as clueless as you are, it leaves a sense of shock. I also really liked the little detail where the women felt guilty for not hanging around Mrs. Write. It was an entruiging play. I believe the message of this play is that there is always more to the story. I can't believe this was based off a real event, but I think that helps bring out the meaning of it.

Joseph

The setting plays a significant role since it is what helps Mrs. Wright to be set free. After Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find a dead bird in Mrs. Wright's kitchen, they quickly understand what really happened. Since they are in Mrs. Wright’s home and seeing the domestic abuse by her husband, they start to feel sorry. They quickly hide the evidence and never bring it up again. Because of their presence in Mrs. Wright’s house, they feel obligated to help her out to the best of their abilities. If all the evidence was brought to the police station and Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale would take a look at it, they would think nothing of it, but since they can feel Mrs. Wright's pain in her own home, they conclude that nobody should be treated like this.

I think the theme of this story is the suppression of women. The males in the story were just interested in gathering proof to accuse someone, but the women wanted to know what happened and why he died. It has influenced me to understand the oppression that women face daily. In this play, if the women hadn’t come to look for answers, Mrs. Wright may have been in terrible danger and would have had no one to help her get out of it. Women are still mistreated nowadays, and males prefer to focus on the "facts/evidence" rather than expressing their emotions to understand why something occurred.