In Susan Glaspell's Bagatelles, the central character remains invisible throughout the play. “The central character – the person whose actions are to be understood – is absent, making it all the more a figurative empty space” (Keetley 342). The audience never sees or hears Minnie Wright throughout the play and therefore cannot form an accurate opinion of the outcome of the play, as they are missing vital information about Minnie's personality. Rather, the audience and characters make several assumptions about the truth that cannot be verified without closer inspection of Minnie's personality and experiences. Glaspell's use of an unseen central character in Bagatelles causes the story to develop based on assumptions made by both the audience and the characters and ultimately causes the audience to question the outcome of the play . “Almost every action of the farm wives in this tightly compressed room is designed to make Minnie's presence felt” (Noe 11). While it is true at first glance that the audience can sympathize with Minnie and that her present is felt, upon closer inspection we realize that without hearing Minnie directly and without seeing her answers to questions, we do not We can't be sure of the outcome of the story. The audience creates the story of Minnie and John's marriage without meeting them or hearing about it from a reliable source. “His [Mr. Hale's comment that he did not think Minnie's view on the matter would make a difference to her husband, as well as the discovery of the strangled canary and the broken birdcage, suggest that Minnie was habitually silenced and dominated by her husband; and this conflict between the Wrights was often resolved by violence” (Noe 13). Given no...... middle of paper ...... Importance of trifles. " Studies In Short Fiction 21.1 (1984): 1. Literary Reference Center. Web. March 29, 2014. Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Norton's Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays 11th ed. New York: Norton, 1383-93. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale Virtual Reference Library. lessons from literature for the law: "A jury of her peers" by Susan Glaspell." Trans. Array Veritable Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature, Volume 18 Law and Literature. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 2002. 335-353 .Noe, Marcia. “Chapter Two: Reconfiguring the Subject/Recovering Realism: Susan Glaspell's Invisible Woman.” New Readings in American Drama (2002): 9-21. March 21. 2014.