论文就表专家一，中国学木期刊网wwvv .q i kanwang .netThe marriage theme InTrifles ” and “ The Story ofan Hourabstract: through analyzing all the female characters in“trifles ” and “the story of an hour ” , it is obvious to con clude that females un der that backgro und suffered male oppression in their marriage life. however, as the plot develops, all the female characters gradually develop a sense of femini sm. this phe nomenon has roots in the social backgro und. and the female characters in these stories represent somefemales in society whobegin to pursuit freedom and in dividuality in that social backgro und.key words: marriage ; male oppression ; feminism ;in dividuality“trifles ” and “the story of an hour ” share one similar theme concerning marriage that shapes the flow of story. female characters in both stories suffered from the loss of individuality in their marriage under the patriarchal dominan ce. however, as the story develops, all these female characters gradually develop a sense of femi nism.minnie foster wright, the murderer in trifles, suffered great emotional oppression in her marriage. mr. wright, an upright but “ hard ” man, made life miserable for his wife.q i kanwang P nel中国学木期刊网h 论文发表专家一s right.he refused to share a phone with his neighbor with the thought that people talked too muchanyway, and all he asked was peace and quiet. from this refusal, we can conclude that he is not such a sociable man and he eve n ignored his wifeon the other hand, it is also an illustrationthat he regardsminnie as his private property. he was afraid that once his charming wife was attracted to the colorful outside world then she would break up with him. so he chose to cage his wife like a prisoner. moreover, he wrung the neck of the canary that his wife kept in a cage to sing and brighten her dreary life. the bird in this story is a symbol of mrs. wright. she was one of the tow n girls singing in the choir before she was married to john wright.however, after her marriage, she waspreve nted from singing by her husba nd. so she raised the canary to memorize the precious memory of her vivid life before marriage, and on the other hand, she treated the bird as a compa ny in her bori ng life deficie nt of love. liv ing in a quiet house without any childre n or any frien ds, she must fell strong loneness. as a result, she treated the little bird as her own child or her sin cere friend, talki ng to it and caring for it. in summary, the bird kept her alive spiritually.so the strangling of her songbird symbolized the death of her医一论文发袤专家一J中国黠斛网fwww.qikanwang. nelspirit. she had nothing to live for in the stressful and boring cage where she was pris oned and was forced to give up herindividuality.male oppression from her husband brought greatchanges to her. “she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, whe n she was minnie foster, one of the tow n girls singing inthe choir. ” mrs. hale thought of the pretty girl thirty yearsago. before marriage, she was pretty but delicate like a flower n eed ing care and no urishme nt. however, what she gotin her marriage was great oppression. she had withdrawn from her previous activities and was forced to live as a house wife separated from the outside world. she must be bored with this miserable life so when her bird was killed she was desperate and was in furiated to resist. the death of the bird sudde nly motivated minn ie foster wright to realize the loss of in dividuality and freedom, so she took acti on to get rid of the miserable lifestyle and regain freedom from her husband. mrs. wright killed her husband in similar fashion, wringinghis neck with a rope. with this radicalaction, she ended hers oppressi on.dreadful marriage and got rid of her husbandwhen talking about other female characters in this play, it is not difficult to find that mrs. hale and mrs. peters