1. Write about ONE trifle from the play, i.e., something that the women recognize as significant but the men do not, and write a 400- to 500-word response (approximately 2 pages).
2. Include a THESIS that identifies your reasoning for the significance of the trifle as it relates to the play.
The Example Response thesis reads, “One of the most crucial trifles is the quilt. Not only does the quilt provide evidence that Mrs. Wright killed her husband, it also reveals the feelings of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale.”
3. Support your claim with specific evidence from the play, using quotations as necessary, but sparingly. DO NOT use secondary sources (i.e., what others have written about the play.)
The Example Response offers the following evidence: “… the women remark on how beautiful Mrs. Wright’s quilt is, but then they find parts of her quilt that are sloppy, saying, ‘Look at the sewing! All the rest of it has been so nice and even. And look at this! It’s all over the place! Why, it looks as if she didn’t know what she was about!’ (Glaspell 174).”
4. Explain your evidence. This is part of the MEAT formula: main idea, evidence, analysis, transition.
The Example Response follows up on the example quotation (above) with an explanation that connects the evidence to the main idea: “This dramatic shift in Mrs. Wright’s sewing, although seemingly unimportant, offers evidence that she killed her husband. The fact that the sewing was so disjointed reveals Mrs. Wright’s troubled emotional state that could have resulted from her husband’s murder.”
5. Reveal your proficiency of MLA documentation, using parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page entry for the primary source, Trifles.
The Example Response uses signal phrases (makes quotations part of student writer’s sentence) and parenthetical citations: “Mrs. Peters replies, ‘We think she was going to—knot it’ (Glaspell 177).”
