They Are Not Only Trifles

The play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell shows chauvinism through an analysis of the space,

symbolisms and role of women in society.

First, women know which is their space at home. They spend most of the day in the

kitchen. They even think that the kitchen belongs to them: “I'd hate to have men coming into

my kitchen, snooping around and criticizing.” (R.S. Gwynn 278) When Mrs. Hale and Mrs.

Peters enter the house, they stand next to the kitchen. Besides, they look around and

comment how many things are not in their own place. On the contrary, men center their

investigation in the rest of the house. They do not consider the kitchen as an important place

and go directly to the bedroom and the barn which are places for men: “The attorney and

sheriff decide that there is nothing important in the room: ‘Nothing here but kitchen things.’

(Feminist Criticism Hint: This line is the first of many disparaging comments said to minimize

the importance of women in society.) The men criticize Mrs. Wright’s housekeeping skills, irking

Mrs. Hale and the sheriff’s wife, Mrs. Peters.” (Bradford, 2010)

Second, chauvinism is well represented by symbolisms along the play. Mr. Wright does

not want to have a telephone at home:  “…I spoke to Wright about it once before, and he put

me off, saying folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was peace and quiet--.” (R.S.

Gwynn 274) This attitude represents that he does not want to share his woman with anybody

else. He keeps her completely isolated: “They women look closer and see the hinge is bent

like someone went at the cage. Before more about this is explored the women discuss how they

should have come over to Mrs. Wright’s house more often, how without children and with a

husband who always worked and was bad company when he was at home, it must have been

lonely for her.” (Smith 2010) It also shows his lack of appreciation on what she needs, cares or
wants. Besides, the cage represents that Mrs. Wright lives in a prison. She does not have

visitors, nor friends. She cannot even run away.

Finally, the play shows how women have a specific role in society. On one hand,

women are perceived as weak and unintelligent human beings. They are made to obey and to

develop their role of housekeepers: “Mrs. Hale quickly shows herself to be the more outspoken

of the two women when protesting against the male view of the world, as shown when

Henderson belittles the state of Mrs. Wright's kitchen and implies that she was not skilled

enough to take care of a home. Mrs. Hale dislikes his rather supercilious accusation and turns

around his hypothesis that the kitchen's appearance must be the woman's fault by hinting that

John Wright might have been at the root of the problem.” (Smith and Verma 2010). On the

other hand, men are made to rule and are seen as very intelligent people. Men make laws,

hard jobs, and difficult investigations. They do not care about stuffs of women: “HALE: Well,

women are used to worrying over trifles.” (R.S. Gwynn 277) Men think the stuffs of are trifles.

Nowadays, the role of women has changed. They have fought to win their rights to

study, to work, and to vote. The most important goal for women is to keep fighting to reach

the same rights as men, not only on papers but in real life.
 WORKS CITED

123HelpMe. "Plot Structure in Susan Glaspell's Trifles." 2009. 20 Nov 2010.

<http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=9653>

Gwynn, R.S. Drama. A Pocket Anthology. New York: Penguin Academics, 2008.

GradeSaver. “ClassicNotes™ Study Guides and Literature Essays.” 2010. 20 November 2010.

<http://www.gradesaver.com/trifles/study-guide/section1/>

ArticleMyriad. “Analysis of the Play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell.” 2010. 20 November 2010.

<http://www.articlemyriad.com/trifles.htm>

Bradford, Wade. “’Trifles' by Susan Glaspell - Plot and Character Analysis” About.com. 2010.

20 November 2010. < http://plays.about.com/od/plays/a/trifles.htm>