Trifles-Major works and Ancillary Materials

[PaulV]

Glaspell's Trifles, a play in one act, explores the relationships between husbands and wives in a male-dominated society.  After reading the play, I wanted to immediately integrate it into my curriculum.  Although it is later in the school year, I still have texts and other materials that would fit nicely.  My first thought is to use the play as ancillary material to either Ethan Frome, A Streercar Named Desire, or The Glass Menagerie.  These (already available to me) texts deal with the same dynamic of relationships, and  leave the female characters as somewhat victimized in their respective male-dominated cultures.  

I love using multi-tiered approaches in my classroom, and allowing my kids to use their own skills in demonstration of learning, as they take real ownership of their work.  Because of this, I like to integrate various media forms to instruct, as well as encouraging my kids to the same.  

If I were to present this as a full unit of Gender Roles/Relationships/Isolation/Male-dominated societies, I could easily spend a full quarter of classtime with it.  I have been pulling together some music, poetry, other plays, and short stories that I feel are strong representatives of this potential unit.  I am actually getting excited about creating this unit!  

[ReneeTLC]

Paul, I can hear the excitement even on the internet!  Everything you've said and suggested makes perfect sense, and I'm eager to hear how your plans go. Here's a suggestion that kids (and me) have fun with: the Bechdel Test.  I'm pasting below an excerpt from an article in The Atlantic, but you can find lots of info on it with a quick Google. I've often asked students to find a work of popular culture -- likely movie or series these streaming days -- and apply the Bechdel test, a metric that graphic novelist Alison Bechdel has made famous. Trying that out with Trifles alone could be fun. (but how could you resist any of the works Paul mentioned; Steeeella!) Enjoy!

It’s come to be known as the Bechdel test, and it goes like so: For a given work of fiction to pass the test, the work must 1) have at least two women in it, who 2) talk to each other, about 3) something other than a man.

The test is a blunt, basic measure of gender equality in a given film/show/book/etc. It revels in its own absurd simplicity.

[PaulV]

Renee,

Thanks for the info!  I will definitely look into this. With a dearth of gender equality across the board in "Classic" lit, this could be a neat tool!

Thanks again,

Paul