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Trifles & A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell
Course: Honors English (HPLC 1201)
6 Documents
Students shared 6 documents in this course
University: Fordham University
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Questions for "Trifles" and "A Jury of Her Peers"
1. What attitudes toward women do the Sheriff and the County Attorney express? How do
Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters react to these sentiments?
The Sheriff and the County Attorney believe that they are superior to the women. They make fun
of the women for paying attention to small things, or trifles. they felt that women were supposed
to be housekeepers. They criticized the bad housekeeping of Mrs. Wright, and Mrs. Hale
expressed how she would hate if men came around her kitchen, snooping and making
comments. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters do not like the comments the men make, especially the
one about “being loyal to their own sex”. Mrs. Hale said that there is a lot of work to do on a
farm, kind of defending why the housekeeping isn’t exactly perfect.
2. Why does the County Attorney care so much about discovering a motive for the
killing?
There was a gun in the house but it was not used. Instead, Mr. Wright was hung. The County
Attorney doesn’t understand what the motive is, but if he figures it out, it could lead to more of a
confirmation of who may have killed Mr. Wright. He doesn’t know why Mrs. Wright would have
done it, especially in the way that her husband was killed. There needs to have been a sign of
anger or sudden feeling. The men couldn’t find actual evidence that Mrs. Wright committed the
murder so if he had a motive, it would prove that she did it.
3. What does Glaspell show us about the position of women in this early twentieth-
century community?
Women were basically tied down to doing housework and farm work. They were in the house
most of the time and weren’t taken seriously. They weren’t in charge of most things, and men
had the most power. Women lost most of their rights when they got married, and they were
expected to have kids and take care of the home. Women were seen as inferior to men and that
their jobs were to cook, clean, bake, and housekeep. Men view those jobs as unimportant and
irrelevant compared to what they did, and they believed that women had easy jobs and they
should do a good job.
4. What do we learn about the married life of the Wrights? By what means is this
knowledge revealed to us?
Mrs. Wright (Who used to be Minnie Foster) used to sing in the choir and wear very pretty
dresses and be very happy 20 years ago. She used to be bird-like. After she got married, Mr.
Wright made her stop singing and he seemed to ignore her needs, such as her need for nice
clothes instead of shabby ones and a good, working stove. The women said that they couldn’t