The Repression of Women Exposed in Trifles Susan Glaspell in Trifles explores the repression of women. Since the beginning of time, women have been looked down upon by men. They have been considered “dumb” and even a form of property. Being physically and emotionally abused by men, women in the early 1900’s struggled to break the mold formed by society. Even with the pain of bearing children, raising them, doing household and even farm chores, their efforts have never been truly appreciated. Mrs. Wright was “…real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid—and fluttery…” as Mrs. Hale, her neighbor, describes her (22). This would all soon change after her wedding day. With Mr. Wright’s insipid character and lack of patience of any joyous sound, Mrs. Wright’s spirit dwindled to nothing. It seems she spent hours at a time focusing on her quilts, preserves, and caring for the only life there was in the house, her canary. Even when Mr. Hale offered to get a party telephone, Mr. Wright responded, “…folks talk too much anyway…”(5). This silence he preferred also applied to his spouse. There were no hugs given out much less a smile. He failed to give her even the most minimal sing of appreciation much less the emotional warmth she hungered for. The coldness felt in the house as the sheriff and court attorney entered the house symbolized the same coldness brought about by Mr. Wright. For the house to be cold and gloomy and everything else outside the total opposite, was much more than just coincidence. It was as if when you entered the house a cadaver, cold and clammy, had embraced you in its arms. “ I don’t think a place’d be any cheerfuller for John Wright’s being in it”, Mrs. Hale told the court attorney (11). Mrs. Hale knew perfectly well what kind of personality Mr. Wright had, which is why she specified that she wished that she had gone to visit Mrs. Wright when only she was there. “There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm”, says Mrs. Hale, yet they are seen as mere trifles because it is the women who take on these tasks. “The treatment of women in ‘Trifles’”, a web site that analyzes the demeanor of women throughout the play, states “ The women are betrayed as if they are second class citizens with nothing more important to think about, except to take care of the medial household chores like cooking, cleaning, and sewing.
Wright felt in this house. The play takes place in the kitchen of the Wright’s farm house, “arguably the (only) domain of Mrs. Wright.” (McDaniel) Choosing this location within the house draws attention to the domesticated role of the women and Mrs. Wright’s perceived failure in this role by the unkempt condition of her domain. This serves to create a separation between the genders, drawing the women closer together with Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters try to defend the condition of her kitchen by telling their counterparts that it’s not always easy to keep a clean kitchen and there is a great deal more work involved than the men seem to understand. Life in the farmlands of the Midwest was often a very lonely and depressive experience, having miles between neighbors and no telephones or televisions to break the silence of the hard labor required to sustain the families. (McDaniel) The Wright’s farm house described as being “down in a hollow and you don’t see the road” (Meyer, pg 1044) serves as a physical separation of Mrs. Wright’s environment and the rest of her community. It is also stated to be a cold, gloomy atmosphere, having always been a “lonesome place” (Meyer, pg. 1044) demonstrating the lack of affection Mr. Wright held for his
Siddhartha is a much respected son of a Brahmin who lives with his father in ancient India. Everyone in their town expects Siddhartha to act like his father and become successful. Although he lives a very high quality life, Siddhartha is dissatisfied and along with his best friend Govinda- wants nothing more than to join the group of wandering ascetics called Samana’s. This group starves themselves, travels almost naked and must beg for the food they survive on. This group of people believes that to achieve enlightenment and self-actualization: body image, health, physical and material desires must be thrown away. Although this is the life Siddhartha wished for himself, he soon discovers that it is not the right choice for him. Near desolation, Siddhartha happens upon a river where he hears a strange sound. This sound signifies the beginning of the life he was born to live – the beginning of his true self. Hesse uses many literary devices to assure Siddhartha’s goal of self-actualization and creates a proper path for that success.
...is wound was healing, his pain was dispersing; his Self had merged into unity" (111). He now understood that all things are in harmony, heading towards the same goal and he therefore knew he had no reason to mourn over his son. Siddhartha had then completed his search for inner direction and attained Nirvana through experiences of the mind, body, and spirit.
Siddhartha ends his knowledge quests: Brahminism, Samanic asceticism, and Buddhism. He turns to the use of his senses in finding his goal. His main goal is to be his 'Self'. His sense of 'being' is isolated by his knowledge. He realizes that he does not know his 'Self' which he has spent his life avoiding. He vows him self to explore the 'Self'.
Siddhartha’s experiences with the Samanas taught him to endure hardships and to meditate. While experiencing fasting, he begins his journey towards nirvana, “Silently Siddhartha stood in the fierce sun’s rays, filled with pain and thirst, and stood until he no longer felt pain and thirst” (14). His “silen[ce]” indicates that he is not outwardly showing his discomfort, but is containing and reflecting on it, within himself. This containment shows that Siddhartha is not preaching to others or relating his pain to others; he is simply experiencing it alone. Siddhartha became a Samana to learn how to live with only the essentials, and he was not satisfied to just hear of the pain that they endure, thus being drawn to feel it himself. Once he does fast and does suffer, Siddhartha
...tood the material world and therefore couldn’t unify with it. To achieve nirvana he had to understand the different opinions and lifestyles of everyone so he could understand and accept the unity of the universe. In the moment that Siddhartha reaches enlightenment the narrator describes it as, “Siddhartha ceased to fight against his destiny...belonging to the unity of all things.” This means that he achieved inner peace by accepting and understanding everything, and he did this by participating in the many different worlds around him. The present moment contains a concentration of experiences that would take several lifetimes to undergo. Siddhartha knows not only that he himself is always the same despite the changes in his life but also that he is the same as all others in the world.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or "crib death" is an abrupt and inexplicable death of an apparently healthy infant. Most of the cases involve infants from ages 1-12 months, and the event occurs during the night. Various theories have been postulated from research results but without consistency of the etiology. Since the death is sudden, prior diagnostic criteria or patterns are not available for correlation, although some near-miss infants have been followed. A number of possibilities have been documented in current literature, to include beta-endorphin changes, abnormal temperature regulation, pineal abnormalities, carotid body irregularities, lead poisoning, elevated fetal hemoglobin, brainstem immaturity, and cerebral hypoperfusion. The following is an overview of these pathologies in their relation to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Imagine one night you are putting your baby to sleep like you always do, when you wake up in the morning to find that your infant has all of the sudden passed away in their sleep. This phenomenon has become a parent’s worst fear. Their baby has passed away from sudden infant death syndrome and there is nothing they can do or could have done about it. SIDS is a real thing and has occurred all throughout history. It is very important to understand variables that can increase your chance of losing a baby to SIDS, looking for signs in their cry that could hint towards SIDS and taking every step you can to avoid sudden infant death syndrome from striking your family.
In conclusion, the specifics of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome are not very well known. Even today, research is still being carried out to determine the exact cause of this silent disease. Until that time comes, the public must rely on preventative tips in order to reduce the frequency of this disease infiltrating more families.
As we began studying the concept of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in class and within chapter four in our textbook. I immediately became interested in how a baby could suddenly die at such a young age. I had never heard about the syndrome before and began to search databases to find such causations for this tragedy that takes over 2,500 children under the age of one, each year.
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the most frequent cause of death between 1 month and 1 year of age (Naeye). SIDS is defined as the sudden death of any infant or young child that is unexpected by it’s history, and in which a thorough postmortem examination fails to determine an adequate cause (Hunt 1987). It is important to consider both aspects of this definition in order not to ‘overdiagnose’ SIDS. A mistake of this nature would occur with failure to report a previous history of seizures, or if at the time of the autopsy a differentiation between suffocation due to rebreathing and SIDS was not made (Kemp 1993). One of the major characteristics of SIDS is that of ‘silent death’, which occurs during a sleep period. The majority of SIDS cases are between 1-6 months, with the peak occurrence being between 2-4 months. Boys are affected more often than girls (Becker, 1990).
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,
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the leading cause of death in infants. I choose SIDS as my topic, because it is a huge problem and risk for children. Although, I am not a mother yet, I plan to be someday, and I think learning more about SIDS and understanding what I can about the syndrome is beneficial not only for me as a future parent, but also for my future child. SIDS is the unexplained death of an outwardly healthy infant. The infant is less than twelve months old. SIDS most often occurs during an infant’s sleep. SIDS can be caused by numerous different events. However, the risk of SIDS increases if an infant sleeps on their belly, or if an infant sleeps in a bed with the parents or caretakers, also known as co-sleeping. Additionally,
number of deaths due to SIDS, it accounts for only a small percentage. It is a
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...