ENG1102 Gender Roles in Trifles Composition and Modern English Essay Revise an essay for a higher grade. Watch for comma splices. Watch for sentence fragments. Avoid vague wording/dangling modifiers. Be more careful with proofreading (this includes items like spelling or punctuation issues). Work on word choice.Do not change what used to quote, but correct mistakes if in-text citations or works cited pages are wrong. Add quotation is OK. Make any improvements on the essay helping for a higher grades. Gender Roles in Trifles
The play Trifles reflects a severe social phenomenon: gender roles in a family. In
modern society, gender role is a popular topic which is commonly discussed by all kinds of
people from various fields. This shows how significant this problem is, and Susan Glaspell
paid attention to it as early as one century ago. While gender roles cause a lot of unfairnesses
in all ages, society still needs them and can never ignore their importance.
In this play, the central expression of gender roles reflects from the criminal suspect
and victim couple: Mr. and Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Wright, as a housewife, is so trapped with her
“female role” that a tragedy finally happens. Mr. Wright, a dominant male figure, is the
leading cause of this result. Moreover, the five characters in this play also show the
differences which are caused by gender roles. Men think that what women are worrying are
just “trifles,” while what they worry about is trying to find the truth, the significant things.
Because of the wrong ideas of gender roles, this play reflects how men look down on
women’s duties. However, the most important is, at the end of this play, the wives try to do
something to revolt against the unfairness from gender roles.
How gender roles become a hot topic in society does need exploration. There is a
viewpoint that thinks that gender is “created” and “defined” by society, so it is a kind of
culture other than nature (“Gender…” n.p.). This viewpoint also shows how “gender roles”
come into being. The need of society gives these roles meanings. Just as a systematic
organization needs the division of labor, so does society. The original birth of gender roles
aimed to divide work reasonably. As generations keep going, this behavior becomes the
tradition. Some scholars believe that the acquisition of the concept of gender occurs as
children observe the world around them (Bluiett 38). But when the situation tends to become
“what males need to do, and what should be female’s responsibilities,” unfairness between
gender roles appear. That is why many artworks including Trifles discuss or judge this
phenomenon. The play Trifles shows some kinds of this unfairness in most families. For
example, husbands always have the right to decide, while wives must obey. Most of the time,
females are weak groups, and they need some voices to support them. When Mr. Hale says
“women are used to worrying over trifles (Glaspell 636), this simple sentence shows how
men usually think about women, and the saddest thing is that women typically do not try to
speak for themselves. In some remote areas, women are not only cast into a submissive role,
but are treated as inferiors (Neuman n.p.). From this perspective, gender roles lead to various
social problems.
However, gender roles do not always cause disasters. Human society needs genders
because they can bring positive effects and will be useful to the community. First of all,
gender roles are nonnegligible elements of gender identity. Gender should not be a simple
concept. An article pointed out that at least sixty-three genders exist in the world (“Gender…”
n.p.). Together with the untraditional genders, gender roles need to keep pace with the
development of society and human culture. Once the opinion of genders’ characters can be
accepted correctly by the public, those genders other than male and female will be understood
better by others. In essence, gender roles can be helpful tools for unconventional gender
identities.
Additionally, gender roles are also needed by families. A family is just a small society.
If the family members want to keep the family group operating well, a division of work must
be created. In this play, the discrimination that comes from the different responsibilities
between husband and wife no doubt makes the readers uncomfortable, but these differences
between gender roles also show how a family can function well. In the play, wives are the
roles for affairs in the home, which is the typical situation. If both members of a couple want
to occupy dominance, then divergence of view appears. Pointless quarrels will be the final
results. Neuman pointed out in the article “Changing Gender Roles in Marriage” that if one
person makes most of the decisions in family matters, it does not mean that the person has a
higher status (n.p.). But what needs mentioning is that respect should be the foundation of
this kind of “unfairness.” With this precondition, both husband and wife can understand each
other’s unique responsibilities. Without respect, tragic results such as those seen in Trifles will
appear. All the situations that might happen during a marriage need gender roles to make
some adjustments for instance, children education, financial management, and religious
problems. There is no doubt that gender roles can be helpful for families.
Moreover, some special circumstances require gender roles. The reflect of gender
roles in Trifles is perhaps the most common situation; however, more possibilities may occur
in real lives. There was an article which discussed the first lady’s role and the meanings
behind gender roles. The report expresses that keeping the First Spouse’s role undefined has
the border and troubling problems (Paxton-Turner 2). To maintain the image of one nation,
having specific gender roles of leading figures’ families will be a considerable concern.
Various conditions which ask for gender roles also exist. Under this circumstance, it is vital to
recognize gender roles and apply them reasonably.
In short, while gender roles may cause a lot of social problems which have adverse
effects on society, they can also make contributions to the community. As long as gender
roles can be recognized in the right way and applied correctly, they can be beneficial to
humanity.
Works Cited
Bluiett, Tarsha E. “The Language of Play and Gender-role Stereotypes.” Education, vol. 139,
no. 1, 2018, p. 38+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/
doc/A557705117/OVIC?u=troy25957&sid=OVIC&xid=59ca5ed8. Accessed 15 Feb.
2019.
“Gender Identity.” Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018. Opposing Viewpoints
in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/DTAIPY995832430/OVIC?u=
troy25957&sid=OVIC&xid=91b9b32a. Accessed 15 Feb. 2019.
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Backpack Literature. Edited by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia, 5th
ed., Person, 2016. pp. 633-45
Neuman, Fredric. “Changing Gender Roles in Marriage.” Gender Roles, edited by Noël
Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010908224/OVIC?u=troy25957&sid
=OVIC&xid=483448c6. Accessed 15 Feb. 2019. Originally published in www.
psychologytoday.com/blog/fighting-fear, 4 Jan. 2013.
Paxton-Turner, Ashlee A. “Changing the First Lady’s Mystique: Defining the First Lady’s
Legal Role and Upending Gender Norms.” UMass Law Review, vol. 13, no. 1, 2018,
p. 2+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/
A533005371/ OVIC?u=troy259
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