| Susan Glaspell was one of the American theatre's leading figures of the early 20th century. Her first and best-known one-act play Trifles, which was first put on stage in 1916, has been widely regarded as a classical feminist play, revealing the underling differences between men and women and women's living conditions in the male-dominant society. The separation of the male and female characters on stage symbolizes the separation of men and women in social life, discourse and mode of thinking in reality. The clear-cut contrast reflects the author's consideration of gender relationship as well as female rights in a male-centered society. Since its debut in 1916 Trifles has been repeatedly anthologized and printed, bringing great reputation to its creator.Interpreting Susan Glaspell's Trifles from the perspective of the binary opposition of gender deep-rooted in the western tradition, meanwhile taking into account the American social context from the founding of the country to the turn of the 20th century, especially women's claim for change at the turn of the 20th century, will help us perceive the gender relationship within and without the scripts.By constructing and subverting the binary opposition of gender in Trifles in aspects of discourse, sphere, mode of thinking, and moral judgment, this thesis probes into the influence of the traditional gender concept on gender relationship with the implication that the patriarchal division of gender privileges the male over the female. This patriarchal gender system, however, is inversive. In Trifles, it is through careful observation of the trifles disdained by the men and the voiceless narration of the heroine that the two women characters subvert the patriarchal authority. To procure an equal gender relation, women have to unite together, striding over the traditional gender trap. To obtain effective mixed-sex communications, men have to admit the value of female discourse as well as their way of thinking.
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