“literature is an expression of society” Wellek and Warren, 1956: 95, and also the focus of the study that is analyzing the satirical part of the text toward the
male-dominated American society. The writer chooses this approach as the perspective to see, understand and also analyze the text of the play. It is necessary
to investigate the social background in which a work was created and which it necessarily reflect because “literature is not created in an emptiness and expresses
ideas significant to the culture that produce it” Rohrberger and Woods, 1971: 9.
C. Method of the Study
In examining the problem formulation of the study, the writer took a library research or a desk research. The writer also did read some books to gather
the data. The data were taken from two sources, primary and secondary sources. For the primary source, Trifles by Susan Glaspell was taken as the focus of the
analysis. There were several steps that were taken to finish this study. The first step, the writer read the play and understood it. Second step, the writer tried to
find some books of theories and extrinsic data to support the process of the analysis, and also some books of criticism to support the hypothesis. The writer
also did the browsing to look for some information related to the study in the internet. These books and information from internet were used as the secondary
sources to gather the data. The third step, the writer decided the formulation of the problems and determined the suitable theories to analyze the study. They are
theory of character and characterization, theory of satire and theory of feminism. In analyzing the play, the writer used sociocultural-historical background. This
approach was used in the study to examine Glaspell’s Trifles as the literary work
by viewing the socio-cultural and historical background in America in the early 20
th
century. The last step was analyzing the two problems formulation of the study. The first problem formulation was analyzed by using theory of character
and characterization. Finding the characteristics of each character, the writer analyzed it further by using the theory of satire to understand the way Susan
Glaspell satirizes the society. Finally, considering the analysis that has been done, the writer drew the conclusion.
