Drama Unit

Short Writing Assignment: Understanding Historical/Cultural Context in Trifles

Understanding Historical/Cultural Context in Trifles

In this short writing assignment, you will use your research and writing skills to analyze a specific detail in Trifles. The men in the play overlook all of the clues that indicate Minnie Foster’s reason for killing her husband. The women, on the other hand, pick up on seemingly insignificant details (“trifles,” according to the men) that point to Minnie’s motive. Below are some of the details from the story that indicate how difficult early-20th century farm life was, particularly for farmers’ wives:

  • dirty towels (laundry)
  • unwashed pans
  • bread “set” 
  • table half-cleaned
  • preserved fruit
  • quilt in progress 
  • using a wood stove to cook and heat
  • isolation of the typical Midwestern farm

For this Short Writing Assignment, you should write two (2) paragraphs. The first paragraph should explain how one of the details in the list above is overlooked by the men in the play. In other words, discuss the context in which the detail comes up; who notices or mentions the detail? What tone does the character use when talking about the detail? How do the men’s views differ from the women’s views? Use at least one quotation from the play to illustrate or support your point. 
 
For your second paragraph, conduct some research on the topic/detail you selected from the list and write a fully-developed paragraph explaining the process, highlighting all of the difficulties and laboriousness of the chore or detail you selected. For example, what specific steps would have been involved in preserving fruit in the early 1900s? How labor-intensive was the process? Consider the laundry situation: without a washing machine and dryer, how would a farmer’s wife wash clothes, towels, and bedding? Keep in mind that few farms had electricity, and indoor plumbing was not an option. Your goal in this paragraph is to reveal how much work a 20th century homesteader had to do on a daily basis, so be sure to use vivid and specific details. Use at least one quotation from the source you used, and provide a proper MLA-formatted Works Cited entry for your source. 

Required Reading/Watching: 

Trifles

Learning Outcome(s) Addressed: 

  • Analyze and interpret works of drama 
  • Document use of literary sources in MLA style 
  • Select and integrate research from a secondary source 

Skills:

This assignment will focus on these skills:

  • Reading comprehension
  • Critical thinking
  • Researching secondary sources

Knowledge:

This assignment helps you practice finding and applying research sources on a small scale, to prepare for conducting more extensive research for your essays that come later in the course.

Task:

To complete this assignment you should:

  1. Identify a small detail in the play that the male characters overlook. You can use something from the list above, or you can identify a different detail.
  2. Write one paragraph about 250 words long discussing the context of the detail
  3. Use the college's library database to conduct research about the chore or detail you selected.
  4. Write a second paragraph that incorporates your research
  5. Cite your research in M.L.A. style
  6. Include a Works Cited page