Preview

trifles bird symbolism

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
447 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
trifles bird symbolism
Trifles Thesis Statement: The Symbol of the Bird

"Trifles" is a play which was written by Susan Glaspell in 1916. The play takes place in the empty farmhouse of Mr. and Mrs. Wright. The county attorney George Henderson, the sheriff Henry Peters and his wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Hale, neighbors of Mr. and Mrs. Wright all go to the farmhouse to investigate the crime scene. Throughout the book Susan Glaspell uses a lot of symbolism. One example was the a dead bird that the women find. Hoping to find a motive for the crime the men go upstairs to the bedroom where Mr. Wright was murdered. While the women stay downstairs and look around the kitchen. The women come across a bird which symbolizes Mrs. Wright. The bird becomes the motive for Mrs. Wright to kill Mr. Wright.

When the women are looking around downstairs they come across a bird cage in the cupboard. Mrs Hale observes the door is broken off and someone must have been "rough with it," suggesting the motive for the crime. When Mrs. Hale looks inside Mrs. Wrights sewing box hoping to find scissors she finds a box and inside is the dead bird wrapped in silk. The birds neck looked as if it had been strangled. The women recall that when Minne Foster was younger she was lively, wore pretty clothes and sung in the choir, they said "I heard she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir." The bird represented Minnie before she was married to Mr. Wright. Mrs. Hale says, "She-come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and-fluttery. How- she- did- change." Minne and the bird were both caged, the bird was in stuck in an actual cage and Minne was stuck in the house all the time. Mr. Wright changed Mrs. Wright, he took all those good things away, he was controlling he didn’t allow her to see her friends or leave the house, he even stopped her from singing. The bird was her motive

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Triffles is a play in which Mr. Hale and Sherriff Peters are investigating the cause of death of John Wright. Wright appears to have been strangled with a rope and the first suspect in the crime is his wife, Mrs. Wright. In the presence of Mrs. Wight’s friends, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, the two men begin searching for leads to the cause of the murder. The two women are fascinated by female stuff in the house and are especially attracted to Mrs. Wright’s unfinished quilt “pulling a knot and ripping the sewing”. They did not know that the knot was the evidence of the crime. On noticing the dead pet canary, the two women unravel the events that unfolded before the death of Mr. Wright. They successfully hide the dead bird and its cage “in Mrs. Hale’s pocket in her big coat” from the male investigators which led to Mrs. Wright escaping justice.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bird’s feathers in the cage are a metaphor for Curley’s wife who is like a confined bird, and the…

    • 1103 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Trifles and Mr. Hale

    • 1366 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The scene of Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles” is set in a gloomy, unkempt, and now abandoned farm house. The town sheriff, the county attorney, and Mr. Hale along with the sheriff’s wife and Mrs. Hale, a neighbor, enter through the kitchen. The men are there to investigate the death of the owner, Mr. Wright. The women have come along to gather some things to take to Mrs. Wright who is in jail for the murder of her husband. Susan Glaspell ties the use of exposition, conflict, and symbol together to reveal the gloomy and hopeless mood of this play.…

    • 1366 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Susan Glaspell 's play "Trifles," a tragic story concerning the investigation of a husband 's mysterious death, symbolism can be found within the context of the play. The play presents factors that obtain more meaning than meets the eye. Items such as the canary who lives in a cage, the dilapidated rocking chair, and the cherry preserves are devices, which have a significant importance in supporting the idea conveyed through the play. Although Mrs. Wright is not witnessed in the play, "Trifles" presents an array of contextual symbolism, which characterizes her but also portray her reality, the life she lives, and the story itself.…

    • 750 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Irony in Trifles

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Trifles takes place at a crime scene investigation where a group of men are searching for clues to a murder, and two women who came to get things for the woman who was in jail. As the group of guys began searching for clues to help them charge Mrs.Wright for murdering her husband, the reader begins to see the way men view women in this century by their criticism of the cleanliness of the house, and referring to kitchen things as unimportant. The irony in this is that the woman start seeing clues in the kitchen, such as all the half finished tasks and a cabinet with a broken bird cage in it. As the play continues the group notices an uncompleted quilt in the living room. The women start discussing how Mrs.Wright was going to finish the quilt: knot it or quilt it; and the men laugh at the women for worrying about something so simple, but ironically the women find another clue inside the quilting basket. The most ironic part of the play is that the two women find the major clue, a dead bird strangled the same way Mrs.Wright's bird was, and the men who were unsuccessful at trying to find clues to the murder were unable to find a single clue or motive left the house still puzzled about the murder.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are several themes in the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell; the most important theme however is loneliness. Mini Wright was very lonely because her husband isolated her; her canary bird symbolized Mini herself, and lastly, the jar of cherries symbolized her new freedom away from isolation. The use of symbolism in this story was Mini Wrights “cry for help”. A reader of this play has to analyze all of the symbols in order to feel the real pain Mini Wright was living with from day to day, with her loneliness and isolation.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles is about two women discovering the real reason why Mrs. Wright killed her husband, they discovered it by just worrying over what the men called trifles. Mrs. Wright lived a lonely life, she was isolated and depressed. Her husband, who obviously was emotionally unavailable to her, pushed her over the edge by killing her precious bird. Between the objects the ladies find and the setting around them; the symbolism is everywhere including the title. Coldness, isolation, oppression, women’s life for the time period, and freedom are all expressed symbolically through a lot of things in this play and they all importantly reflect Mrs. Wright’s life and actions against her husband.…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Susan Glaspell's play "Trifles" there is a lot of symbolism of the bird in reference to Minnie Foster. The bird symbolizes many things, the representation of the life that she once had, Minnie's non-existent children, and her transformation from being John's pet to being free. Living in a quiet farm house with no children, Minnie acquires a bird and treats it as her own child. When her husband supposedly wrings the bird's neck, Minnie returns the action to her husband, John Wright.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Trifles” is a play about an unsolved murder mystery in a farm house. The plot was set up upon…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell the denouement was not expected. The men are in Mrs. Wright’s home looking for evidence of how her husband was murdered. The women are concerned about the preserved food and begin defending Mrs. Wright as the men criticize her housekeeping. The men begin to demean the women regarding what they see as important, in light of the murder. As the men are looking for clues the women begin to talk about what they believe has happened and what life has been like for Mrs. Wright. As they converse Mrs. Peter’s sympathy shifts from the law to how sad Mrs. Wright’s life must have been. As the ladies find the broken birdcage and the dead bird they realize what has happened. Knowing the how the men feel about their opinions…

    • 200 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Trifles” is a very significant play that criticizes the society of America in the 19th and 20th century. The main topic is the relation of the society towards women. Susan Glaspell uses a lot of symbols to emphasize the critique of this relation. In this essay I will focus on the kitchen and on the bird. I find these symbols to be very important for the understanding of Minni Wright.…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Birds are beautiful creatures of nature, each different in their own way. The uniqueness of their appearance helps people identify what type of birds they are. By identifying the bird, people discover what it eats, what it's known for and it's lifestyle. The canary in Trifles is a lively,bright yellow bird that sings. Just like the canary Mrs.Wright was a cheerful, well dressed and put together woman. A woman capable of attracting many admirers. Mrs. Wright lived a happy and joyful life singing songs through out the day. Although she was full of life, things completely changed for her when she married…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Symbols In Trifles

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Mrs. Hale is stating that once Minnie married Mr. Wright he began to change her and conform her to the way he wanted things; thus, causing Minnie to give up singing, like the dead bird. Again Mrs. Hale makes comments, but this time towards Minnie.…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Trifles Feminist Drama

    • 546 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Trifles is seen as an example of early feminist drama, because it is two female characters', Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale's, ability to sympathize with the victim's wife, Minnie, and so understand her motives, that leads them to the evidence against her, while the men are blinded by their cold, emotionless investigation of material facts. The female characters find the body of a canary, which had its neck wrung, killed in the same way as the deceased (John Wright), thus leading them to the conclusion that Minnie was the murderer, and they appear to empathize with her situation. Clearly, the wife is symbolized by the caged bird, a common symbol of women's roles in society. The plot concludes with the two women hiding the evidence against Minnie.…

    • 546 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is a murder mystery play about two women uniting to protect their female neighbor Mrs. Wright from the potential injustices of a sexist and male dominant society after her husband is murdered. The behaviors of the female characters serve as symbolism supporting the stories theme of protection.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays