It is hard to believe how two women with completely different lives can share the same thoughts. “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant is about Mme.Loisel, a trouble young lady who is ungrateful and greedy. In John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” the main character, Elisa Allen, appears to be a typical housewife with a pleasant life. However, Elisa’s character is anguished on the inside with feelings she has kept to herself. Mme.Loisel and Elisa lead two very different lives but they both suffer silently with lack luster marriages, an oppressed life, and the desire to be someone else.
At first glance both women appear ordinary but through the authors writing the woman are portrayed as beautiful and desirable. One would think such beauty would be paired with an equal partner. However, the women are married to traditional men who are both good husbands on paper but lack the emotional connection with their wives. Neither woman has …show more content…
In both stories the quality of life relied solely on ones husband. Rank and social status was completely in the hands of men, “…since with women there is neither caste nor rank: and beauty, grace and charm act instead of family and birth.” (Maupassant 34). In “The Chrysanthemums”, Elisa wanted to be held to the same standard as men, but both men in the story casually dismissed her as “just another woman”. We see this when she was watching her husband make a business deal while she tended to her garden. Later Elisa asked her husband what the deal was about and Henry gave her a very vague answer, almost as if he was implying it was not any concern for a woman. Later in the story she met a peddler who is not intelligent and even Elisa believed she could do his job better then him. However, his work will always be superior to hers because he is a man. Both women felt a sense of hopelessness living in mans world they could not