Comment upon the use of symbolism in "Trifles."

In Trifles, Susan Glaspell seems to
use the bird to reflect upon the communication, or lack thereof, Mrs. Wright has with
the outside world.

Mrs. Wright has been accused of
murdering her husband. When the authorities come to gather evidence, two neighboring
women also come along in order to gather some things to take to Mrs. Wright in
jail.

As the men carry on their business, their callous,
unsympathetic and short-sighted observations about the importance of women in a home
alienate the two women; they come to understand Mrs. Wright better, and create a united
front to keep any damaging evidence from falling into the hands of these foolish
men.

One of the things that the women find is an empty bird
cage, stuffed into a cupboard. It seems a questionable piece to find in the house until
the women look in Mrs. Wright's sewing box. There they find the body of a dead canary,
wrapped as if Mrs. Wright had planned to bury it in a little
box.

Upon reflection, the women provide us with a clearer
picture of Mrs. Wright. The house is not a cheery place, but the women agree that Mr.
Wright was anything but cheery. They recognize the absence of children and the
loneliness that must have haunted Mrs. Wright in having no youngsters to fill her house.
They remember that Mrs. Wright had once been young and pretty, and had sung in the
church choir: a much different person than the woman she has become. They recognize,
also, that they could have been better neighbors; that as far as they knew, Mrs. Wright
was cut off from the world, doing nothing but caring for husband and home, with no love,
gentleness, or connection with him (it would seem) or the world at
large.

The last piece of important information comes from
the manner of the bird's death: it seems as if the bird's neck had been broken. The
women assume it was done by the dead husband, and that this could well have been the
reason Mrs. Wright killed him—it was the last straw for her; she snapped and strangled
him in his sleep.

(Mrs. Peters recalls having her kitten
murdered by a boy she knew, and at that minute she had known she could have hurt
him.)

The bird symbolizes joy in the world: music and life.
The bird, the women believe, would have brightened up Mrs. Wright's home and her
attitude. She would have been uplifted and felt a sense of hope and renewal, especially
having been closed in the house alone with an uncaring, uncommunicative husband for so
long. When Mr. Wright kills the bird, he robs her of happiness and renewed
expectation.

Mr. Wright's sullen disposition, as described
by the women at the play's beginning, would provide a sense of the kind of marriage that
existed in the now-empty house. The lack of concern by the men who are searching the
house reinforce the sense that the women in this society are not appreciated as they
should be: their labors are taken for granted and
unacknowledged.

When the bird came into her home, Mrs.
Wright probably felt more alive than she had in years. With is brutal death at the hands
of her husband, she may well have felt as if he had physically harmed her and the bird.
Many years in a desiccated marriage drove her to strike back and kill Mr.
Wright.