After reading Trifles by Susan Glaspell complete the following worksheet:
“Trifles” Worksheet
Name: ___________________ Period ____
1. Title Implications: Explain what the word “trifles” literally means. ____________________________________________________________________ 2. Symbolic Setting.
A. Outside: What is the weather? ________________
Specifically, where is the murder site/ farmhouse located? ________________
B. Inside the house:
List two things that let the audience “feel” how literally cold it is: ____________________________________________________________________
3. List three significant details that are evidence of a poorly kept kitchen: ___________ ____________________________________________________________________
4. Thumbnail Sketch: Make a comment about each of the characters
A. Attorney Henderson_________________________________________________ B. Sheriff Peters ______________________________________________________ C. Mr. Hale __________________________________________________________ D. Mrs. Peters ________________________________________________________ E. Mrs. Hale _________________________________________________________
5. List two “put down” comments the men make against women: __________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________
6. What evidence is there to suggest that John Wright was a hard man to live with ? ________________________________________________________________
7. Why hadn’t Mrs. Hale gone to see Minnie Wright in over a year? _______________ _____________________________________________________________________
8. Why does Mrs. Peters not like the phrase “married to the law”? _________________ ____________________________________________________________________
9. Why do the women hide the dead bird? ____________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
10. What other action might they have taken?___________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
How is each of these important?
A. John Wright’s decision not to pay for a party [shared] telephone line
B. Bird cage with broken door
C. Dead bird with its neck rung
D. Millie sang in the choir thirty years before
E. The quilt pieces
(The Log Cabin quilt pattern has been a favorite because it was a wonderful & frugal pattern for using up fabric scraps. In many of the old quilts the center square was red to symbolize the hearth of the home, its symbolic heart. The overall effect of the log cabin quilt is achieved by the use of light and dark fabrics and how they are arranged.)
