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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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The Chrysanthemums Literary Analysis One of the themes of “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck is gender inequality. In this short story, the main character Elisa Allen was a strong, smart woman who was stuck being a common housewife. Elisa wishes she could go out and be like the tinker, sleeping under the stars and adventuring every day of her life. Elisa’s husband owns a ranch of some sorts, and when he tells Elisa of the business deal he’d just made he gave her an unspecific explanation, or a dumbed down one so he doesn’t “confuse her”.

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In the short story “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, the main character, Elisa faces many troubles. Elisa’s troubles and frustration arise from the 1930’s society’s discrimination of women during the time of the story. The struggle for equality for women leaves Elisa in conflict with herself. She falls victim to the belief that women should not stray from their role society has placed on them. Through Elisa’s interactions with the men in the story, we find many examples of how the repression of women is used as a barrier for Elisa to live her life how she wants.

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Elisa Allen, the protagonist in John Steinbeck 's “the Chrysanthemum”, is completely jaded by men in this story. The plot revolves around the interactions between Elisa Allen, her husband Henry Allen, and a male tinker that visits their farm. It is apparent that Elisa is a isolated on her home garden and suppressed by her husband. In their society men, especially the men in this story treat women in a very condescending way. When Elisa’s husband leaves her alone on the farm, she meets a tinker whose interaction liberates Elisa’s sense of self worth, but later crushes her spirit.

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Chopin’s novel and short story provides awareness of the lack of independence and individuality that women are granted in that era. Chopin’s voices how Louise and Enda becomes accustom to living according to what the man of the house desires. “Then would be no power will bending hers in that blind persistence” (The Story of An hour). With Louise husband being gone, he would no longer interfere with her actions or even overrule what she has to say. Louise would be completely free from his authority.

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Now she is no longer pitiful and heartbroken but joyful and excited for a life free of her husband’s dominant presence. The story says for the first time in her life, Mrs. Mallard prays for a long life. Gary Mayer describes Mrs. Mallard’s new situation by writing: "Louise's joy, it may be argued, is her thought of being single, not the realization that her husband is alive"(Mayer 95). When this change occurs, Chopin expresses Louise Mallard’s new found freedom by finally using her first name rather than her surname as she writes, “Louise, open the door!”(Chopin 237). This signifies the rebirth of a woman formally suppressed by the name of her husband; she is no longer defined by someone else, but she defines herself and her

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For example, her house guest Gouvernail was sitting next to her alone one night, and “the stronger the impulse grew to bring herself near him, the further. . .did she draw away from him” (Paragraph 27 Chopin). Mrs. Baroda fights with her internal desire of longing to be with him, yet she feels

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