The message that it portrays is one of love and attention. Mr. Kapasi, the tour guide, thinks that he has fallen in love with the mother of the American family, Mrs. Das. One time this is shown to us is when it says, "her sudden interest in him, an interest she did not express in either her husband or her children, was mildly intoxicating" (Lahiri 42). This shows literary merit because this message can still be found in books today as well. It isn't something that has changed over the years and isn't something that will for a long time to come. Another piece of evidence that shows that it is a work of literary merit is the way that it demonstrates an innovation in style, voice, structure, characterization, plot and description. This is shown to us when Mrs. Das tells us the story about how her oldest son Bobby was a product of an affair with a friend of her husband friend. "He's not his. I beg your pardon? Raj's. He's not Raj's son" (Lahiri 48). This is showing us how the style is something of taboo. She had an affair and the boy isn't the husband's son. This is part of the plot. It shows that we are never truly happy with what we have in life. She married her husband and had an affair. One last way that literary merit is portrayed in this short story is that it is thought provoking. It makes you think about what the author is trying to say and what point she is trying to get across to the reader. This is really something that makes this piece a work of literary merit. Almost every single piece that we have read in class shares at least that one trait.
The play Trifles by Susan Glaspell has many ways that it presents literary merit. One of the ways that it does is by being thought provoking. In the play a man Mr. Wright has been worried and while the investigation is underway it is said that, "Well, women are used to worrying over trifles" (Glaspell 1314). This is thought provoking because the women would never worry about something so small.
