Trifles

Apparently Blackboard is acting like a sick dog again, so rather than kick it while it's down, I'm going to put the prompts for Trifles here. See you tomorrow.

Please choose one of the following prompts and write a one-page response. As always, please point to specific examples from the text to help you make your points.

1. Interpret these lines from Trifles: “We all live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same things—it’s all just a different kind of the same thing.” What does Mrs. Hale mean by this, and how does it relate to the play?

2. At the beginning of Trifles, Mrs. Peters seems to be on the side of the men, or at least willing to defend them. She almost seems “married to the law,” as her husband suggests. And yet, by the end of the story, she is willing to hide evidence that would probably convict Minnie Wright of murder. At what point, or points, in the play do you think Mrs. Peters begins to soften her attitude towards Minnie Wright? How do we account for this change?

3. A common kind of irony is dramatic irony, where the reader knows more about a situation or character than the characters in a story or play do. Point to some examples of dramatic irony in Trifles.

4. A literary symbol is something, usually an object, that stands for something else. For example, the pebble that Jimmy Cross carries with him is symbolic of Martha, his fantasies, his innocence, etc. Write about three symbols in Trifles and discuss what they are symbolic of.

5. Interpret the title of the play. Yes, the word “trifles” is used by Hales in the play, but so are lots of other words. Why is the word important enough to become the name of the play?