VCCS
Litonline Introduction to LiteratureEnglish 112 (English Composition II)
VCCS
Litonline Introduction to Literature
English 112 (English Composition II)
Question: What is the significance (or symbolism) of the cherry preserves found at Minnie's house? That is, how do these preserves signify Minnie, her situation as a wife, or her current state of mind?
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My thanks to Robin Tuck and Megan Robinson for their advice on what to preserve for this archive and titles of the submissions that were kept.
From: Jean Preddy, JSRCC
Date: 1/23/99
Time: 11:38:06 AM
What a pretty visual image is presented by the mention of a jar of cherry preserves. Anyone who has ever tasted homemade cherry preserves has known the delight they bring to the eye as well as the palate. Truly the art of "putting up" preserves is a lost one these days, but not forgotten, as it seems was Minnie. In the drama, Trifles, the cherry preserves that Minnie Wright had put up the previous summer represented several things.
"Trifles": In the minds of the men they represented the trifles that women concerned themselves with when there was serious business to attend to. To the men, "trifles" meant the pesky little details that they themselves took for granted such as washing the dishes, baking the bread - cleaning up after them.
Youth: Minnie Foster-Wright had been
a pretty woman in earlier days, pretty and cheery. The pretty cherry preserves
were symbolic of the youth of Minnie, the spring of her years.
| [Betsy Chatham amplifies this idea of "Lost Youth/Innocence":] Cherry is close to cheery; something Minnie didn’t have much of in her life. Perhaps the cherries were a substitute for cheer to her. Also, cherry is a common term for a women’s virginity, her innocence. The broken cherry preserves can also be thought of as a symbol of Minnie’s lost youth and innocence. |
Fruits of Her Labor: To fill the time in the "gloomy" household that had become her
prison she canned cherries that would give her a promise of something to look
forward to in the cold of winter. It was a painstaking task that took hours of
labor in the heat of the kitchen. The finished product was something to be proud
of. Without the blessing of fruits of her own womb she took satisfaction in the
fruits of her labor. When the freezing cold temperatures found Minnie in a jail
cell, far from her kitchen, her concerns turned to her fruits. As I have
mentioned, these were as her children - no trifles these, in her mind.
Effects of Cold on Fragile Things: As a result of the frigid temperatures the jars had cracked and broken, oozing cherries onto the cupboard shelf. A sticky mess resulted, much like the sticky mess Minnie was in. For had not Minnie, like the cherries, been sitting on a proverbial shelf of her own for all those years until the cold had become so unbearably frigid that she cracked?
[Barbara Dobson amplifies this last symbolism:] When the cold set into the house the jars broke open and created a sticky mess, similar to the mess her life was in. Minnie had little joy in her life, she did not have much to be proud of and being married to a hard and abusive man was a difficult cross for her to carry. The jars of preserves broke open from exposure to the cold, just as Minnie broke from exposure to her cruel husband.
From: Barbara Bendle JSRCC
Date: 6/16/99
Time: 12:24:26 AM
I believe that the jar of cherries that did not break symbolizes hope for Mrs. Wright. After all, all of the others had broken except this one. And maybe this will mean that she will survive in good condition as well.
[Angela Douglas adds:] She will be relieved when Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters take in the one jar of cherry preserves that did make it through the cold. With this one jar
she may be able to find some kind of piece in her life as it appeared that she was unhappy
and unloved in her marriage.
From: Trudy Cuoghi, JSRCC
Date: 2/2/00
Time: 10:59:21 PM
Homemaker: The play is set on a farm in a rural community in the 1920's when preserves were just that, preservation of the harvest for the lean winter months. Without sufficient preserves, a family would not survive the winter. Part of a woman's job, as keeper of the hearth and home, is to prepare these preserves. In much the same way that a man's status within the community was (and still is) determined by his trade, a woman's sense of self-worth was determined by her skills as a homemaker. The references to Minnie's competence as a homemaker or lack of same throughout the dialog support this.
Newness: It is interesting that the preserves in this instance are cherries. "Cherry" is a slang term, at least in car circles, for preserved like new, original, mint condition. In her concern for the preserves, was Minnie remembering her youthful, carefree existence?
Sisterhood: Through tone and dialog, the play bears out the symbolism of the preserves as the sisterhood of women. Men dominate the scene until the preserves are introduced when the attorney asks "You're convinced there's nothing important here [in the kitchen, heart of the home and a woman's domain] - nothing that would point to any motive?" and proceeds to place his hand right into the spilled preserves. Mr. Hale scoffs and calls the preserves trifles - not worth worrying about. It is at this point the women move together and actively enter the scene. It is ironic that the women - dismissed as trifles themselves - are able to puzzle out the motive for the crime through the insignificant trifles themselves.
Mrs. Hale states, "We all go through the same thing - it's just a different kind of the same thing," as she reaches for the last jar of preserves. The women will take that last jar of preserves to Minnie Wright to console her, they won't tell her all but one jar is shattered, her life is not in pieces. Past failures to recognize a "sister's" silent suffering - symbolized by those broken jars - are not forgotten, the women won't let her down this time.