The Chrysanthemums

Elisa and Mrs. Baroda’s Metamorphosis John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” and Kate Chopin’s “A Respectable Woman” both feature strong female protagonists who try to fight the rules society has set upon them. Both setting of the stories are placed in the past back when woman had certain expectation of how they were to behave. Both of these woman follows these expectation, but at the same time the women’s personalities also defy the expectation. This is where the theory of role identity comes in. Role identity is a theory that suggest our sense of self changes and develops like the roles or characters in play, each character changing with each change in environment or company. The two women from the stories also face external experience …show more content…
However, Mr. and Mrs. Baroda’s farm is located in the New Orleans and is a cotton farm. Mrs. Baroda is a woman who enjoys entertaining her guest because she thinks of it as a challenge each person different from the last by yet she is very good entertaining them all. The story begins when Mrs. Baroda is informed by her husband that his old friend from college, Gouvernail, is coming stay for a week or two. Mrs. Baroda already has her vision and opinion of Gouvernail from the stores her husband told her of the man. However, when Gouvernail arrives he is nothing like Mrs. Baroda imagined, and no matter how hard she tries Mrs. Baroda can seem to entertain or impress Gouvernail in any way. Mrs. Baroda’s opinion of Gouvernail before meeting him, is an excellent example of symbolic interactionism. She made a preformed opinion based on past events her husband told her about. Mrs. Baroda assumed not only what he looked like but also that she would not like him. When Gouvernail was nothing like she had imagined Mrs. Baroda’s role of the perfect hostess came out. However, the more Mrs. Baroda tried to impress Gouvernail, she failed because Gouvernail wasn’t there to be a guest for entertainment, he merely wanted to relax and get away from his normal life. The failure to please Gouvernail caused Mrs. Baroda to act upset and angry because Gouvernail was a …show more content…
She wanted to draw close to him and whisper against his cheek—she did not care what—as she might have done if she had not been a respectable woman. The stronger the impulse grew to bring herself near him, the further, in fact, did she draw away from him. As soon as she could do so without an appearance of too great rudeness, she rose and left him there alone. Before she reached the house, Gouvernail had lighted a fresh cigar and ended his apostrophe to the night. Mrs. Baroda was greatly tempted that night to tell her husband—who was also her friend—of this folly that had seized her. But she did not yield to the temptation. Besides being a respectable woman she was a very sensible one; and she knew there are some battles in life which a human being must fight alone. (Chopin