Similarities Between The Chrysanthemums And The Necklace

John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” and Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” both feature female protagonists with internal conflicts that stem from the stories settings. Both protagonists, Elisa Allen and Madame Mathilde Loisel, struggle from unhappiness due to the direction of their life. Allen desires independence, which she does not have because she lives on an isolated farm and is financially dependent on her husband; whereas, Madame Loisel desires wealth, which, in 19th century Paris, is difficult to obtain because upward mobility is practically nonexistent. In terms of conflict and setting, both stories have similarities and differences. In “The Chrysanthemums,” Allen’s internal conflict is a desire for independence from marriage and from the isolated farm where she lives. Allen is lonely at the farm, and imagines traveling up and down the west coast like the tinker that visits her. This fantasy, however, is burst when the tinker says “It ain’t the right kind of a life for a woman” in reference to being a tinker. Also, Allen is restricted to financial co-dependency on her husband because of the setting. In “The

This setting contributes to the story because many people in France during the late-19th century stay in the social class they are born into, and it is difficult to change social classes. The fact that most people stay in the same social class for life is important because Madame Loisel wants to move into a different, and more wealthy, social class which leads to her internal conflict. The major similarity between the stories settings are the women’s dependence on their husbands. The major differences in the stories settings are the countries (Europe and the United States), the locations within the countries (city and country), and the century (19th century and 20th century). The fact that there is about a 50-year difference separating the stories time period means the lives on women