Trifles by Susan Glaspell Essay Example for Free

Trifles by Susan Glaspell Essay Trfles’ By Susan Glaspell I believe had several small defining moments leading to the one larger defining moment, which brings together all of them together. The defining moment is the discovery of the dead bird hidden in the pretty red box, this leads back to smaller points such as her sewing and the bird cage. â€Å" Here’s some red. I expect this has got sewing things in it. (Brings out a fancy box.) What a pretty box. Looks like something somebody would give you. Maybe her scissors are in here. (Opens box. Suddenly puts her hand to her nose.) Why—(Mrs. Peters bends nearer, then turns her face away.) There’s something wrapped up in this piece of silk.† â€Å"It’s the bird† † (Glaspell, 2011, p. 144), I believe that the two main characters in this play are Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife. At first is seems they are part of the background story, that they are there but not part of the main action. When the ladies first sit down in the kitchen they are uneasy about being there and how the situation is making them uncomfortable. They feel as if they are judging Mrs. Wright about her house and the way things are. As the ladies discuss her situation they begin to speculate on her guilt. Initially they don’t consider Mrs. Wright as having the personality or ability to commit the crime she has been arrested for. However, as the story continues, signs begin emerging that point to the possibility of her guilt, yet they still are in disbelief. When the author introduces the quilting, it is easy to assume a mental picture of a woman under stress using it to calm her. Once the ladies find the bird cage, at first consideration, as certainly the author intended, is â€Å"what happened to the bird? Did a cat get it? Did it get ill? What could have happened?† Then, given new information about the door to the cage is broken, as if someone yanked it open. It still could have been a cat trying to get at the bird, but then Mrs. Wright didn’t like cats, so that possibility is out. The ladies begin discussing Mr. Wright and how he was a hard man to be around. Here the author begins to give readers more background story of the couple, and plants seeds for reasons to take sides with Mrs. Wright. They describe him as a good man in the way that he didn’t drink and paid his debts but was a hard man to be around, and how she was different before she became Mrs. Wright. Comparing her to a songbird, how she liked to sing and be involved in town things like church, giving her a likeable personality prior to her marriage. As they talk and pass time they are looking for her sewing things to take her so she can pass the time, they discover a pretty red box in with her quilting patches. Thinking it is a box for her scissors, they instead find the dead bird. Not just dead but someone has wrung its neck, a violent end to a tiny life. Mrs. Hale knows that Mrs. Wright was going to bury the bird in the pretty box and begins to think about the bird and how the bird would have kept her company and the beauty of its singing. Their thoughts turn to Mr. Wright and how he would have hated the birds’ singing because he killed Mrs. Wright’s singing. Mrs. Peters recounts a story of when she was a child and had a cat that was killed in front of her and how it could have, would have, hurt the person that killed her cat. At this point both ladies begin to understand a little more of what happened in the house and why. What do they do though, the men are looking for evidence. Mrs. Peters says â€Å"It was an awful thing was done in this house that night, Mrs. Hale. Killing a man while he slept, slipping a rope around his neck that choked the life out of him† (Glaspell, 2011, p. 145), and as she says this Mrs. Hale compares the similarities between the bird and Mr. Wright’s deaths. Mrs. Peters reiterates that they don’t know who killed Mr. Wright. As the women sit and talk they begin to think about what it would have been like for Mrs. Wright to have that little bird to sing to her and then have silence again. Mrs. Peters relates to Mrs. Wright’s situation by sharing her story of having lost a child before, knowing the silence or sadness that comes with a loss like that. Mrs. Hale begins to blame herself for not being a better friend and seeing what was going on, And how she could have been a better neighbor she might have been able to change things. Knowing that they should be blaming themselves for what happened there. Mrs. Peter’s comments on what the men would think if they could hear them getting carried away with a dead canary the way they are and how absurd they must sound. But would they find it as absurd as they think or would it be the evidence they are looking for? As the men come back downstairs Mrs. Hale decides to try and hide the dead bird but it won’t fit in her pocket, at the last second Mrs. Peters puts it in her purse and hides it from the sheriff and attorney that enter the room. With this action, readers are lead to believe that the women have decided that Mrs. Wright in fact did kill her husband while he slept, and that they sympathize with her. Perhaps they haven’t been in the same situation but in a way they empathize with her hopelessness and sadness, and stand unified to protect her. It is interesting that the women find evidence in the case as where the men are looking and can’t seem to come up with anything, to serve as a motive. Another example of how women were perceived in this story is how instead of asking the opinion of the women or if they found anything all they ask is if the women decided if she was going to quilt-it or knot-it. â€Å"Well, ladies, have you decided whether she was going to quilt i t or knot it?† (Glaspell, 2011, p. 144) Reference: Glaspell, S. (2011). Trifles. In D.L. Pike and A.M. Acosta (Eds.) Literature: A world of writing stories, poems, plays, and essays [VitalSource digital version] (pp. 139-145). Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions. Acosta, David L. Pike and Ana (). Literature: A World of Writing Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays VitalSource eBook for Education Management Corporation [1] (VitalSource Bookshelf), Retrieved from http://digitalbookshelf.southuniversity.edu/books/9780558711825/S1.4/54

Stonehenge :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stonehenge, located in England has been a wonder of the world for years and years to come. Its mystery is baffling and can be seen as inconceivable. For over 5,000 years it has stood silently in its current position. It has been excavated, x-rayed, measured, and surveyed. Even though so much has been discovered about this wonder, such as its age and the way it was constructed, its real purpose still remains a mystery. No other place has generated so many theories as to its purpose than the great standing stones of Stonehenge. (www.mysteriousplaces.com)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The semi nomadic peoples that populated the Salisbury Plain began to build what is now known as Stonehenge around 3500 BC. Originally this stone structure was a circular ditch with 56 holes forming a ring around the perimeter. The first stone place in it was the Heel stone. (www.mysteriousplaces.com) About 200 years later, 80 blocks of blue stone were taken from a quarry nearly 200 miles away in the Prescelly Mountains. (www.mysteriousplaces.com) These stones were stood up forming two circles joined together. At some point in time this original structure of the site was dismantled and the blue stones were moved with in the circle. The gigantic stones were installed at this time also. Some of these stones weigh as much as 26 tons and it is still a mystery as to how a supposed primitive people moved them to a location 200 miles away. (www.mysteriousplaces.com)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The construction of the site is also a complete mystery. There are carefully carved lintels that are placed on top of upright stone blocks, which are held in place by ball and socket use. The constructions of these have become known as, â€Å"trilithons†. (www.mysteriousplaces.com) The final block added to the site was the alter block, which is a large block of green sandstone from South Wales. It was placed in front of one of the trilithons. (www.mysteriousplaces.com)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Over the years, each new generation has tended to these monuments. Seeing as nothing last more than a few decades in this day in age, it is completing awing to imagine the fact that a people maintained this structure for almost 2 millennia. (www.mysteriousplaces.com)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most pondered question of this great Stonehenge is the question of its use. What was it built? Nothing can be certain, but there are definitely well educated theories. For instance, Gerald Hawkins’ theory. He was an astronomer of the 1960’s and he used a computer to provide concrete evidence that Stonehenge was used to observe the heavens.

Imaginary Life-Themes

Malouf's novel is one of deep philosophical themes. The first major theme in an imaginary life is humans' relationship with the natural world. This theme is a central aspect of the novel as it shows the reader how Ovid and the Child's relationship with nature changes their outlooks on life. The closer Ovid becomes with nature the closer he is to achieving inner peace. The same inner peace achieved at the end of the novel when Ovid surrenders himself and becomes one with the world. This is seen through the fact that Ovid becomes immeasurably happy at being the past, present and the future â€Å"It is summer. It is spring. I am immeasurably, unbearably happy. I am three years old. I am sixty. I am six.† This theme is also seen in how inseparable the child is from the natural world and in fact also â€Å"is the natural world†. This is shown in the section of the novel when Ovid is teaching the child how to speak his language. During this time the child also attempts to teach Ovid his language. Ovid finds this as difficult as the child finds learning Ovid's language. Ovid believes that by him â€Å"knowing that it is the sky, that the stars have names and a history† prevents him â€Å"being the sky†. This is due to the fact that Ovid's relationship with the natural world is not yet strong like the child's is. We are shown how crucial the child's relationship with the natural world is through the fact that the child becomes vulnerable and fragile when taken into the settlement in Tomis â€Å"Whatever his secret was I have taken it from him. He is as vulnerable now as anyone of us†¦. He shows himself human at last†. Despite having no dialogue throughout the novel, the function of language is still a central theme of the novel. The relationship between language and perception is highlighted through Ovid's personal descriptions as he believes one cannot view concepts in the same way with different language knowledge. He uses the example of colours to show this on page 25: â€Å"Scarlet. Magic word on the tongue to flash again on the eye. Scarlet†. This describes Ovid's amazement at the feeling evoked from the words. This is also portrayed through Ovid's different perspectives that he describes between the connotations allocated with the abilities of the different languages that he learns. His silent language with the child shows how language can enable one to relate more closely to others and learn from them. Another theme in this novel that helps to describe who the child is is the ‘destiny of the individual.' Throughout the novel Malouf emphasizes that one always has an idea of their destiny. This is illustrated by Ovid's realization that his destiny is lost with the child. Several times Ovid's dreams do in fact unravel themselves in the real world. An example is how he dreams of catching the boy and then later persuades Ryzak the chief to capture him. Another instance where this theory takes effect is in Ovid's dream of going travelling past all â€Å"boundaries† of this world. He later achieves this feet when he is taken across the river Ister by the child. On page 151 Ovid describes the river Ister as his destiny awaiting: â€Å"It remained, shifting its tides, freezing each season, cracking up, flowing again, whispering to me: I am the border beyond which you must go if you are to find your true life, your true death at last.†

The State Of Texas Bureaucracy - 1045 Words

The relationship between a governor and its elected or appointed bureaucrats are important for a state bureaucracy. It is very likely that most – if not, all bureaucracies share the common agreement: that the executive and legislative bodies must work together fairly with state agencies to reach their goal, which is to establish, control, and enforce certain policies that help create a perfect society. However, in the bureaucracy of the state of Texas, that goal seems to be unachievable. There are two articles that exploits the struggles between the state’s agencies and the state legislature. One explains the issue of budgetary powers for a Texas governor, and the other describes the frustration of authority between the Texas legislative lawmakers and one powerful state agency. There seems to be a fragmentation within the Texas bureaucracy, which can be rooted to the â€Å"Plural Executive† form of government that’s established in the state’s consti tution, and the influence of interest groups on the state legislature. The first article, written by Robert T. Garret for the Dallas News, explains the conflict between Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Director of the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) Ursula Parks over budgetary powers. It seems that governor Abbott’s power of vetoing or in-line vetoing budget bills is the only power the governor currently has, and the budget board members and state legislatures are ignoring it. According to the article, as governor Abbott is pushingShow MoreRelatedTexas bureaucracy Essay816 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿The state bureaucracy administers/implements the laws of Texas. It is run by executives whose job is to see that the laws of the state are implemented according to the will and intent of the Legislature. 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