Explorations of the Text
2. What clues lead the women to conclude that Minnie Wright killed her husband?The clutter in the kitchen, the broken hinge of the empty birdcage hidden away in a upper cupboard, the bad sewing, and last but not least, the dead bird in the sewing basket.
Mrs. Hales drew an analogy of Minnie Foster like a bird that sings, "singing in the choir", "real sweet and pretty". The bad sewing reflects the stability of the mind, or rather thoughts. The bad sewing is a indication of distress or distraction. The dead bird reflect's the brutal silence of Minnie Foster.
Mrs. Hales knew Minnie Foster, who was lively and like a bird; and Mrs. Peters could empathize the death of a pet, when she lost her kitten to a boy with a hatchet.
3. How do the men differ from the women? from each other?
The men was portrayed as sexist people. Glaspell made it clear for the readers to see from the beginning with the line "worrying over trifles" said by Mr Hales. This utterance bonded the women as they "move a little closer together". Then Glaspell formed the story in a way to show how 'serious' the men were in their job by putting them all over the house searching, all except for the kitchen where the women were told to wait.
The men was portrayed as sexist people. Glaspell made it clear for the readers to see from the beginning with the line "worrying over trifles" said by Mr Hales. This utterance bonded the women as they "move a little closer together". Then Glaspell formed the story in a way to show how 'serious' the men were in their job by putting them all over the house searching, all except for the kitchen where the women were told to wait.
The person held for suspect was a women yet the men overlooked that fact. Even with the most stereotypical concept that women spent most of their time in the kitchen, the men did not bother to check the kitchen for clues. They immediately assumed that (there are) "nothing here but kitchen things".
4. What do the men discover? Why did they conclude "Nothing here but kitchen things"? What do the women discover?
After going around the house, the men found nothing but only to go back into the kitchen where the women had already solved the crime. The men's judgement were clouded due to their ego and pride. The women discovered many, from the quilt with bad sewing to the dead canary. They had solved the crime but decided to keep the evidence for they empathize with Minnie Foster's experience of a bad marriage and a hard man.
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