Authenticity is a key aspect of what makes an author legitimate. Calvin Trillin, in Comforting Thoughts, is totally authentic. His story, however, never happened and is just made up. This essay will discuss how Calvin is authentic, if his personal conversations ever took place, and his reasons for writing the story. Calvin Trillin’s story in entertaining, but it is just a fragment of his imagination. This is evident in many instances throughout his story. One such fragment of evidence would be the conversations he has with himself; those seem to be scripted. For example, Trillin asks himself if the scent of chocolate chip cookies could return to him pleasant childhood memories of his mother’s freshly baked batch. He then asks himself, “What …show more content…
Then the ‘other’ Calvin replies, “Whose mother do you think I’m talking about? We’re the only one here” (334). After a more seemingly comical debate, Trillin concludes with a comment for us, “I don’t like to hear anyone make light of my mother’s chocolate chip cookies, even me” (334). As you can see, this debate with himself seems more like it was pre-planned, and written out in a script, rather than something that could actually happen. Why would Trillin try to defeat himself? He is only one person, who has one brain, thus making the ability to attack himself contradictory. Since he is the same person, he could not possibly be one different sides of an authentic argument. It would almost appear as if he were two people. Trillin could not possibly think of himself as two separate people if he were actually there talking to himself. Calvin already would know how to defeat himself, if he could ever even have a dispute. And even so, you could not possibly defeat yourself because you can only legitimately be on one side of an argument. When arguing with yourself, you already know the outcome because it is not a legitimate disagreement. With this in mind, it brings to attention an important aspect of …show more content…
In this Calvin Trillin is successful, and quite authentic. It is not the story that matters; not the cookies, the Meriden list, the Yale research, the talking to oneself, or even the comforting thoughts. From a humor standpoint alone Calvin has expressed the true point of this story. His personality truly shows when he uses his ironic, light-hearted style of comedy. He is very consistent, and true to his niche. This is evident when Trillin argues with himself about cookies. Calvin argues, “Are you talking about my mother? Whose mother do you think I’m talking about” (334). This is meant to be funny, because he first asks himself a question, and then he mocks himself in a sarcastic way. He also comments, “I don’t like to hear anyone make light of my mother’s chocolate chip cookies, even me” (334). Now he holds himself in contempt. The whole situation seems outlandish, and that is what he was going for. At the end of the story, he adds his insight to the events of the day, adding light humor there too: “I recalled the time before I knew about the Meriden list, when I talked to myself only in private…Then I felt a lot better. I didn’t feel perfect, but you can’t always feel perfect” (335-336). With his final statement he uses textbook irony. He is saying that in his effort to feel more relaxed, he has completely and utterly stressed himself out. The only way for him to finally find relaxation is to stop talking to
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Literature and the Writing Process. Eds. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. 4th Ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 1996. 999-1008.
In “Trifles” there are two plots occurring simultaneously, the men have a story offstage while the women have the attention on stage. This adds a dynamic to the play to further emphasize the sexism within it, Glaspell separates them physically as well as mentally to demonstrate that the men do not think that the women were clever enough to find any evidence. By
“Trifles” written by Susan Glaspell explores the oppressive nature of an enduring patriarchal hierarchy within farm life throughout the 1900’s coinciding with the extensive psychological damage solitude and isolation imposed on the soul of, Mrs. Wright.
The stories Trifles and “A Jury of Her Peers” are both written by Susan Glaspell. The main event in both Trifles and “A Jury of Her Peers” is a murder in the kitchen. Both stories cover the murder of Mrs.Wright’s husband. But, while both Trifles and “A Jury of Her Peers” are about the same story, and the characters are the same, the points of view differ in the two texts.
The Chicago critic Wayne Booth in his book Rhetoric of Fiction first coined the terms reliable and unreliable narrator. These terms have been of notable importance in narratological (analysis of narratives) studies ever since Booth’s book was first published in 1961. Booth defines the reliable and unreliable narrator in the following way: “I have called a narrator reliable when he speaks for or acts in accordance with the norms of the work (which is to say the implied author’s norms), unreliable when he does not” (Booth 158-59). In other words, when a narrator expresses values and perceptions that strikingly diverge from those of the author, he is deemed to be an unreliable narrator (Olson 93). Once the narrator has been deemed unreliable, then the narrator’s unreliability will be consistent throughout the rest of the work (Booth 158).
Bynum, Paige. “Observe how healthily-how calmly i can tell you the whole story’ : Moral Insanity and Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’.” Literature and science are modes of expression. Eds. Frederick Amrine.Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989: 141-52. Rpt in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna S. Nesbitt. Vol. 34. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. 273-77. Print.
I. Article Summary: Suzy Clarkson Holstein's article, “Silent Justice in a Different Key: Glaspell's 'Trifles'” evaluates the play Trifles and how the difference between the men in the play mirror how a woman's perspective is very different from a man's. Trifles is about two women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, who show up at a house with their husbands and the county attorney to investigate a murder. The entire time the men are looking for evidence to implicate the accused wife, Minnie Wright, of killing her husband. Meanwhile, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are there to gather up some items to bring Minnie Wright in jail. While doing so, the women uncover evidence that would prove the wife is culpable but decide to hide it from the men in the last moments of the play. Trifles is evaluated on how the women are able to come up with the evidence unlike the men because they didn't approach it like a crime scene but rather a home, “By contrast, the women arrive at a home. Although neither they or the men realize it, they too are conducting an investigation” (Holstein 283). Holstein also notes they are able to find evidence because they use their own life experiences to relate to the accused murderer, Minnie Wright as shown here; “But the women do not simply remember and sympathize with Minnie. They identify with her, quite literally” (285). Holstein finishes the article by noting the women decide to hide the evidence because of the solidarity they feel towards Minnie Wright; “From Mrs. Hale's perspective, people are linked together through fragile, sometimes imperceptible strands. The tiny trifles of life –a neighbor's visit, a bird's song, the sewing of a quilt –have profound reverberations” (287).
In the play Trifles, a handful of people are thrust into a situation that allows us to compare their personalities. The comparison of Mrs. Hale and Mr. Wright is captivating because both characters have striking similarities and differences that are well defined in the events that unfold in the Wright kitchen. Though both show emotions that are unlike from one another, they are similar in their organized lifestyles, and they conduct themselves in such a way to have the respect from others.
The title of this drama "Trifles" demonstrates how men have the assumption that women and their respective actions are seemingly unimportant. Trifles can be used in two forms in the English language. In verb form, trifle means to treat someone or something as unimportant or non-essential. The word trifle in noun form means something of little value or importance. Both definitions of this word yield an idea in this story that women are seen as trivial and are not worthy of respect by men. This idea is conveyed throughout the entire story by the belittling assumptions and attitude the men use toward the women. For example Hale says, " Well, women are used to worrying over trifles" (1003). Typically, a kitchen represents women's work and the idea of domesticity. In Glaspell's eyes, men tend to assume that nothing of importance occurs in the kitchen and this can be related to the idea that women are insignificant. As Glaspell writes,
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth Mahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 2002. 977-986
Trifles is based on a murder in 1916 that Susan Glaspell covered while she was a journalist with the Des Moines Daily News after she graduated from college. At the end of the nineteenth century, the world of literature saw a large increase of female writers. Judith Fetterley believed that there was an extremely diverse and intriguing body of prose literature used during the nineteenth century by American women. The main idea of this type of literature was women and their lives. The reason all of the literature written by women at this time seems so depressing is due to the fact that they had a tendency to incorporate ideas from their own lives into their works. Glaspell's Trifles lives up to this form of literature, especially since it is based on an actual murder she covered. This play is another look at the murder trial through a woman's point of view.
In Trifles, the play takes place at an abandon house at a farm where John Wright and his wife, Minnie Wright lived. John was killed with a rope around his neck while his wife was asleep. The neighbor, county attorney and sheriff came to the crime scene for investigation. Along with them came their wives, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters; they were told to grab some belongings for Mrs. Wright that she may need while she’s in custody. Once they all entered the home the men dismissed the kitchen finding it as unimportant. The three men focused more on legal regulations of the law. The play was mostly revolved around the women, discovering the motive through “trifles” and other symbolic things that had significance to Minnie’s guilt. When Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters understood the reason behind the murdering they hid the evidence from their husbands, and kept quiet. Many readers would visualize this play as a feminist point of view due to women’s bonding in discovering Minnie’s oppressive life after marriage. However Glaspell, provokes two ethical paradigms that have different perspectives of justice. Glaspell uses symbolism to characterize women’s method in a subjective way, by empowering themselves through silence, memories of her and their own lives as well as having empathy about her sit...
Susan Glaspell's play, "Trifles", attempts to define one of the main behavioral differences between man and woman. For most of the story, the two genders are not only geographically separated, but also separated in thought processes and motive, so that the reader might readily make comparisons between the two genders. Glaspell not only verbally acknowledges this behavioral difference in the play, but also demonstrates it through the characters' actions and the turns of the plot. The timid and overlooked women who appear in the beginning of the play eventually become the delicate detectives who, discounted by the men, discover all of the clues that display a female to be the disillusioned murderer of her (not so dearly) departed husband. Meanwhile, the men in the play not only arrogantly overlook the "trifling" clues that the women find that point to the murderer, but also underestimate the murderer herself. "These were trifles to the men but in reality they told the story and only the women could see that (Erin Williams)". The women seem to be the insightful unsung heroes while the men remain outwardly in charge, but sadly ignorant.
Throughout “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, the setting, stage set, societal norms, and symbolism within the play all contribute to our understanding of the wife’s central conflict. With the guilt of killing her husband, Mrs. Wright develops an internal conflict within herself. This conflict is exacerbated throughout the play due to these factors.
Susan Glaspell’s Trifles (1916), is a play that accounts for imprisonment and loneliness of women in a patriarchal society. The plot has several instances where women issues are perceived to be mere trifles by their male counterparts. The title is of significant importance in supporting the main theme of the story and developing the plot that leads to the evidence of the mysterious murder. Trifles can be defined as things of less importance; in this story dramatic, verbal and situational irony is used to show how the insignificant trifles lead to a great deal of truth in a crime scene investigation. The title of the story “Trifles” is used ironically to shape the unexpected evidence discovered by women in