Both "Trifles" and "The Story of an Hour" focus on death-a murder and an accident-and what these catastrophes reveal about relationships between men and women, more specifically, marriage. "Trifles" theme is captured in its title: Men dismiss women's concerns as 'trifles.' They do so to such an extent that they cannot understand a murder, the motive for which is patently obvious to the other women involved. In "The Story of an Hour" a women dies of disappointment when it is revealed that her husband was not killed in a train disaster. Both pieces use irony to illustrate the hollowness of marriage. 3 pgs. 0 f/c. 0b.
