LITR 221 Forum 4

Part I: How does Trifles help us think about different perspectives or perceptions? Think about what the male/female characters in the play understand and perceive about the world around them–and consider what the men’s and women’s conversations and actions reveal about their attitudes toward the opposite sex.

Part II: Reading Modern literature can sometimes be a frustrating quest for coherence and meaning. Modernist authors tend to omit explanations, interpretations, connections, and summaries that we are accustomed to in traditional literature. O’Neill’s method in The Hairy Ape demonstrates a striking departure from traditional stage drama since audiences are faced with an exaggerated and stark realism, and with dialog that is crude, natural, and slangy. How do you react to the play? What happens to Yank that leads him to expose his primitive interior self? What happens at the end, and how are we–the reading or viewing audience–to interpret his death?

Please post no fewer than 300 words, making sure to balance your answers to Parts I and II. You should use quotations from the text to support your points, but make sure they don’t dominate your posts.