Sexism In Trifles By Susan Glaspell

There is no question that women have struggled over many years to be seen as equals by their male counterparts. Years of struggle and oppression continued throughout time, but the oppression took different forms over the course of history. Susan Glaspell wrote, “Trifles” which explores a woman’s status in society during the 1920s and the political leanings that perverted society at the time. The play demonstrates how women were subjected to mental abuse and viewed as intellectually inferior as dictated by American society and politics. “Trifles” exposes how political leanings in the government favored and enabled a patriarchal society as well as displaying how the Women’s Rights movement was beginning to combat these prejudices.

Throughout

Hale and Mrs. Peters, but Lewis Hale, the sheriff George Peters, and the County Attorney George Henderson play an important role in serving as the male attitude during the time period. When paying attention to particular .mannerisms and attitudes of the County Attorney the reader can truly gauge how sexist the environment was in the 1920s. One of the first signs of sexism appears from the County Attorney’s remarks towards the two ladies about the housekeeping. He notes that Mrs. Wright was not much of a housekeeper and turns to the ladies for their opinion because in the setting this was one of their common roles. Hale even states that, “women are used to worrying over trifles” (965). This refers to Mrs. Wright worrying about her preserves while she is detained in jail for suspected murder of her

“Trifles” draws upon the history of 1920s America. The Roaring Twenties was a time of great growth and prosperity. The woman’s rights movement was not it full force at this time, but it was enjoying some growth and establishing a solid foot in the minds of both male and female Americans. “Trifles” uses symbolism to represent the women’s right movement. Gaspell uses Mrs. Wright to symbolize the women’s rights movement. She was oppressed like the majority of women during the 1920s, but as most women she was beginning to stand up for her rights just like all women who supported the women’s rights movement. Her loss of voice is symbolic of the right to vote that women did not have in the early 1900s. In the play evidence suggest that Mrs. Wright murdered her husband and although imprisoned, she has gained her freedom by killing her husband. This is synonymous with women fighting back against men to gain their right to vote in 1920 essentially regaining their “voice” in government. The killing of John Wright represents the death of prejudice attitude since men were beginning to tolerate women in all aspects of society. One sign that women were gaining ground was the fact that they were allowed to be at the crime scene. It is peculiar that the men even allowed the women to be there. The author attempts to balance this out by making the women’s reason to be there is to collect things for