Come a little closer Susan Glaspell's play Trifles was written in 1916 and reflects the author's interest in the stereotypical concepts of gender and sex roles of that period. As the title of the play suggests, women's concerns are often seen as mere unimportant issues that have little or no value to the real societal work done by men. The men charged with investigating the crime are unable to solve the mystery thanks to their supposed superior knowledge. Instead, two women are able to decipher evidence that men overlook because all the clues are rooted in household items that are primarily familiar to women of that era. Glaspell skillfully uses gender characterization, context, lots of symbolism, and both dramatic and verbal irony, to denounce the social divisions created by strict gender roles, particularly the fact that women were restricted to the home and that their contributions were ignored and underestimated. the separations are manifested in the way the men view the Wright house, where Mr. Wright was found strangled, as a crime scene, while the women who accompany them clearly see the house as Mrs. Wright's house. From the beginning, the men and women are there for two distinct reasons: the men, to fulfill their duties as officers of justice, and the women, to prepare personal items to take to the imprisoned Mrs. Wright. Glaspell exposes the men's superior attitudes, in that they cannot imagine that women could contribute to the investigation. They leave them unattended at a crime scene. One has to wonder if this would be the same action if they were men. The county attorney rejects Ms. Hale's defenses of Minnie, calling them "... middle of paper...... entirely dependent on men." Playwright Susan Glaspell cleverly leads the reader to question the way women and men are viewed in society. The women of Trifles, despite being neglected by the men, solved this matter while the men failed to do so even though they were supposed to be in charge. By not recognizing women's ability to contribute to their work, the men succeed in bringing the women together, giving them the real power and knowledge needed to solve this mystery. Meanwhile, women are moving a little closer and moving towards their rights. Works Cited Glaspell, Susan. “Trifles”. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. Booth, Allison and Kelly Mays, eds. New York: WW Norton & Company UP, 2010. 1385-1394. Print "Women's Rights 1848-1920." 123HelpMe.com. March 20 2011