Section II : Literature
Unit 4 One Act Plays
Class 11 English
Chapter - 2
A Sunny Morning
Summary
Answer 👉
"A Sunny Morning" is a play written by Serafin and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero. Unfortunately, as a language model AI, I do not have any specific information about the play. However, I can provide general information about the Quintero brothers.
The Quintero brothers were Spanish playwrights and theater directors who were born in the 19th century and were active in the Spanish theater scene. They are known for their works in the Spanish Renaissance theater and are regarded as some of the most important playwrights in Spanish theater history. Their plays are characterized by their use of humor and satire, as well as their social commentary on Spanish society.
If you have any specific questions about "A Sunny Morning", I would be happy to help.
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions.
a. Do you believe that Mrs. Wright killed her husband? Explain.
Answer 👉 I did think Mrs. Wright killed her husband, yes. After hearing the two women's chat, they began to compare Mrs. Wright's life before and after marriage. This makes it clear that Mrs. Wright had a lovely life prior to marriage but a dull one following it. She was unable to sing or speak to anyone, was despondent, and her husband had murdered her bird. Because of this, she killed her spouse in retaliation.
b. Do you think Mr. Wright’s death would have been uncovered if Mr. Hale hadn’t stopped by the Wrights’ home?
Answer 👉 No, I don't believe Mr. Wright's death would have been discovered if Mr. Hale hadn't visited the Wrights' house. If Mr. Hale hadn't visited the Wrights' house, nobody would have ever known about Mr. Wright's death because the house was located quite a distance from the road, and the news of his death would have remained suppressed.
c. Why does Mrs. Hale think that Mrs. Wright’s worries about her preserves indicate her innocence?
Answer 👉 Mrs. Hale argues that Mrs. Wright's concerns about her preserves show her innocence because she did not feel pleased, in contrast to Mrs. Ale who claims that only an innocent lady would yell while fretting over fruit and beg for an apron. Mrs. Ale thus believes Mrs. Wright's concerns about her preserves prove her innocence.
d. How does Mrs. Peters’ homesteading experience connect her to Mrs. Wright?
Answer 👉 By concealing the canary that had been strangled and would have been used as crucial evidence against Minnie Wright, Mrs. Peter ends up defending her. Despite being the sheriff's wife and a law-abiding citizen, Mrs. Peters finally acts on Mrs. Wright's side after reaching the same decision. In this sense, Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Wright are related by their shared experience with homesteading.
e. How do the women’s perspectives on men differ?
Answer 👉 The fact that men are strong and have turned into idiots and slackers while women have no power other than intelligence, which enables them to manipulate men, causes women to view men differently from men.
Reference to the context
Read the extract from the play given below and answer the questions that follow:
a. “MRS. PETERS:(glancing around). Seems funny to think of a bird here. But she must have had one, or why would she have a cage? I wonder what happened to it?
Answer 👉
MRS. HALE: I s’pose maybe the cat got it.”
i. Who does ‘she’ refer to?
‘She’ refers to Mrs. Wright.
ii. What does the word ‘one’ stand for?
The word ‘one’ stands for a bird.
iii. What is the full form of “s’pose”
The full form of "s’pose" is "suppose."
iv. What do you mean when Mrs. Hale says, “the cat got it”?
When Mrs. Hale says, "the cat got it", I mean "the cat must have caught the bird."
b. “MRS. HALE: Wright was close. …… she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir But that— oh, that was thirty years ago.”
Answer 👉
i. Why does Mrs. Hale refer to Mrs. Wright as “Minnie Foster”?
Mrs. Hale refers to Mrs. Wright as "Minnie Foster" because, before her marriage, Mrs. Wright was a very beautiful singer. She was known as Minnie Foster, and she used to dress pretty and sing in the choir.
ii. What does her description tell you about Mrs. Wright?
Mrs. Wright was a beautiful singer before her marriage, according to her description. Her name was Minnie Foster, who used to sing beautifully and wear pretty clothes thirty years ago.
iii. What does Mrs. Hale mean by “that was thirty years ago”?
By "that was thirty years ago", Mrs. Hale refers to the period in Mrs. Wright’s life when she was an unmarried and well-known singer known as Minnie Foster.
c. What is the main theme of the play?
Answer 👉
The main themes in Trifles are gender, isolation, and justice.
Gender: The male characters only want to utter evidence of Minnie’s crime, whereas the women came to understand the emotional pain that drove Minnie to murder her husband.
Isolation: Minnie wright is isolated from her famous and family by her controlling abusive husband.
Justice: The man and woman have different conceptions of justice. The man want Minnie to be convicted of murder whereas the woman hide the evidence that would have convicted Minnie out of respect for the years of abuse Minnie suffered.
d. Discuss the symbolism used in the play.
Answer 👉
Symbolism is a literary device which is used to represent a concept through symbols or underlying meanings of objects or qualities. Here in this play, we find various things that symbolize varieties of hidden meanings which are as follows:
1. The preservative jars: These jars symbolize the cold and broken marriage relationship between Mrs. Wright and her husband.
2. Singing Canary bird: The singing Canary bird symbolizes the freedom of Mrs. Wright before her marriage.
3. The birdcage: The birdcage symbolizes the trapped life of Mrs. Wright after her marriage.
4. Wrung neck of canary: It symbolizes the concept of revenge in a tit for tat manner. Mr. Wright has also been murdered with a rope around his neck instead of a gun.
5. Knot in a quilt: Mrs. Hale’s dialogue as the knot in a quit symbolizes the murder with a rope. The stitches in the particular quilt even symbolize the nervousness of Mrs. Wright.
e. Discuss the setting of the play. Does it have an impact on the theme of the play?
Answer 👉
The farmhouse that Mr. John Wright abandoned is where this drama is situated. The home is a lonely, foreboding location in a depression where it is impossible to see the road.
Yes, it has an effect on the play's topic. More precisely, an abandoned farmhouse serves as the play's setting in a rural location. The characters are designed to resemble genuine people because they are set in a rural environment. And even though this is situated in the heartland of America, Mrs. Wright's loneliness is paralleled by the considerably greater distance between neighbors in rural agricultural communities. In this way, the play's topic is impacted by the setting.
Reference beyond the text
a. The credibility of a character is determined not only by the character’s thoughts and actions but also by what other characters say and think about him or her. Discuss in relation to the characters of Trifles.
Answer 👉
Through on-stage characters like Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, the play's readers are introduced to Mrs. Wright, the play's central character who is off-stage. These two on-stage characters are always debating and educating us on different facets of Mrs. Wright's life. Our knowledge of Mrs. Wright's life has been greatly expanded by their conversations with regard to her during their investigation. We may learn about Mrs. Wright's life and suffering because of women's knowledge. Readers are emotionally interested in learning about their life story. The descriptions given by the women and Mrs. Wright sound improbable. All of the play's audience members enjoyed their contributions, especially Mrs. Wright. All readers had positive impressions of Mrs. Wright's writing thanks to these two personalities. Everyone feels sorry for Mrs.
b. Dramatic irony occurs when the reader or audience has information that is unknown to the characters in a play; it creates tension and suspense. Analyse the play discussing the author’s use of dramatic irony based on these questions:
Answer 👉
(i) What information is crucial to the play Trifles?
Dramatic irony is a literary technique that is established when the audience or reader learns the information that was initially concealed. The fact that Ms. Wright killed her husband is the crucial piece of information in this play about dramatic irony. The debate of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters has revealed the motives for the murder to the readers, but the male characters—who appear to be more interested in finding clues—are unaware of these details.
(ii) How does the playwright use this information to create dramatic irony?
To create dramatic irony, the playwright creates various twists and suspenses. The playwright keeps on presenting information related to murder through predictions and proofs given by the characters during the time of investigation to find the actual murderer.
(iii) What effect does the dramatic irony have on the audience and on the play?
The playwright does a fantastic job of handling and presenting dramatic irony. It has elevated the play's main male characters above the play's audience and readers. It successfully held all of the readers' interest, curiosity, hope, terror, and suspense. Before any of the play's male characters, the readers have here been given the truth. Dramatic irony has given this play a lot of twists that keep the audience interested and piques their curiosity.
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