Trifles Essay

“I want my home to look good, feel good, and smell good. I want it to be inclusive, to reflect the people who live there” (Cindy Crawford). People’s homes mirror their personal tastes, attitudes, and aspects of their personalities. Authors also use the setting of their stories to convey characterization and themes. This also proves to be true in the case of Susan Glaspell’s play, “Trifles.” The Wrights’ home, the messy setting of the story, reflects the cold and gloomy lives of the people who there.

When the play begins, the characters walk into the Wrights’ house, and they find it disheveled. The characters see undone chores including dirty dishes and food strewn about the kitchen, and they find it has been “left without having been put in order” (Glaspell 743). Although it appears that the characters have just stumbled upon a dirty kitchen, Glaspell uses the mess created in the room to convey a much deeper meaning reflecting the Wright’s inner chaos. Throughout the play, Glaspell drops hints that lead the reader to discover that Minnie Foster killed her husband, John Wright. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find Mrs. Wright’s murdered canary, and they conclude that Mr. Wright broke its neck even though Mrs. Wright loved the bird. Mr. Wright neglects and maybe even abuses Mrs. Wright, so the ladies determine that Mrs. Wright snaps and kills her husband.  Neither husband nor wife cares for their home as they do not care for each other. The disorganized, neglected home imitates the couples’ chaotic and disorganized life.

In addition to being unkempt, Glaspell also notes that the Wright’s home is cold and lonely. As soon as they enter the home, the characters “are much bundled up and go at once to the stove” (743)