Trifles By Susan Glaspell Sparknotes

Essay Instructions:

It's a response essay with direct quotes and citations.*** (I chose Trifles. ) Write a 3 – 5 page essay about either Hamlet or (Trifles). You must use one scholarly source for this essay, in addition to the story itself, and it must be scholarly* (from the library databases, not a .com). You will need in text citations when you quote or paraphrase from the source and/or story, and you will also need a works cited page (the essay should be in MLA format). Quotations and summary (with the exception of the first paragraph) should be kept to a minimum. This is a response paper – the content is primarily based on your thoughts and ideas, and the one source should support your ideas. The goal of the essay is enhance your critical thinking skills and understanding of literature.
Be sure to introduce the story and author in your first paragraph. If you refer to the author after this, use only his/her last name.
Be sure your essay has a creative title. The title must not be the author’s name or the title of the story. You need to create your own title.
PART 1: A SUMMARY OF THE WORK
To develop the first part of a report, do the following:
Identify the author and title of the work
Write an informative summary of the material.
Condense the content of the work by highlighting its main points and key supporting points.
If you write about Hamlet, you will have to condense significantly. Think about the overall key points in the drama.
If necessary, use direct quotations from the work to illustrate important ideas.
Summarize the material so that the reader gets a general sense you are aware of all key aspects of the original work, but remember, the reader of your paper has read Hamlet multiple times.
Do not discuss in great detail any single aspect of the work, and do not neglect to mention other equally important points.
Also, keep the summary objective and factual. Do not include in the first part of the paper your personal reaction to the work; your subjective impression will form the basis of the second part of your paper. The summary should be no longer than one page.
PART 2: YOUR REACTION TO THE WORK
To develop the second part of a report, come up with your own thesis statement (your assertion about the work (please remember, you must have an argument here – a point you are going to prove.
Think about one of the following, but also feel free to come up with your own ideas.
What main point was the author trying to make and why?
How is the work related to problems in our present-day world?
Examine the issue of responsibility to others.
How is the material related to life, experiences, feelings and ideas?
Did the work increase your understanding of a particular issue? Did it change your perspective in any way?
Evaluate the merit of the work: the importance of its points, its accuracy, completeness, organization, and so on.
Evaluate the author’s style – writing; use of symbolism; major themes; imagery; etc.
This is where you will develop you main point. You must make an assertion about the work based on one of these points (or a point of your own), and then support that assertion with evidence from the story and your research. You must use at least two quotations from your source to support your ideas, and the quotations must be used correctly.
This should be the longest portion of your essay. If you summary is one page, this should probably be at least two pages.
PART 3:
Indicate here whether or not you would recommend the work to others, and why. You may include your general impressions of the work in this paragraph (what you liked/disliked and why; general impressions). This should be your conclusion, and it does not need to be longer than one strong paragraph (but you can write more than that).
POINTS OF CONSIDERATION WHEN WRITING THE REPORT
Here are some important elements to consider as you prepare a report:
Apply the four basic standards of effective writing (unity, support, coherence, and clear, error-free sentences) when writing the report.
Make sure each major paragraph presents and then develops a single main point.
Support any general points you make or attitudes you express with specific reasons and details. Statements such as "I agree with many ideas in this article" or "I found the book very interesting" are meaningless without specific evidence that shows why you feel as you do. The main point or topic sentence of each paragraph should be developed by specific supporting evidence.
Organize your material. Follow the basic plan of organization explained above: a summary of one paragraph, a reaction of two or more paragraphs, and a conclusion. Also, use transitions to make the relationships among ideas in the paper clear.
Edit the paper carefully for errors in grammar, mechanics, punctuation, word use, and spelling.
Cite paraphrased or quoted material from the book or article you are writing about, or from any other works, by using the MLA documentation style.
You may use quotations in the summary and reaction parts of the paper, but do not rely on them too much. Use them only to emphasize key ideas.
THIS IS MY SCHOLARLY SOURCE:
Glaspell, Susan, and University of Virginia. Trifles: A Play in One Act. Generic NL Free book
Publisher,1996. EBSCOhost,search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2010810&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Include a works cited page.

* Research must be scholarly, and it must be listed on the works cited page. If you use other sources, even ideas from other sources, that are not scholarly, particularly ones that are online study guides (including but not limited to -- Endnotes, Sparknotes & Shmoop, and/or Wikipedia), you will automatically receive a zero on the assignment. Using an idea that is not your own and failing to provide a citation for that idea is also plagiarism.

Essay Sample Content Preview:

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Trifles by Susan Glaspell
The essence of this essay is to discuss the play about a couple, namely; Mr. John Wright and his wife, Minnie. Minnie becomes the main suspect after the death of her husband. Mr. Hale and Mr. Peters, act as neighbors in the play together with their wives. The duo arrived at their house and found the story about the murder. The women gathered her personal effects as men tried to look for evidence they could use to prosecute Minnie. During the search, the women found a broken birdcage in the kitchen and the canary. The aspect of a broken birdcage helped neighbors realize that Mr. Wright was abusive to his wife, thus making him responsible for killing her canary. The element of a dead canary helped neighbors understand that Minnie was accountable for her husband’s demise. Arguably, Minnie appeared depressed from her husband’s abuse, thus making the women opt to hide any evidence that would lead to her conviction.
In the play, Susan illustrates Minnie’s incarceration for her role in the death of her husband. Sheriff Henry Peters and his wife, county lawyer George Henderson, Mr. Hale, and his wife and Mrs. Peters visited John Wright’s home to investigate the murder. Mr. Hale is fronted as one of the prosecution witnesses since he was the first person to view the body of Mr. Wright beside Minnie. The county attorney questions Mr. Hale regarding the turn of events when Mr. Wright died. Minnie claimed that an unknown assailant murdered her partner in his sleep, but did not recognize the assailant because she was asleep.
The attorney suggested a house search but ignored the room where Mr. Hale found the body. According to Henry, there is “…nothing here but kitchen things…” (Mays 1158) Instead, the attorney decides to focus more on the bedroom and the barn. Henderson opts to search a cupboard he stumbles upon and finds a broken jar, and later dismisses it as trifles. During the investigation, the women began disclosing Minnie’s past. Some of the women averred how the clothes she wore in the past looked shabby, and her habits of eating stale bread. After that assertion, George realizes that Minnie was not in the right state of mind in her marriage.
In her play, Susan Glaspell aimed to depict the cruel treatment women endure during marriage setups. Susan argues that many women suffer from abuse from their spouses. The constant abuse from their husbands leaves them wallowing in mental stress. In her play, Susan demonstrates Minnie’s suffering in the hands of her husband. For instance, John Wright’s actions of breaking Minnie’s neck of her canary depict the gravity of the abuse. Besides, “…She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that—oh, that was thirty years ago...” (Mays 1160) Minnie’s appetite was no longer existent since the bread she purchased was stale. Susan illustrates how men belittle the affairs of women, such as the disdain shown by the men investigators during the investigation. For example, the investigators chose to ignore the room where John Wright l...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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Trifles By Susan Glaspell Sparknotes

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