Analysis of John Steinbecks Chrysanthemums and Shirley...

Examining The ChrysanthemumS The Lottery Examining The Chrysanthemums The Lottery In the WWII period, women entered the workforce is massive numbers a statistical anomaly that had never existed in American society or hardly any other modern society, ever. They became empowered and more women realized a wider range of their capabilities. A few decades after WWII, the feminist movement would rise to change the course of womens history again. The success and fervor of the feminist movement would not have been as potent or active without the change in experience for women in the preceding decades. It is within some of these social and historical contexts which the paper will consider the protagonist, Elisa Allen. The Chrysanthemums precedes WWII and the beginning of another change in the culture of women by just a few years. Elisa Allen is a figure for the foreshadowing of the future of American women. The paper considers how Steinbeck demonstrates her spatial and metaphorical confinement via literary structures, characterization, and narrative arc. The environment is a revealing metaphor or symbol in the story. It is sometimes a prominent aspect, and sometimes subtle. Just as the fog rolled in during the winter of a nearly desolate ranch, so does a storm or a fog of change approach for Elisa, as a figure for American women as the midway point of the 20th century approached. John Steinbecks famed short story, The Chrysanthemums, was published in Harpers