VCCS
Litonline Introduction to LiteratureEnglish 112 (English Composition II)
VCCS
Litonline Introduction to Literature
English 112 (English Composition II)
5. Making Judgments: the Women vs. the MenFrom: Ron Carter, RCC CommentsIn what ways do Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters make judgments or draw conclusions? How do their methods of making judgments differ from the methods used by Sheriff Peters or the County Attorney or even Mr. Hale? |
My thanks to Nortasha Bailey, Mariam Naqvi, and Joy Myers for their help in archiving this topic.
From: Raquel Jones, JSRCC
Date: 1/27/99
Time: 11:29:08 PM
In the beginning of the play the women are not judging Mrs. Wright or accusing her of anything; they are defending her at a sad time in her life.
Male Ridicule: On the other hand, we read about the County Attorney talking about how much of a mess the kitchen is and ridiculing Mrs. Wright in her absence about how her husband has been murdered and she is worried about her fruit being frozen; "I guess before we're through she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about," he boasts. The County Attorney has basically claimed her guilty for the murder of her own husband and at the same time teases about her fruit.
Female Defensiveness Based on Compassion and Reason: The women immediately go to her aid talking of how hard it is to keep a farmhouse in order. With women, once we have to go on the defensive, we will find every way to find the good or bad in something no matter what the cost. This is how the women drew their conclusion. They speak about how much of a nice person she was and because of that kindness, they think more of Mrs. Wright's well being and begin to aid her in her housework by cleaning the kitchen and thinking of things that will make her comfortable while she is in jail.
By doing so they draw conclusions like, if she did kill her husband she had reasons to. "She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster," says Mrs. Hale. She implies how sweet and outgoing she was until she was married. They characterized Mr. Wright as someone with a mean spirit.
Male Presumption of Guilt: The men, however, were looking for clues to pin the murder on the wife and convict her for murder since they already believed she killed him anyway. The women use casual conversation with a bit of being nosey or, as we women would say, trying to help out in order to judge her by what they know and her surroundings.
From: Chinyelu Talley JSRCC
Date: 6/8/99
Time: 9:22:19 PM
Men and women often view things differently. The men in Trifles tend to draw quick conclusions on what evidence they see in front of them, instead of taking the time to understand why things may be that way. The women in Trifles are more intuitive. They want to know why things are this way or what made this happen. The women go more on feelings and intuition.
We see evidence of these patterns in the beginning of the play when the County Attorney talks about how dirty the kitchen is. The women explain the reason for this is that it is hard trying to keep a farm house clean all the time, especially the kitchen because you are always cooking something.
We see that the County Attorney has already made up his mind that she is guilty when he says she should be more worried about herself than her fruit being frozen.
The women come to their conclusions when they are in the kitchen gathering her things. In particular, when they find the empty bird cage they wonder what happened to the bird. Mrs. Hale also mentions how happy Minnie used to be and how things changed over the years being alone all the time with her husband.
Then they find the sewing all out of sorts & they begin to wonder more if she really did it. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters form their final opinion that she killed him when they find her bird with its neck wrung, just like her husband was killed. Even then they hide the evidence and stick by her side because the County Attorney had offended them in the beginning talking about the house keeping. Especially since they knew she would not get a fair trial because the men weren't actually trying to find another murderer, they were just looking for something that they could use to pin the murder on Mrs. Wright--and not even wonder why she might have killed him? Did he abuse her? They just assumed she was out of her mind and had convicted her. The women use their curiosity and reason out observations over the past few years to discuss what happened and why. The men just assumed she did it.
From: Joanne C. Snook, JSRCC
Date: 6/8/99
Time: 11:43:14 PM
Speed: When both the sheriff and the county attorney entered into Mrs. Wright's residence it seemed that they just wanted an open and shut case. Thinking that they knew that Mrs. Wright had committed the crime, they sought to gather as much evidence against her in as little time as possible.
Compassion: On the other hand, the two compassionate women are Mrs. Hale, who knew Mrs. Wright as a young lady, in her happier earlier days when she enjoyed singing, and Mrs. Peter's who is taking in all the information. The difference here was sympathy. The two women were letting their emotions take over rather than seeing a murderer. I think they truly wanted to believe that she hadn't committed such an evil crime, but all the evidence they came upon, led them to believe otherwise--and revealed justifications for Minnie's action.
From: Reza Mobrem JSRCC 9-22-99
Date: 9/22/99
Time: 10:56:45 PM
Throughout this play the author presents that the manner in which men and women rationalize a situation differs a great deal.
Gender-Based Assumptions: The play starts out with the sheriff explaining that he had sent out the deputy to set the fire, who was a man, and that he knew that he could trust him to not touch or move anything. This statement implies that quite possibly a woman would not have followed through in the same manner. On the other hand, the women later on in the play mention about the towel that is so dirty, " Men's hands aren't always as clean as they as they might be." They also imply that the deputy could have added to the condition of the towel. The women also make it very clear the manner that men go about things, saying that, "...it's nothing more than their duty," speaking of how the men come to an automatic conclusion based solely on the condition of the kitchen.
Ridicule: The men also laugh at the women's discussion of whether or not the blanket was going to be quilted or knotted, which leaves one to believe that the men believe that the women are not looking at the case in a investigative manner, but rather from a more laid-back point of view. This also brings up the point of why only the men are investigating, and have told the women not to touch anything, going back to my earlier statement about the deputy.
Basically, the men are investigating the case more close-minded, trying to situate their findings to fit the mold that Mrs. Wright had killed her husband.
Ambiguity of Motive: On the other hand, the woman are realizing from the evidence they inadvertently discover that something had to drive the woman to kill her husband, so that it is not certain as to who killed Mr. Wright.
Not Listening: Even later on in the story when the women find the dead bird and the awkward stitching in the quilt, they keep this information concealed from the men because they know how it and themselves will be viewed by the men. They will be blamed for not listening, and Mrs. Wright will not be given a fair trial (judging from the men's behavior at the opening of the play).
In closing I believe that the manner in which the women came to get their answers was based more off of real human emotion and genuine investigation, whereas the men went solely on what seemed to be the case instead of trying to see the possibilities.