Symbols in \"Trifles\" by Susan Glaspell

¶ … Susan Glaspell's Trifles

Analysis of Symbols in Susan Glaspell's Trifles

Although short, Susan Glaspell's play, Trifles, is packed with key symbols that, thoroughly examined, offer a close look at the isolation and hopelessness that characterized the life of some women in the early 20th century. In particular, Glaspell uses the setting of the kitchen -- the traditional sphere of the woman -- to provide several symbols and offer biting social commentary delivered through vastly different gendered speakers, the male investigators and Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters.

The first crucial symbol in Trifles is the jarred fruit. The men immediately perceive the sticky fruit that has emerged from the broken jars as a mess, and they immediately seize the opportunity to comment on Mrs. Wright's poor housekeeping. In sharp contrast, Mrs. Peters explains that the jars cracked because of the kitchen fire had gone out and notes that Mrs. Wright had worried about just such a thing happening. When Mrs. Hale discovers an unbroken jar of cherries, she seems transported by her own memories of canning cherries the previous summer. In particular, she recalls the hard and hot work that went into that work. Indeed, the careful way that Mrs. Hale retrieves and cleans that unbroken jar of cherries symbolizes her respect for Mrs. Wright's work and her role as keeper of the kitchen and home.

Looking more deeply, the cherries themselves are fruit that must be consumed or preserved in just a short window of summer. As such, they can also symbolize the fleeting happiness and tremendous sadness of the Wright home. One preserves summer fruit with hopes for a sweet and sunny treat in the dead of winter. Only one jar of this canned "happiness" survived the coldness of the Wright home -- surely, Glaspell intended to carry a message of sadness and solitude with this symbol.

The birdcage is another striking sign of Mrs. Wright's losing battle to maintain some cheeriness in her otherwise cold and quiet home. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters note that the Wrights were childless and comment on the endless silence that must pervade a home without children. One might imagine the chirping song of the canary that provided cheer to Mrs. Wright as she worked in the kitchen. It is clear, too, that Mrs. Wright treasured the bird; she chose a beautiful decorated box for its corpse. The women discover that it has died from a "wrung neck;" obviously, this symbol is meant to correspond to the means by which the farmer died, but more importantly, it seems the farmer has not only killed the bird, but snuffed out its life by focusing on the part of its body that produced its cheerful voice. Through this symbol, Glaspell shows the silence of the bird, the loss of happiness, and most importantly, the voice of Mrs. Wright, which was symbolically lost through her depressing life with her husband.