The Cut Off Bird
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The hanged bird found by Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters explains the incentive behind the crime committed by Minnie Wright. The scene also shows Johns Wright’s abusive treatment of his beloved. The link between Minnie and the bird is through the childhood memories when she was a fair and unmarried lady who always had songs in her lips. Minnie at some time teemed with life; bright and full of life but this energy and vigor was cut out of her while journeying through life with John Wright.
Her married life stepped from the joy to the blues, from the straight path to the winding road as she lived with a tough man (other women can relate to this as they know that marriage is not always like the fourth of July. However, few of them experience it to a lesser extent). The bird is also a symbol of a childless and lonely child who needed nothing but love and companionship that went unrecognized by a hard man “Mrs. Peter, he was a difficult man just to pass the time with him during the day- [trembles]” and at the end she cut her source of happiness in a harsh and cruel way “There was a gun in the house and that is what I couldn’t understand”.
More clearly, Mr. Hale perceives that the dead bird is more than just an evidence of the motive “What was required for the case was a motive; something that could demonstrate anger.” A pattern of psychological vexation is also shown where Minnie endured at Wright’s hands. She gets to the bird and hides it (the men mock the women for getting interested at the bed covering). As a result of what she has already found out, she once again feel a mutual connection to Minnie.
Mrs. Peter is moved with emotions when discovering the dead bird from the timid woman. The change is presented through her story about the kitten where a boy killed the kitten before her own eyes “When I was a child, a boy took a hatchet, and before I could get to him, he killed the kitten before my eyes- [covers her eyes]. If they had not held me back, I would have- [looks upstairs on hearing the steps]- hurt him.” The impression is that, she too ahs suffered at the hands of men thus she identifies herself with the pain and rage Minnie was going through.
Despite the emotional reflections by Mrs. Peter, she feels there is need for justice. Mr. Hale, however, understands that when the law is executed based on men’s perception, it will be ineffective to administer judgement to crimes of gender inequality. The conversation heard by the women as the men come down the stairs, emphasizes how critical the remaining piece of evidence is to the women. The decision of Mr. Henderson to allow Mrs. Peter visit Minnie who is in jail, is a further act of degrading her and he the risk he is exposing Mrs. Peter’s husband to. In other words, he sees her as belonging to her husband but at the end of it all, that is the kind of thinking that led to the murder of Minnie’s husband.
References
Hernando-Real, N. (2020). Trifles by Susan Glaspell. How to Teach a Play. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350017566.ch-039