The Smallest Things Are of Great Significance

The Smallest Things are of Great Significance

In this play of "Trifles" Mrs. Wrights happiness is dominated by her husband's narrow-minded character, her very soul was ripped away, she fails to recall what life use to be and it ruins her very soul. What seems to be trifling to the County Attorney or the Sheriff in the play, including Mr. Wright was of importance to the woman, and that is completely disregarded. The women concentrate on the smallest entities in which enables them to solve the major concerns into Mr. Wrights murder. They observe and analyze the smallest clues throughout the house that are overlooked by the men. The men do not catch on that the women are actually solving the murder by concerning themselves, and trifling over the smallest minutia.

The two women first take note of the clue they find in the kitchen. Mrs. Peters first notices how Mrs. Wright's fruit is preserved. She states, "She worries about that when it turns so cold. She said that the fire'd gone out and her jars would break". The Sheriff replies, "Well can you beat the woman! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves" (Glaspell 2011, p.141). If Mr. Wright wasn't so distracted all of the time she might have just made the time to get a fire going so the preserve wouldn't freeze. Mrs. Wright's marriage was like the broken glass of the preserves. Meanwhile the men go upstairs to observe the crime scene looking for clues, but come down empty handed. The women soon discover another clue Mrs. Wright was in the process of making a quilt. Mrs. Hale "wonders is she goin' to quilt or just knot it (Glaspell 2011, p. 142)? The men over hear the conversation and start to laugh and mock the women. They believe that the women's findings are of no concern to them. Mrs. Hale examines the quilt and finds the sewing on it to be messy in certain places but in others it is perfect. The women beginning wondering if Mrs. Wright was quilting while she was angry causing her to be so careless in her work.

The women also discover a birdcage in the cabinet with a broken door, and no bird to be found. They are surprised by their finding and wonder what happened to the bird. Mrs. Hale compares Mrs. Wright to the bird proclaiming "she looked like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and fluttery. How-she-did-change" (Glaspell 2011, p.