What are some symbols in the play Trifles?

There are a number of symbols in Trifles, but one could reasonably argue that the most important is Mrs. Wright's dead bird. The dead bird, killed in a fit of rage by Mr. Wright, represents the years of domestic abuse to which Minnie has been subjected by her husband.

When it was alive and well, merrily hopping around in its cage, the bird was a rare source of pleasure for Minnie in a life that was otherwise dismal and frightening due to her husband's cruel tyranny. So once Mr. Wright killed the poor bird, that was the straw that broke the camel's back for Minnie, who had already been drained of so much of her liveliness. Finally having had enough, Minnie responded by strangling her husband to death.

As well as a symbol of domestic tyranny and abuse, the dead bird could also be said to represent the cruel snuffing out of Minnie's humanity. With her sole remaining pleasure in life brutally snatched away from her and with nothing to look forward to, Minnie had been rendered less than human by her husband's cruelty.

Under the circumstances, then, her response is utterly predictable. Having been stripped of her humanity by her husband, Minnie seeks justice, despite the potential and likely consequences. She strangles her husband to death, just as he strangled her beloved pet and stifled her spirit.

What is an example of symbolism in Trifles?

One good example is the broken jam jars in the cupboard. Minnie, in jail, worried that the cold would cause the jams to expand and break. The men comment that this is a typical "trifle" for a women to worry about; aside from the culinary pun, the word becomes very important later when the "trifle" of the dead canary comes to light. The jam jars symbolize Minnie's life, and how it has gone from being worthwhile to being empty.

MRS. PETERS: [To the other woman.] Oh, her fruit; it did freeze. [To the LAWYER.] She worried about that when it turned so cold. She said the fire'd go out and her jars would break.

SHERIFF: Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves.
(Glaspell, Trifles, etext.virginia.edu)

Minnie worried about her preserves because they represented worth in her life. Like the jars, she used to be a vessel for something good, but living with her husband sapped her emotional strength and left her hollow inside. Like the jars, the cold abuse of the house caused her shell to crack, slowly leeching out everything in which she took joy. Finally, she felt forced into a corner, and now there is only her empty shell left; all the jam (happiness) in her life is gone.

What is a symbol in Susan Glaspell's Trifles?

A symbol is any object that has a second wider meaning that it stands for apart from its own literal meaning. In this excellent play, the main symbol to focus on is the bird that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discover in the box of Mrs. Wright's sewing things. We are told by Mrs. Peters, "in horror," that somebody had wrung the neck of this beautiful bird that used to sing. Whilst Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale recover from the shock of finding this bird, they talk and surmise about what had happened to it. Note what Mrs. Hale says:

No, Wright wouldn't like the bird--a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too.

We can see from this quote and others that refer to what Minnie Wright was like before she married that the bird is being used as a symbol of Minnie:

She--come to think of it, she was king of like a bird herself--real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid--and fluttery. How--she--did--change.

The bird has been slowly strangled to death by John Wright, just as symbolically Minnie Wright has been slowly strangled to a kind of death in her life. It is this that the two women realise, having discovered the motive for the crime in the "trifles" that the men discount, and in an act of female unity, they decide to hide the bird--the symbol of Minnie's guilt--and cover up the crime.

What symbols in Glaspell's Trifles represent women's roles and gender stereotyping?

The most striking symbols are the canary and the bird cage. The canary symbolizes the role of a woman in this kind of male-dominated society. The bird is kept in a cage and its only means of expression in this prison is to sing. Analogously, the traditional stereotype of the submissive woman was that she should stay in the home while the husband goes out into the world to work. So, the cage and the limits of the home are both like prisons.

Mrs. Wright was faced with a similar dilemma. Her farm was a good distance away from other people, including her friends. So, she was even more isolated. When her husband killed the canary, he essentially stifled the canary's only means of expression: singing. This evidently affected Mrs. Wright so much, that she decided to take out her vengeance upon him. When he killed the bird, he symbolically killed Mrs. Wright's "song." Mrs. Hale says of Mrs. Wright, "She used to sing. He killed that too." Mr. Wright killed the canary. He also killed Mrs. Wright's spirit over the course of their marriage. The imprisoned canary symbolizes a woman's limited role in a patriarchal society.