Trifles Lesson Plan

Women, Murder and Domestic Violence Turn of the Century

Kind of Activity:

Research

Objective:

Learn the historical context behind I[Trifles].

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.8

Structure:

"Usually a woman convict is considered one of the lowest of God's creatures -- if, in truth, she is supposed to belong to Him at all -- for it is a well-known fact that society always considers a fallen woman a thousand times more depraved and contemptible than the self-same character of the masculine gender."

--from "Prison Work Among Women: Can They Be Reformed?" by Mrs. A.M.Waterman, Matron of the Female Department at the Anamosa Penitentiary, 1901

Though many aspects...