Caged Canary...an essay on feminism
Adam Wyker Eng 227 Section 010 October 12, 2003 Paper 1 Caged Canary In the early twentieth century women are underappreciated. They are expected by society to be dependant and reliant upon men and are given few chances to disprove this notion. One of the few ways they are allowed to express themselves is through writing. Susan Glaspell, a playwright and novelist of the early 1900s, takes full advantage of the opportunity and produces many powerful works which inspire women to strive for full equality and independence. In her play Trifles, Glaspell uses murder as a medium to express her point. Although the murder is the obvious tragedy of the story, it is justified by the women in the play because they believed it was not the worst crime committed in the household. In this way she empowers the women and makes them superior to the men of the play. Glaspell uses many important symbolisms throughout her play. Some of these involve objects in the scene while others are abstract. One such abstract symbolism is the allocation of names for the characters. Each of the characters present in the play is given a first and last name except Mrs.