Similarities Between Of Mice And Men And The Chrysanthemums

Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is focused on two men and their dream of owning their own farm. On the other hand, Steinbeck's short story “The Chrysanthemums” focuses on some thirty-five-year-old woman who seems to have her heart broken from a stranger. Both of these stories from Steinbeck have in common the use of only one female character in each of these stories, but in “The Chrysanthemums,” he has his viewpoint coming from that of a woman. Along with these similarities and differences, Steinbeck also makes both the women want attention, but Elisa Allen, in “The Chrysanthemums,” is less willing to be open and give trust than Curley’s Wife is in Of Mice and Men. Both of these women present us with Steinbeck's ideas that one

Their only connection to it being the men that come and go from their farms, giving both of these women a sense of loneliness and a want for the outside world. Curley’s wife shows her want through trying to get the attention of all the men working on her family-owned farm because of the lack of want from her husband. These characteristics show how Curley’s Wife is tired of being cooped up on the farm. In contrast, Elisa is very shy and unwillingly gives her trust away, even to her husband. Some could say from this that she doesn’t want to be part of the outside world. But, if she allows herself to trust others then she exposes her loneliness too. When the strange old man stops by Elisa Allen’s house, she is at first cautious of him, but once he manipulates her to trust him it causes her to want to hear all about his story. Going back to similarities, because both of these women’s actions and opening themselves up to the outside world, the two of them are each face with their own terrible ending: Curley’s Wife’s story ends with that of her death caused by her want of attention and Elisa Allen’s story ends with a heartbreak caused by her gullibleness to trust a