Trifles

In Susan Glaspell's "Trifles", you meet two women named Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. This story seems to take place somewhere in the upper midwest, since they seem to mention that they are not to far away from Omaha and that Mrs. Peters is originally from the Dakotas. It becomes apparent that the two ladies are not really against each other, but don't seem to agree on Mrs. Wright's innoncence....or maybe her motive. At the beginning of the story, it seems that Mrs. Peters has already decided that Mrs. Wright killed her husband cold blooded, but Mrs Hale seems to have some compassion. Most of the story is the two women discussion the way the house looks and trying to find a motive. I think Glaspell did this to get well both sides of the story, really. I think she wanted the readers to have compassion and yet know that the women did kill, quite viciously too. If Mrs. Hale hadn't had talked about how Mrs. Wright used to sing so beautifully in the choir and how this man hardened her would we as readers agreed to the hiding of the dead bird and the fixing of the stitching? The two women hid evidence from the law. This ending is a great ending to get the reader to say "would I have done the same thing?"