Trifles by Susan Glaspell

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the freezing of the cherries, which symbolized maternal nurturing and love, represents the destruction of Mrs. Wright’s last hope and remaining grace. After finding the broken bird cage, the women discuss Mrs. Wright’s pre-marriage charisma, and for the first time she is referred to as Minnie Foster. As her first name and maiden name are revealed, the reader subconsciously recognizes that she is the first woman thus far to have received a definitive name and identity, and she becomes a symbol of freedom for women and their desire for gender equality. Through this important shift in female characterization, the reader can see the freedom women strived for without the restraints of social status, and the loss of this exemption brought about by oppressive marriages. Additionally, Minnie Foster, like a bird, is described as sweet, timid, and fluttery, symbolizing Mrs. Wright before her marriage as well as the liberty of women without masculine dominance. However, as the bird is found dead, the author crushes this fleeting image and replaces it with one of brutality and prejudice. Mrs. Wright herself was like a caged bird, and the killing of the bird at her husband’s hand conveys the breaking of her compassion through her overbearing relationship as well.

Through literary devices such as symbolism and characterization, Glaspell delivers a powerful message about the social standing of women in the early 1900’s. In conveying this universal theme and advocating for the rights of women, Glaspell brings light upon the issue which dominated women’s lives and