GLASPELL, Trifles CRITICAL THINKING STUDY QUESTIONS

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**Each answer must include textual citations and page numbers.**

**Source:Literature and the Writing Process (10th Edition),SUSAN GLASPELL, Trifles (Pg.967-977)**

**NO INTERNET SOURCES**

GLASPELL, Trifles
1. The absent Minnie Foster transmits valuable information only the women are able to receive or read. List the domestic details that reveal Minnie’s troubled mind. What do the women infer about these details. (To infer is to deduce or draw conclusions from evidence.)
2. A trifle is something that has little or no importance, significance or value. Why does Glaspell entitle her play Trifles? How does it connect to the larger themes? (A theme is the subject of a piece of writing or artistic composition).
3. Identify a sentence that has tone. (If the sentence has tone, there will be a difference between what the author says and what the author means. Tone may be playful, condescending, solemn, ironic, satirical, humorous, sarcastic, etc. Write the sentence and then comment on what the difference between what is said and what is meant and what the difference implies. (To imply is to suggest without expressly stating something.
4. Glaspell’s play is based on actual events that occurred in Iowa in the nineteenth century. Glaspell, a reporter for the Des Moines News, covered the trial of Margaret Hossack who was accused of killing her husband, John, by hitting him in the head with an ax while he slept. Margaret was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Why does Glaspell alter the method of murder in her fictionalized account? How does the alteration affect your understanding of theme?
5. What do you make of Mrs. Peters’ reminiscence regarding a boy killing her kitten with a hatchet? How does her memory of that event affect her decision to hide evidence and ultimately declare, “We think—the cat got it.”
6. Do you believe that Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale (who appear to view Minnie Wright as an isolated, psychologically abused wife who snaps and murders her abuser) are morally obligated to tell the County Attorney what they know about the murder?