How does the setting of Trifles contribute to our understanding of Minnie Wright’s position?

Although Minnie is never seen on stage, the setting represents her and her marriage to John. The kitchen is cold, like their marriage. Her preserve jars are broken, suggesting barren feelings and lack of hope for the future. Her sewing basket, which should be a center of creativity, is instead used to hold the dead canary's body, which in turn symbolizes her happiness and singing spirit—shoved lifeless into a basket and covered in darkness.

When the men belittle the kitchen as just holding "kitchen things" they are, at the same, relegating Minnie to just being a "kitchen thing" of her own. In doing so, they overlook critical evidence pointing to the murderer. They disrespect the kitchen, as well as the things and people within it, which says a lot about many men's consideration of women at the time the play was set. Considering this, the fact that all of the action happens in the kitchen becomes even more meaningful. The murder happened in the bedroom. The men search everything in the house except the kitchen looking for evidence. A critical viewer would look at this and question the playwright's intent.

The setting contributes to the reader's or viewer's understanding by focusing our attention on "kitchen things" and what it means to be a woman. The women who stay in the kitchen and reveal the clues to the identity of the murderer use the setting to explore who Minnie is. They mention that they didn't visit as much as they should have, and as they analyze her housekeeping (or lack thereof), the reader or viewer gains insight into Minnie's plight.