Trifles

Summary: Trifles

The story is introduced as being in the midst of a crime scene. The county attorney, Sheriff, Mr. and Mrs. Hale, and Mrs. Peters (the Sheriff’s wife) are at the house of John Wright. It is now abandoned and extremely cold due to no heat running as of this time. They have the oven going to stay warm while they are there investigating. The county attorney and sheriff are in search of some motive as to who killed John Wright. He was hung supposedly in his sleep without his wife even realizing. Mr. Hale was going to John’s house to ask him if he wanted a telephone the night of his death. He knocked at the door and thought he heard someone say come in, but was not sure. He went in and saw John’s wife in the rocking chair sort of pleating her apron in a weird way. She seemed to pay little attention to him and cared not that he was there. Mr. Hale questioned her as to where John was. She informed him that he was dead from a rope that was put around his neck. It was very strange to see the way she was acting. Her husband is dead and she is sitting in a rocking chair petting her apron. She appeared to be in a state of shock; otherwise she did it and did not know what to do next. The men conversed about this and looked around for any signs that she or another murdered him. They criticized her cleanliness and style in the house. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale did not approve of that act. It was like she was supposed to have cleaned the house before they took her away. The men went upstairs to look around for more evidence while the women stayed down. They sought to find a few things of John’s wife’s to give to her. They found that some jarred fruit of hers had been frozen as she was afraid might happen. A cherry one was found, though. When she was taken from the home there were a couple things that came to mind that she spoke of. She was worried about this fruit, for instance. The women thought that she did not kill him if she was worried of such things as fruit. Another thing they found was a quilt. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale saw that a part was sewn badly. This wouldn’t have been a big deal if the rest had not been close to perfect. It was as if she was nervous when she sewed it. When the men heard them talking they overheard that they wondered if she was going to finish it with knots or not. They laughed at this since it appeared to be such a stupid remark. The men went back to their work as did the women. A bird cage was found in the cupboard and they brought it out to look at it. Neither of them thought that John would have liked to have a bird, but his wife would. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale saw that the door seemed to have been torn open with force. Like an act of anger. They wondered where the bird had gone. Along with this they still gathered the things to bring to her. It was agreed that it would be a good idea to bring the quilt to her. They looked for some sewing things and found a red box, but when they opened it a dead bird was found hung at the neck. It was a startling sight and it was said to have been John that did this. Maybe the death of John should be linked to this, but when the men came down the stairs they did not say a word about it. Almost in a guilty way the words of the Sheriff were said to Mrs. Peters. The county attorney asked if they should check what the Mrs. Peters had found to bring to John’s wife, but the Sheriff said that he trusted her. She was practically “married to the law” and would do nothing wrong. Then the men decided to check the windows, but before they Mrs. Hale walked out she grabbed the red box with the bird inside and shoved it in her pocket. The county attorney asked if they had found if they were going to quilt it or the other thing they called it. With a meaning they would never know Mrs. Hale said that they called it knot it.

Full Response:

This story was twisted in many different ways that I had not expected to happen. From the beginning there was a hint that struck me as John’s wife had killed him, but it was thrown in different ways that made me question what really did happen. The structure helped this on its way. I was drawn in by the way it started with a story of what happened with Mr. Hale. When he found Mrs. Wright she was sitting in a rocking chair rocking back and forth in a nervous way. Mr. Hale soon found that her husband was dead by a rope around his neck. It made me question what really happened to him and if it was Mrs. Wright that had killed him. Through the way the men speak of trying to find a motive I came to the conclusion that I too believed she did it.

When it went to the women’s point of views being played out I still had this thought, but was eager to see what they would find. As they stumble upon thing after thing I found that in my opinion Mrs. Hale was a superstitious person. She was always drawing her own conclusions to the case and creating more questions to further her knowledge as to who committed the crime. Mrs. Peters was there to assist in this, but I also saw her as too nervous to seek anything out like Mrs. Hale did. When they would find something worth questioning Mrs. Peters would continually have a guilty feeling, and she would carefully try not to get too into the case for the fear of what would happen.

Also, I questioned what had brought this act on. This is again the question of what would make a person do such a thing. No truthfully clear answer can be found in such a thing besides psychological happenings. A person’s past has a lot to do with this in my opinion. Much of what someone goes through carries over to what they are like later on in life. It made me wonder if the way Mrs. Wright acted was due to her experiences with John. Maybe she was glad he was dead if he had tormented her with things especially the bird.

Another thing that I noticed was that when the men in this story were talking to Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale they did so in a way that belittled them. It was as if they didn't deserve the same respect as men. They would laugh at them when they mentioned the quilt, but really in the end it had significance. The women were actually the ones who found missing links to the case. In my opinion, I think that this is just a little proof that men should start letting women have a little more say in things.