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The Dirty Towel
Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters decide to bring the quilt to Minnie in jail, another one of the trifles that the men believe only concern women. The quilt and Minnie’s decision to finish it in one of two styles—quilting or knotting—is developed as a metaphor for her innocence or her guilt. The act of knotting a quilt is linked to the act of killing a man with a rope around his neck. The play ends with George Henderson asking the women how Minnie was going to finish the quilt. Mrs. Hale’s certainty that she was going to “knot it” symbolizes the women’s certainty that Minnie killed her husband. Meanwhile, the men, blinded by their arrogant inability to see the women’s interest as anything but trifles, don’t catch this significance at all and still think Mrs. Hale is talking about a quilt.
The Quilt Quotes in Trifles
The Trifles quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Quilt. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Trifles
Quotes
“Well, Henry, at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to—what is it you call it, ladies?”
“We call it—knot it, Mr. Henderson.”
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Trifles LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Quilt Symbol Timeline in Trifles
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Quilt appears in Trifles. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Trifles
The women discover a quilt that Minnie Wright was in the process of making. The men reenter and, overhearing Mrs....
(full context)
...The men return and Mrs. Hale hides the box containing the dead bird under the quilt. George Henderson asks if they’ve decided whether Minnie was going to quilt or knot her...
(full context)
...and jokingly acknowledges that at least they found out Minnie wasn’t going to finish her quilt by quilting it. He appeals to the ladies for the correct term for she was...
(full context)
