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Essay Comparing The Chrysanthemums And The Story Of An Hour

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“Women Back in their Time” Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” are two stories which reveal the struggles on women. These struggles are caused by marriage in society through the lives of the main characters. Mrs. Mallard feels like she is controlled by her husband, and is defined only by her womanly duties and Elisa is characterized through her garden. As each story unfolds, the reader can relate to both women and their daily life struggles. The stories demonstrate how women were limited to certain roles, and how lonely they felt without their own identity. In these short stories, the main characters Elisa from The Chrysanthemums and Louise from The Story of an Hour both live under the rules of …show more content…

For example, “But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome,” (Chopin 100) this shows that Louise is happy to be free from her husband's needs. Also, when Elisa speaks to the “stranger” she speaks to him with passion showing that she wants more out of life and that is what her husband does not understand. She wants to be able to express her feelings to her husband but, does not want to seem weak. Her eyes lit up when she talked about the “Chrysanthemums” to the stranger. Her excitement is so strong that it is almost portrayed as a sexual encounter towards this stranger. In the story it says that “her eyes shone”, “her face was tight with eagerness”, “her breast swelled passionately”, and that her “voice grew husky”. (454) These quotes explain how excited she was and how most readers would get the idea of her being sexually attracted to the stranger confused with her passion for

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