Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” 2 pg. Response

Morgan Mullen
02/11/09
Period 11

Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” 2 pg. Response

This play shows women’s roles in the home during that time. It also shows the differences in the thinking between men ad women. The men believe that the woman killed her husband however; the women see a deeper side to the story. Glaspell uses the descriptions of the kitchen and also the actions of the characters.

The play starts by stating that there were unwashed dishes and how messy the house was but later when the two women were in the kitchen they noticed that most of the things where only half done. They could easily tell what the woman had been doing before she was discovered. They also understood her feelings about her broken preserves. Mrs. Hale can relate to the woman the most. She went knew how hard she worked to fix the preserves, how it felt for someone to come into your home and criticize it, and how it felt to get nervous and mess up a stitch while sewing. Most importantly Mrs. Hale knew her in the past and how she used to sing and be social. She knew how much the woman had changed and no longer sang or was social. She knew it was John Wright that had caused her to change. The women could also sympathize with the fact that in a home it is a woman’s job to clean and that is all. They knew she was lonely and didn’t find it surprising to find that she had a bird. The fact that it was a singing bird wasn’t surprising either until they found it had a broken neck and they knew who did it. These women knew how it was to be a woman in that time; to have no voice or opinion and to be stuck and helpless. They knew she was not guilty because of her small trifles during such important events.

The men however would never understand or even see the clues the woman left. When they over heard the ladies talking about the knitting they just laughed and didn’t notice that when Hale walked in she was knitting instead of pleating it. The knitting showed that she was nervous and the kitchen showed that she couldn’t stay still but tried to do the things she usually did. The men laughed at women’s trifles and would think she was guilty by what they saw and heard. The men wouldn’t know what it was like to get beat, or not to have a voice or opinion in everyday life. The two women didn’t even want to tell the men what they found knowing that what they said would just be thrown aside with a chuckle just like everything else.
In the end the messy kitchen showed that the woman was still trying to keep up her role as a housekeeper yet couldn’t complete a task due to nervousness. Her concern over her preserves and her need for her apron shows that she is just a house wife and doesn’t have anything other than trifles and her apron is the only thing that is a part of her personality. The cage and the bird symbolized the woman herself and how her voice and singing was silenced but also how she was still trapped. The actions of Mrs. Hale showed how most women have trifles and that the woman was not queer and mirrored almost every action the woman probably did before she was discovered.

Bernice Bobs Her Hair

2pg Lit. Response “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”


“Bernice Bobs Her Hair” expressed two ideas of women in the past. One was the idea from the cult of true womanhood and the other was the flapper attitude of the “roaring twenties”. The story was in my mind women turning away from the old views of domesticity and more towards a free view of themselves. This is expressed by Bernice and Marjorie. Bernice is the old views of women and how femininity is portrayed and Marjorie is more of the new free spirit brought on by the “roaring twenties” who sneaks off with boys and throws caution to the wind (lol). I also found that with these two different views the fact of how girls treat each other is very realistic to the girls of today.

Bernice was a nice girl; quiet and conservative, however, in the 1920s it wasn’t about being feminine and guys felt that girls that kept old views were boring and couldn’t stand her. Marjorie was a “flapper” girl; she flirted with many boys even though there was one that continued to love her. Boys loved Marjorie no matter how much she played with any of them. This made me feel that the “flapper” attitude was accepted over the old views of the cult of true womanhood. I don’t believe that a girl should have to flirt with so many boys just to be accepted. Bernice changed herself so she could fit in but that would never work because even if she changed the conversations she had that was not the person she was. In the end she got her hair bobbed and it was unbecoming because it wasn’t for her personality. But this story was also a battle of old views with the new and in the end the new views won, except the fact the Marjorie now also has a bob to complete her “flapper” personality.

This story also showed the workings of the female mind. At first Marjorie didn’t like Bernice because she was boring and none of her friends or the boys liked her. Then she helps her out of selfish reasons to help herself, and then becomes angry and jealous when the boy that has loved her for so long starts falling in love with Bernice. Today girls are just like this. They will befriend someone for selfish reasons or become jealous over a boy they never had. It is a sad fact that these tings have been going on for so long and we as females have yet to change our ways. People don’t accomplish anything when it is done in selfishness or jealousy and that is why Marjorie now has a bob.