9.1: Trifles: The Rise of Modern Feminism on the Stage, Part 1
Question 26 • CA-Common Core English Language Arts 11 B
Read the excerpt from part one of Trifles.COUNTY ATTORNEY. How did she seem to feel about you coming?HALE. Why, I don’t think she minded—one way or the other. She didn’t pay much attention. I said, “How do, Mrs. Wright, it’s cold, ain’t it?” And she said, “Is it?”—and went on kind of pleating at her apron. . . . And then she—laughed. I guess you would call it a laugh.How does this dialogue further develop the idea that Mrs. Wright may have had a motive for killing her husband?
Answer
A
It suggests that she has actually gone insane.
B
It suggests that she finds death humorous.
C
It suggests that she did not care about his death.
D
It suggests that she is hiding her real emotions.
Explanation
Mrs. Wright’s distracted response and unusual laugh suggest that her outward behavior does not reveal what she is really feeling. The dialogue therefore raises the possibility that she is concealing her emotions, which could connect to a motive for killing her husband. It does not establish that she finds death funny or that she has gone insane.
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