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Wright as well as their own lives.
Putting aside the fact that Toomer's Cane is a much different piece -- it is not a play and is much lengthier than Trifles -- the language, form and mood vary significantly. For example, "Fern," one of the stories in the Cane collection, first appears to be a portrait of an exquisite woman who nobody understands. However, the reader soon realizes that she is much more complex. There exists layer upon layer over her, as she is revealed to be a representative of an entire group of American people. She also represents the many ways that women are treated. Her depth is indicative of the other characters in this book as well.
In Trifles, the readers immediately walk into the Wright's home with the other characters. There is no one keeping the readers from becoming instantly involved with the action. However, in Cane, the narrator stands in and often puts the readers at a distance. This shows the women's alienation from the rest of the society. The narrator also depicts the separation that exists in the country between people of different backgrounds.
Cane's style is also more complex because the narration is uneven, changing...
Unlike Trifles, which has very simple dialogue, Toomer writes in narrative, dialogue and poetry -- his work has actually been called a "novel poem" due to this eclectic style. Frequently, the feeling portrayed is almost as a spiritual sung in a church, with varying tones, not the stark, bleak near-silence as in Glaspell's play. Further, Toomer divides the book into sections of urban and rural, South and North as well as by characters. It acts as a collage of myriad forms and directions. It is organic and alive, just as much as Trifles is burdened with death and decay. Thus, although Cane rightly depicts the burdened life of the African-Americans, there is an underlying hope for the characters' futures.
Toomer's style does not lend itself to easy reading. However, the theme he is portraying has numerous meanings. The complexity along with the imagery and symbolism shows the rich quality and depth of the characters' personalities and lives -- as well as the deep pain they must endure to live during these times.
Barlow, Judith. Plays by American Women. New York: Applause, 1985.
Toomer, Jean. Cane. New York: Norton Edition, 1988.
Toomer's style does not lend itself to easy reading. However, the theme he is portraying has numerous meanings. The complexity along with the imagery and symbolism shows the rich quality and depth of the characters' personalities and lives -- as well as the deep pain they must endure to live during these times.
Barlow, Judith. Plays by American Women. New York: Applause, 1985.
Toomer, Jean. Cane. New York: Norton Edition, 1988.
While men ignore the kitchen as containing "nothing but kitchen things," women look for evidence precisely there because it is the only place where women are in control. As Holstein (2003) argues, women do not enter the house of Mr. Wright as a place of investigation but as a home of two human beings who have feelings. For men, what matters is the evidence and if they find one,
TRIFLES by Susan Glaspell In "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell, the characteristics of the women and the attitudes to their men and their own roles in life are gradually illuminated. The intensity of the situation, in effect two women judging the life of the third, absent party, provides a context in which Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter grow significantly, in character, strength and importance. The principle characters in the play are effectively the
In reality, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are even more invested in the investigation than the men, because they demonstrate an attention to detail that the men lack. By the time the men return from their fruitless investigations, the women have determined both why and how Mrs. Wright murdered her husband, and they even come to the decision not to supply the evidence without ever alerting the men. Furthermore,
Susan Glaspell's Trifles The title of Susan Glaspell's drama Trifles indicates that it will deal with seemingly small matters: as Mrs. Hale says of the pivotal prop in the stage-play -- "Wouldn't they just laugh? Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a -- dead canary!" (Glaspell 27-8). Yet Mrs. Hale's sense that, if a male audience could see her dialogue with Mrs. Peters in Trifles by Susan Glaspell,
Susan Glaspell,(Trifles). Please ensure original wor Formal Approach There is a great deal of irony found in Susan Glaspell's work of literature entitled "Trifles." Irony, of course, is when words are used the exact opposite of their literal meaning. The concept of situation irony also exists within literature, in which characters act the exact opposite of the way that a certain situation calls for. An examination of Glaspell's work indicates that
Holmes always solves the crime, and that fact is very satisfying to the reader. Similarly, the two women are inadvertently unearthing the clues to the murder alongside the searching investigators. Glaspell endears us to the two women through the use of personal experiences and memories. Through their similarities, the two women also endear the reader to Minnie Wright. This closeness in character makes it perfectly acceptable when the women