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Essay / Feminism in Trifles by Susan Glaspell
After reading “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, feminist criticism expressed concern about “the ways in which literature reinforces or undermines the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women ". At the time Susan Glaspell wrote “Trifles,” women were briefly excluded from social roles and were primarily given the generative role that bound them to raising their children and caring for the household and their husbands . Glaspell calculates many of the details of the play that allowed him to understand/sympathize with and speak in favor of women. A feminist analysis of Glaspell's "Trifles" highlights these in-depth details not only through the title but also the characters, the roles played, the conflicts and finally the theme. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayTrifles demonstrates the issues of advocacy that women faced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has been said that "the subject of feminism was women's experience under patriarchy, the long tradition of male domination in society that silenced women's voices, distorted their lives, and treated their concerns as secondary." We see this at the beginning of “Trifles,” “Mrs. Peters: Oh, its fruits; it froze. She worried about that when it was so cold. She said the fire would go out and her jars would break. Hale: Well, women are in the habit of worrying about trifles. The woman who had her own voice was silenced by the man's loss and saw his concerns as a real problem. When confronted with a real problem from a woman, instead of listening or paying attention to her, men ignored what she had to say and dismissed her observations while making her shut up. Another quote is from the county attorney: “No, Ms. Peters does not. need monitoring. Besides, a sheriff's wife is married to the law. Have you ever thought of things that way, Mrs. Peters?, Mrs. Peters Not – just that way, Sheriff: (laughing) Married to the law. This is another example of how men don't take women seriously, but compare them to the law which shows us that women are obligated to do what men say. This was one of many situations where it divided the woman into a lower status. The woman's emotional roller coaster is clearly visible in "Bagatelles" in which the men seem to participate. Before Ms. Wright married, she was described as a woman. who had glamor in his life. Mrs. Wright's neighbor, Mrs. Hale, made a comment that the last time Mrs. Wright had seemed happy and bubbly was before her marriage or, more importantly, when she was her own Minnie Foster person and not Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Hale complains, "I heard she wore pretty clothes and was vivacious, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls who sang in the choir." Even after thirty years of marriage, Mrs. Wright's only worries are that her canned goods are too frozen and that she is without an apron while she is in prison. This deferential image was so popular in society at the time that Mrs. Peters, the sheriff's wife, indicates that Mrs. Wright might want her apron to "feel more natural." Any other role would certainly be considered unusual. Hale, "I thought maybe if I went home and talked about it in front of his wife, although I told Harry I didn't know because what his wife wanted would make a big difference to John." Hale points out that John Wright doesn't care about.