Richard Anthony Torres
English 230-004
Critical Paper #1
PTSD?
"Well, women are used to worrying over trifles"(Glaspell 874). Mr. Hale makes this comment in the beginning of the Susan Glaspell play, Trifles, expressing his viewpoint of women and their status in society. He is, therefore, portraying himself as a sexist male incapable of comprehending or sympathizing with the victim in the story, Minnie Foster Wright. Men’s views on women would be considered primitive today compared to the time period of Minnie Foster Wright. Women were given a very limited range of opportunity for progress other then in the home as an obedient homemaker. Responsibilities for women around the house were great and took up the woman’s entire life. The home was chosen for women by men who honestly felt that they were incapable of logical thought concerning issues and ideals, let alone the necessities of life. Men seemingly assumed the role of sole provider and controlled the spouse’s life because to the man, the woman could not contend with reality.
They are, in fact, asking the woman to give up their life and thoughts of a future. This is the life that innocent Minnie Foster Wright stepped up to and eventually became engulfed by. The growing pains of forced living and solitude spun Minnie into a world without vision or future. The feeling of numbness in her life increased as she experienced insanity caused by a dominating, and insecure man. This life of inhumanity forced Minnie Foster Wright to murder.
This voluntary decision by Minnie poses an interesting argument to investigate and possibly validify. Was Mrs. Wright a women searching for answers in a world where male dominance was apparent everywhere, especially in the home? Was her act of murder justifiable from a humanist standpoint? Was Minnie Foster Wright a victim of a stress disorder which eventually pushed her past logical thought and reasoning? Did Minnie sufferer from PTSD caused by her abusive marriage and the violent end of her only true companion? Did she, then, find murder as a way to escape from her present and daily stress?
PTSD is known as posttraumatic stress disorder. This disorder is found in many individuals who suffer any form of trauma from events such as war, physical abuse, verbal abuse, witness to murder, or natural disasters. Abused women have been found to have many of the symptoms of PTSD (Kemp 44). The symptoms tend to be similar to those associated with shock. It can involve nightmares, flashbacks, a feeling of distance or being cut off, a sense of being afraid or paranoia, easily startled or jumpy, and thoughts of impending death (Kemp 48). The severity of the symptoms depends upon a multitude of factors ranging from the type of abuse to the frequency. Another factor to consider along with the frequency of the abuse is the level of impact the abuse has upon the individual’s life. These symptoms can and tend to begin after the first incident involving abuse. "Earlier traumas may have continuing psychological effects, increasing the risk for PTSD" (Kemp 44). The recovery environment may offer negativity in the areas of life events, social support and coping efforts (Kemp 44). The poor environment usually leads to disengagement associated with poorer mental health (Kemp 44). "I think maybe that’s why she kept so much to herself" (Glaspell 876). The recovery process to PTSD involves the interaction of quantitative social support and qualitative social support (Kemp 44). This, however, was something that Minnie didn’t have in her daily life, eventually causing her condition to grow worse.
Quantitative social support refers to the number of friends that an individual communicates with and the number of social events attended in order to aid the victim in feeling as if they were part of the community or society. Qualitative social support is the amount of perceived closeness and the offering of friendship by other human beings to bring forth the sense of caring and love. These factors help the victim reduce the effects of stress sustained through trauma (Kemp 44). Minnie Foster Wright had none of the factors listed to aid in the reduction of the stress throughout her traumatic experience. She had no daily support or hint of closeness in her life or in her surroundings. This is seen in Mrs. Hale dialogue, when she says, "it’s a lonesome place and always was," when describing Minnie’s home(Glaspell 878). Mr. Wright never offered any positive support to Minnie Foster Wright. "But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him-[Shivers.] Like a raw wind that gets to the bone" (Glaspell 878). She was locked up in the house with little or no personal contact. This was something that Minnie was not accustomed to before her marriage. "She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir" (Glaspell 876). This change in lifestyle for Minnie was a major contributor to the distances that seemed to come between her and society, her and reality, eventually between her and personal growth. "Why, it looks as if she didn’t know what she was about!" (Glaspell 877) This stress caused by trauma took her life and way of thought until the unthinkable was viewed as a way of salvation and cleansing.
Murder in Minnie’s mind was the way out of her personal hell. It would offer her an escape from her stress disorder and the confusion that was the definition of her sense of being. An existence where unhealthy living was the norm as well as the expected. Minnie was revolting against the life she was forced to take. She was not acting as, "a madwoman who overreacts to ‘trifles’ (Russell 89). The suffering of PTSD was the weight behind her actions. The death of her only companion was the breaking point for Minnie, but not the true reason for her act of murder.
Minnie Foster Wright can be viewed as either good or bad. "Woman has traditionally been seen as either saint or devil" (Gorsky 28). This perception was accepted in Minnie’s time and found in the literature according to Susan Gorsky in her article, "The Gentle Doubters: Images of Women in Englishwomen’s Novels"(Gorsky 28). Yet, Minnie was not a saint with respect to the act of murder which she successfully accomplished. She was also not a devil because of the stress and cloudiness of her perception at the time in which she committed the murder. "There are relatively few ‘bad women’ and these are generally the innocent victims of evil men" (Gorsky 28). The questions involving Minnie’s purity and foulness are questions of humanity and justice. Were Minnie’s action toward her husband justifiable after the mental abuse she suffered for thirty years of her life? Yet, the real question to be asked here is whether or not Minnie was even thinking of this when the act of murder was committed. Considering the life she was living, the evidence would have to suggest the assumption that Minnie was not thinking very rationally. She was a victim and suffering from a disorder caused by the abuse she endured daily. Minnie Foster Wright was not at a level that involved right and wrong thinking. Good was as irrelevant as the evil within her clouded vision. "She just nodded her head, not getting a bit excited, but rockin’ back and forth" (Glaspell 873). Her mind did not clear until reality hit Minnie head on, and then, perhaps, only for a moment, "She stopped and looked at me-scared" (Glaspell 874). Mr. Hale was viewing a dead end in human form.
Minnie was a victim up to the time and throughout her incarceration by the authorities. She was a victim of a man who concealed the truth until Minnie affected the situation. Mrs. Wright drowned in a life of numbness and inhumanity. It was a place where stress induced sadness and isolation lead to complete disengagement from not just society but reason. Vision was lost along with innocence for this ‘bad woman’. This woman who suffered from PTSD was driven to murder, the ultimate finish which externally and mentally seemed to be Minnie’s salvation but in the end led to more then mere ‘trifles’ to contend with and hide away neatly in a piece of cloth.