Shattered Preserves

Let's talk about these shattered jars of cherry preserves in the cabinet, or as the County Attorney likes to call them: "a nice mess" (27). Because nobody lit a fire over night, the kitchen got so cold that the jars froze and burst. (Aren't you glad you don't live in the olden days?) When the menfolk see a bunch of sticky, glass-infused goop they only see a disgusting mess, but women immediately know how much work it represents. Take this quote from Mrs. Hale:

MRS. HALE: She'll feel awful bad after all her hot work in the hot weather. I remember the afternoon I put up my cherries last summer. (55)

So in a way, the preserves are symbolic of all the "woman's work" that the men constantly disrespect throughout the play. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters immediately feel bad for Mrs. Wright when they see the preserves have shattered, and they mention that Mrs. Wright is worried about them.

SHERIFF: Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves.
COUNTY ATTORNEY: I guess before we're through she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about.
HALE: Well, women are used to worrying over trifles. (30-32)

That's right the trifles of the title is originally a reference to these "insignificant" preserves that the women are worried about. So it seems like the preserves themselves can definitely be seen as representing the world of women as a whole. If that's so, what does it mean that they're shattered? Could this represent the abuse heaped on Mrs. Wright by her husband and also the abuse heaped on women by men in general? Oh yes, yes it can.

We also think there's something to the fact that the preserves were shattered by cold. Over and over again, the characters talk about how cold it is in the house even with the fire. Maybe we're crazy, but it seems like the cold can be equated with the frigid temperature of the Wrights' relationship… which was eventually shattered by violence.