The treatment of women in the modern era has come a long way compared to recent history. This is seen in many works of art from the feminist era of fiction. In all three works: Trifles, by Susan Glaspell, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, the setting and the house in which the women are depicted play a major symbolic connecting role. . in feminist plays. The setting of a dilapidated or boarded-up house is ever present in each of the four aforementioned rooms, and each represents a symbol of female ownership and confinement in late 19th and early 20th century America. In the short play Trifles by Susan Glaspell, the setting in the cold, abandoned farmhouse plays a major symbol in the plot. At the beginning of the play, it is noted in the stage directions that the scene is that of "...a dark kitchen, [having been] left untidy - unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf bread outside. the bread box, a cloth on the table, other signs of unfinished work. » (1968). This cold, messy scene depicts an underlying tone of disgust toward the housewife, who traditionally should have completed the work within the household. in addition to disgust toward women, there is also a tone that women may be incompetent to perform simple household tasks. This cold, unsettling scene is made worse when Lewis Hale enters the farm the night John dies. He explains that Ms. Wright “…was rocking back and forth. She had her apron in her hand and was sort of pleating it. » (1969). He also states that "she looked weird." These statements denote a belief that Mrs. Wright was incompetent, ... middle of paper ... slave partner of men at that time, and that whatever men did, women would follow. This has been true for all of the previous work above. Women in the early 20th century were shown through symbols, but also blatant expression, that they were considered property and subject to the confinement of their own homes. Throughout this work, women were subjected to cold, primitive farmhouses, children's bedrooms, and dilapidated ground-floor apartments. Whether out of love or mental disability, these women were subjected to whatever the man of the house deemed good for them; and a lot of times it was a second thought to how they treated each other. The symbolic expressions of these women clearly showed the mistreatment, through the setting, of women at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century...