Trifles by Susan Glaspell

Susan Glaspell’s, one act play, “Trifles” provides an interesting outlook on gender relations and cultural norms during the nineteenth century.  During this male-dominated time period in history, the roles of men and woman in society appear vastly different.  The two sexes are very distinguishable throughout the story in their physicality, their methods of communication, and their power of observations.   In the play the men present themselves as tough, serious detectives in search of evidence to solve the murder case of John Wright.  The men’s tendencies to be aggressive, rough, and egotistical were in large contrast to the woman’s deliberative, intuitive, and sensitive natures.  Glaspell alludes to the fact that woman pay attention to small details, to the “trifles” which helps them solve the murder case. 

From the moment the characters enter the Wright’s house, the men make it unmistakably evident their thoughts on the woman’s role in society.  While in custody Minnie shows concern about her fruit freezing due to the cold weather.  As the women enter the house, Mrs. Hale makes the observation that her fruit did freeze.  The men joke that she should be worrying over greater issues such as the accusation of murder.  Mr. Hale comments “well, women are used to worrying over trifles.”  As the men enter the kitchen they are quick to comment on the disarray of the house.  Making comments such as “Here's a nice mess.”  The county attorney also ensures to make a scene of the dirty towels.  He then says “Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?”  From early on in the play the woman’s role of a home maker is made evident.  The men view the unclean kitchen as a sign of laziness and neglect on the part of Minnie Wright.  As a result the men quickly pass through the kitchen thinking there is “nothing here but kitchen things,” “nothing that would point to any motive.”  However, as the women enter the kitchen they immediately notice the ruined fruit preservatives, bread that was left out of its box and the half cleaned table top.  It is by making observations such as these that lead the women to uncover the truth behind the murder. 

As the men are busy throughout the play examining the dead body and scanning the surrounding area for evidence and clues, the woman uncover evidence in the kitchen area.  One of their observations involve Minnie’s unfinished quilt.  The beginning of the quilt is sewn meticulously but as they continue to scan the quilt they notice messy and uneven stitching. The quilt is symbolic of Minnie’s life, once orderly and neat and now a now in complete state of confusion. Mrs. Hale speculates why Minnie was so nervous sewing the quilt; however, Mrs. Peters excuses her poor sewing as a result of tiredness.  While examining the quilt the women also contemplate whether Minnie “quilted it” or “knotted it.”  This simple inquiry seems irrelevant.  The Sheriff jokes by saying “they wonder if she was going to quilt it or knot it.” Little did they realize that this minuscule detail would be extremely significant in the trial. 

As the women continue to gather Mrs. Wright’s belongings, Mrs. Peters comes across an empty birdcage in the cupboard.  The door on the birdcage was broken and the hinge pulled apart.  It “looks as if someone must have been rough with it.”  The canary and the birdcage are very representative of Mrs. Wright’s life.  The caged songbird embodies the previous bright and cheerful personality of Minnie Foster before she wed.  Minnie now became the focus of the abuse and degradation from her husband, Mr. Wright, a “hard man”. Minnie attempts to fend off her depression and dreary life by getting a cheerful song bird who she kept cage in a cupboard.  As a result of Mr. Wright’s exasperation with the bird’s singing, it was clearly evident that he had wrung the canary’s neck.  The killing of the canary is directly linked to Mr. Wright’s domination of Minnie and her spirit. 

Between the dead canary and the unfinished quilt, the women’s abilities to deal with the trifles of life allow them to understand the truth behind Mr. Wright’s murder.  Their eyes meet; a look of growing comprehension, of horror. The strangling of the canary’s neck was performed in the same fashion as Mr. Wright’s murder.  Minnie chooses to use strangulation as her method for murder as it is typically a male’s method for killing.  Minnie gains the strength to murder as a male which represents her rebellion against her dominating husband thus asserting her equality.  At the end of the play the county attorney asks the women if they had determined whether Minnie “quilts it” or “knots it.”  Mrs. Peters replies “we think she was going to knot it.”  The knots used for her quilt appear to be the exact knot used to strangle her husband. 

At the end of the play the women have a clear understanding of who murdered Mr. Wright.  However, instead of coming forward they choose to hide the evidence as an act of compassion for Mrs. Wright.  By stealing the box with the dead bird, it is an act of loyalty to the female gender in a male governed society.  The men in the play are still at a loss for a motive and lack evidence to convict Minnie.  “Trifles” are important and valuable.  Women’s thoughts and talents should be considered equal to those of the other gender. Perhaps if the men in the play were to see the women in an equal light, the case of Mr. Wright would see a conviction. In many ways, Glaspell’s “Trifles” reflect certain cultural, gender and power struggles that are still seen even today.

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Beginners by Raymond Carver

The “Beginners” by Raymond Carver offers an interesting insight into his view of the institution of the power of love.   Carver, in his minimalistic approach to literature offers a varied explanation of the elusiveness of love through the perceptions of the four major characters found in the short story.  Although each of the characters attempt to define love their descriptions become more puzzling as the storyline continues.  Each character initially feels that they have a clear concept of love and this helps to create the culture in which they live.  Carver addresses the institution of the power of love and its ideology by revealing these ideas through conversation, action, and symbols. 

At the commencement of the story, four friends sit around a sunlit room having a social drink of gin enjoying each other’s companionship when the conversation turns toward the topic of love.  Herb, a cardiologist, takes the lead in the conversation and tries desperately to depict his ideas of love by saying that love is somewhat spiritual or agape in nature, developing these ideas from his seminary classes.  Ironically being a heart surgeon, most people would assume that he has the most insight to the true functioning of the heart.  However, he proclaims “I’m just a mechanic. I just go in and fix things that go wrong with the body. I’m just a mechanic.”  He sees himself as a glorified mechanic where his association to the inner workings of the heart is purely mechanical and lacks any connection to love and its symbolism.

As the conversation continues it shifts towards the subject of Terri’s ex-lover, Carl.  Terri claims true love with her ex-abusive lover who would do anything to keep her.  “He dragged me around the living room by my ankles, all the while saying, ‘I love you, don’t you see? I love you, you bitch.’” He went on dragging me around the living room, my head knocking on things.”  She feels love is all controlling and all consuming.  Although Herb disagrees with this concept of love, he shares a parallel to Carl with his verbal and mental abuse of Terri portraying a deep seated resentment and anger.  Terri’s response to Herb, “Say what you want to, but I know he loved me.”          

Love is confusing. Herb indicates this quite clearly in his statement, “And the terrible thing, the terrible thing is, but the good thing too, the saving grace, you might say, is that if something happened to one of us tomorrow, I think the other one, the other partner, would mourn for a while, you know, but then the surviving party would go out and love again, have someone else soon enough.”   Herb is uncertain whether it is a great thing loving someone unconditionally one day, like his ex-wife Marjorie, and then wanting to see her die the next day.  He even suggests that Laura could be a possible wife if she and Nick were not together.  Herb’s suicidal tendencies indicate a lack of love for oneself making it difficult to be able to love others. 

The narrator of the story, Nick, provides an interesting link in the plot.  He remains relatively quiet throughout the conversation, only making observations about the changing light and the amount of gin remaining.  When Laura states “Well, Nick and I are in love… Aren’t we, Nick?” Nick responds by “[taking] her hand and [raising] it to my lips with a flourish.” Although he does not vocalize his opinion of love, Carver makes his viewpoint well known through his observations and physical movements.  Throughout the story one of Nick’s main observations is the dwindling sunlight in the room.  At the beginning of the text, the room is bright and it appears the characters have a firm idea of love.  Love is palpable as Nick caresses his wife, Laura.  Nick initially feels that love is absolute and perhaps as the storyline continues he finds that love is much more. 

Carver’s view of the elderly couple from the car accident indicates that they share an eros and storge type of love.  They share a sensual connection as well as a familial bond. Initially, the sunshine pours in the room as they converse which reinforces a philia type of love shown in the friendship between the four people.  Even at the end of the story, this love endures as Laura gently holds Terri as she sobs.  However as the story progresses, the sunlight begins to set and the room gradually darkens as the gin bottle empties.  This reveals how the character’s idea of love grows blurry and confusing.  Gradually, the light diminishes as Nick’s intoxication and confusion crescendos regarding love and its meanings.  He implies that he could ride off into the sunset and leave the critical analysis of love, life and relationships behind.  At the end of the text Carver gives the reader insight to Nick’s ideas of love.  Nick “could feel [his] heart beating” which indicates that he may have a greater understanding than the other characters of the idea of love. 

Carver has given his readers on a very real level a “slice of life” without a firm endpoint.  He leaves you hanging a bit without tidying up his ending.  The reader must put some thought into this illusive idea of love and see through the eyes of these realistic people their views of love. He makes you think of the love in this cultural setting and helps guide you into thought processes to question your beliefs about love.  Their views of love are real and down to earth on so many levels.  Love is so much more.   Carver believes in the institution of love, even though it is confusing, difficult to define, and elusive.  Everyone’s own personal experiences help to create their ideas of love. Thankfully, even though love can be lost, it can also be found over and over again.