TRIFLES BY SUSAN GLASPELL

The Symbol Of The Bird

Why Mrs. Wright would have killed her husband over a small bird?

First and foremost we need to realize what kind of bird that represented in this drama and the specialities of this bird. The bird that was reared by Mr. And Mrs. Wright was a canary. Canary is a bird who has pretty light coloured feathers. It also has a nice chirping sound and if we try to compare the canary with Mrs Wright (Minnie Foster) we’ll find that they have some similarities. Lets we go back to one of the dialogues from Mrs. Hale- she, come to think of it, she was like a bird herself, real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and..fluttery.

From the dialogue, we noticed Mrs. Hale likens Mrs. Wright as the bird. Before marriage, Mrs. Wright was one of the Church choir members. She sings very well and back in those days she was very pretty. She’s having a better life before she was married. However, everything’s changed. It obviously shown from one of the dialogues by Mrs. Hale, how-did-she-changed.

The canary represents Mrs. Wright’s well being. The life of the canary symbolizes Mrs. Wright’s freedom, striving to live. When the bird died, Mrs. Wright’s freedom went with it. Keeping a dead bird wrapped up in a box is an example of an abnormal behaviour, along with killing her husband. The life of the canary symbolizes the liveliness of Mrs. Wright, trying to live. The death of the bird symbolizes Mrs. Wright’s end for a fight to live, and she loses her mind and kills her husband.

Apparently, the canary in the cage represents Minnie Wright’s happiness and sanity living in a house of hell with a very “hard” husband, John Wright. The presence of the bird, the sweet singing chirp keeps Mrs. Wright’s sanity and help her hold herself together, as she herself is represented as the bird, “she was kind of like a bird herself—“. However, the ‘murder’ of the bird by Mr. Wright causes her to break emotionally and lose her sanity. That is the cause of her husband’s murder, he caused her to become emotionally damaged when he strangles and she kills him as a result.