Class 11 English Lesson 18: Trifles: References to the Context

 

Reference to the Context

Read the extract from the play given below and answer the questions that follow:

a.      “MRS. PETERS: (glancing around). Seems funny to think of a bird here. But she must have had one, or why would she have a cage? I wonder what happened to it.

MRS. HALE: I s’pose maybe the cat got it.”

i.       Who does ‘she’ refer to?

‘She’ refers to Mrs. Wright.

ii.     What does the word ‘one’ stand for?

The word ‘one’ stands for a bird.

iii.  What is the full form of “s’pose”?

The full form of “s’pose” is “suppose.”

iv.   What do you mean when Mrs. Hale says, “the cat got it”?

When Mrs. Hale says, “the cat got it”, I mean “the cat must have caught the bird.”

b.     “MRS. HALE: Wright was close. …… she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir, but that— oh, that was thirty years ago.”

i.       Why does Mrs. Hale refer to Mrs. Wright as “Minnie Foster”?

Mrs. Hale refers to Mrs. Wright as “Minnie Foster” because Mrs. Wright was a very beautiful singer before her marriage. She was known as Minnie Foster, and she used to dress pretty and sing in the choir.

ii.     What does her description tell you about Mrs. Wright?

Mrs. Wright was a beautiful singer before her marriage, according to her description. Her name was Minnie Foster, who used to sing beautifully and wear pretty clothes thirty years ago.

iii.  What does Mrs. Hale mean by “that was thirty years ago”?

By “that was thirty years ago”, Mrs. Hale refers to the period in Mrs. Wright’s life when she was an unmarried and well-known singer known as Minnie Foster.

c.      What is the main theme of the play?

The main themes in Trifles are gender, isolation, and justice.

Gender: The male characters only want to utter evidence of Minnie’s crime, whereas the women come to understand the emotional pain that drove Minnie to murder her husband.

Isolation: Minnie Wright is isolated from her famous family by her controlling, abusive husband.

Justice: The man and woman have different conceptions of justice. The man wants Minnie to be convicted of murder, whereas the woman hides the evidence that would have convicted Minnie out of respect for the years of abuse Minnie suffered.

 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVIrdDHLRPU

 

d.     Discuss the symbolism used in the play.

Symbolism is a literary device that is used to represent a concept through symbols or underlying meanings of objects or qualities. Here in this play, we find various things that symbolize various hidden meanings, which are as follows:

i.       The preservative jars: These jars symbolize the cold and broken marriage relationship between Mrs. Wright and her husband.

ii.     Singing Canary bird: The singing Canary bird symbolizes the freedom of Mrs. Wright before her marriage.

iii.  The birdcage: The birdcage symbolizes the trapped life of Mrs. Wright after her marriage.

iv.   The wrung neck of the canary: It symbolizes the concept of revenge in a tit for tat manner. Mr. Wright has also been murdered with a rope around his neck instead of a gun.

v.     A knot in a quilt: Mrs. Hale’s dialogue as the knot in a quilt symbolizes the murder with a rope. The stitches in the particular quilt even symbolize the nervousness of Mrs. Wright.

e.      Discuss the setting of the play. Does it have an impact on the theme of the play?

This play is set in Mr. John Wright’s abandoned farmhouse. The house is a lonesome, gloomy place down in the hollow where the road cannot be seen.

Yes, it has an impact on the theme of the play. The play is set in a rural area, more specifically at an abandoned farmhouse. Being in a rural landscape, the characters are meant to represent real people. Although this is a setting in America’s heartland, the relatively larger distance between neighbours in rural farming areas implies a sense of loneliness that parallels Mrs. Wright’s loneliness. In this way, the setting has an impact on the theme of the play.

 

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