In the 19th century, women had different roles and were treated differently than today's women in American society. In the past, men expected women to perform housewife duties, which consisted of cleaning and cooking. In previous years, men did not allow women to have opinions or do work outside the family. In today's societies, women leave home to do jobs that allow them to express their opinion and perform roles that men performed in previous years. In the 19th century, men stereotyped women as being insignificant, not thinking with their minds about matters outside the kitchen or home. In the play Trifles, written by Susan Glaspell, the writer describes how women in previous years had no rights and men treated women like dirt. Trifles is based on the real-life events of a murder that Susan Glaspell reported on during her work as a journalist in Des Moines and the play is based on Susan Glaspell's previous writings, "A Jury of Her Peers." The play is about a farmer's wife who seems cold and full of silence. After many years of the husband treating his wife terribly, the farmer's wife snaps and kills her husband. Additionally, the show depicts how men and women can stick together in same-sex roles in certain situations. The men in the play are busy looking for evidence that proves that Mrs. Wright killed her husband. As for the women in the play, they stick together by hiding evidence to prove that Mrs. Wright killed her husband. Although in the past men felt smarter than women, the play depicts how too much is expected of women in their roles, which might trigger a woman emotionally, but leads women to band together to prove that women can be... .... half of the paper ...... stine. “On the Edge: The Comedies of Susan Glaspell.” Modern Drama 31.1 (March 1988): 91-105. Rpt. in twentieth-century literary criticism. Ed. Maria Lazzari. vol. 55. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. Literary resources from Gale. Network. November 27, 2011.Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Literature and the writing process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, Robert Funk and Linda Coleman 9th ed. Longman: Pearson, 2011. 1028-1037. Print.Kastleman, Rebecca. "A woman silenced." American Theater February 2010: 19. Literary Resources from Gale. Network. November 27, 2011.Wright, Janet Stobbs. "Law, Justice, and Female Revenge in 'Kerfol,' by Edith Wharton, and Trifles and 'A Jury of Her Peers,' by Susan Glaspell." Atlantis 24.1 (June 2002): 299-302. Rpt. in Criticism of short stories. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. vol. 132. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literary resources from Gale. Network. November 29. 2011.