In Susan Glaspell's "Trifles" a woman is suspected of murdering her husband in his sleep. Minnie Wright is a lonely farmwife whose husband is austere and offers her little compassion or nurturing. When the Sheriff and County Attorney come to investigate the crime scene, with them is Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, respectively the wife of a witness, Mr. Hale, and the Sheriff, Mr. Peters. Throughout the story, Glaspell provides us with symbols that unite Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters where Minnie's fate is concerned. Knowing they all suffer from injustice and oppression living in a patriarchal society, the women create their own code of morality and conceal crucial evidence that implicates Minnie. In doing so, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters create their own brand of justice for Minnie that helps level the uneven playing field between men and women in their society.
From the beginning of the story, Glaspell shows us that the men think the domestic concerns of women are trifles and that women's concerns or work is inferior that those of men. Minnie was an isolated, hardworking and underappreciated housewife. The women understand this being in the same situation, but the men do not. When he sees the exploded preserves in the kitchen, the County Attorney notes, "Here's a fine mess" (Glaspell 3). This shows he expects women to keep a mess-free home as part of their role as housewife. The women, in contrast, understand it represents all of Minnie's hard labor being ruined. As Mrs. Peter's laments, "She worried about the when it turned so cold" (Glaspell 3). We see in this example that men define roles for women and the expectations they are supposed to live up to in society and in their roles in it. Women, in contrast, only have each other to turn to for empathy or understanding.
We see the men can only view Minnie in her role as housewife and, as such, as the person who is suppo
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