Blog Post #4

Trifles by Susan Glaspell was an interesting play that I previously read in a composition class at a community college. The first time I read it, I didn't recognize the gender differences.  Reading it again, for this class I saw the differences more clearly.  Throughout the play both women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale stayed together while the men went off doing the investigating.  Not only was it kind of ironic that the women sat in the kitchen but also that they found more evidence and reasoning behind the murder than the men did.  Its interesting because the women were just the tag along to the men and they actually found more information about the case.  The women were definitely more understanding and sympathetic toward Mrs. Wright.  The men on the other hand were much more close minded on the case and weren't interested in why Mrs. Wright may have murdered her husband but they were more interested in just finding evidence to use against her in the court.  This really shows the difference in both sexes.

Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters found out that Mr. Wright killed his wife's pet bird and was very controlling over her.  She had stopped doing the things she loved because of his demanding nature.  Mr. Wright forced her to stop singing and expected her to be the typical housewife after they had married.  Not only was he controlling much of her life, he was also physically abusive.  Her feelings about her husband grew into hatred and eventually lead her to commit murder.  The fact that John Wright demanded her to stop doing the things she loved, she stayed in their house and cooked and cleaned.  I believe this eventually made her go mentally and emotionally insane.  I think anyone would be a little crazy if they were forced to be a housewife and were dragged away from the things they loved.  This idea of husbands being controlling over their wife's lives reminded me of another short story that I read in high school.  Its called The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman Perkins.  The story is about a women stuck in a room all day, everyday.  She had psychological problems and used writing to help her get through it.  Her husband, who was a doctor refused to let her write, which eventually made her go crazy.  Their husband and wife relationship  reminded me of Mr. and Mrs. Wright.  

The Yellow Wallpaper is a very well written short story that I think connected with this play, Trifles.  Not only is this a interesting story but its relate able to class discussions. Here is the link to this short story.

http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Charlotte_Perkins_Gilman/The_Yellow_Wallpaper/The_Yellow_Wallpaper_p2.html