Sexism In Trifles

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Throughout history, women have been portrayed as inferior creatures to their male counterparts. Men have displayed their superiority privately in the midst of a marriage and then more publicly being recognized as the “head of the house” making women feel lesser than men. This discrimination based on the sex of a person has oppressed women from all areas of the world. The theme of sexism and gender is revealed in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles through the setting, conflict, and choice of irony exhibited by the women’s treatment, their reactions, and the results of the investigation. The setting takes places at a farmhouse in the early twentieth century, and it is within this domain that a perfect environment for sexism is set up. At that moment,…show more content…
For the duration of the play, there are tensions between the men and women circulating around the gender issues. The two genders had separate thought processes and different motives. The men do not even bother to search the kitchen for evidence because they were convinced that there was “nothing but kitchen things” there (Trifles 598). Moreover, once John and Minnie Wright said their vows, oppression crept in on Minnie. According to Mrs. Hale, she had formerly been the girl that would “wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls in the choir” (Trifles 600). John is described as a “hard man,” and spending a day with him is compared to “a raw wind that gets to the bone” (Trifles 602). Despite John Wright’s reputable image to the outside world, Minnie Wright knew the unshared image hidden from all others. She knew the man that killed the canary and the man the figuratively killed her. She used to sing, but “he killed that, too” (Trifles 603). The canary is symbolic of Minnie Foster, who used to be “real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and -- fluttery” (Trifles 602). The canary had been held in a cage, which, in turn, symbolizes Minnie’s feelings about her marriage. The bird’s departure from life ultimately decided John Wright’s fate due to revenge over the already dead. This critical moment brought about the murder of John Wright. He was eradicated in the same fashion as the canary was-- by a strangling method. The marriage to John affected Minnie and altered her indefinitely, bringing her to her breaking point. Throughout Trifles, Glaspell “emphasises the isolation and confinement of women who are denied a voice within marriage and later before the law” (Wright par.
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