Theme Of Gender Roles In Susan Glaspell's Trifles

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In Susan Glaspell 's "Trifles," the sheriff, Henry Peters, and the county attorney, George Henderson, arrive with the witnesses, Lewis Hale, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Hale at John Wright 's farmhouse, where the police are investigating Wright 's murder. While the men are investigating upstairs, the women discover a quilt and decide to bring it with them, although the men tease them for pondering about the "trifles" such as the quilt. The women discover an empty birdcage and eventually find the dead canary in a box in Mrs. Wright 's sewing basket while they are searching for materials for the quilt. The canary has been strangled in the same manner as John Wright. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale decide to hide the evidence, and the men are unable to find anything that could break the murder of John Wright – no evidence that will prevent Mrs. Wright from being acquitted by a future jury. Glaspell 's continued focus on the specificities and stereotypes of gender
Glaspell chooses to switch the gender roles – the women end up solving the murder, which is the men’s responsibility, and the men end up puzzled. Literary critic Suzy Clarkson Holstein agrees, saying, “[The women’s] process seems formless as they move through the kitchen, talking and reflecting” (Holstein). The women’s stereotypical small-talk and being in the kitchen serves as an ironic twist to the story; the men think that the women are incapable of helping them, yet their “formless” process provides clinching evidence to the case (Holstein). This leads the reader to infer that perhaps Glaspell never intended to have the men solve the crime. She believes that the women should and are perfectly capable of solving the crime by their own methods, even if some of the discoveries were very

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