There are numerous similarities between the two female characters Nora from John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” and Elisa from Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House.” Both are wives of men who do not comprehend them or share the same emotions as women. Both of the protagonists are intelligent women who need to alter their lives, but because their spouses have been abusive, they are unable to do it. But there are also some behavioral variances amongst the personas. One lady stays where she is and under the same circumstances, while the other moves on to a new, happy life. Elisa and Nora have divergent responses to the problem. While Nora abandons her family, dreams of a brighter future, and changes her life, Elisa gives up and falls. One may observe the diverse aDoll’shes to the issues and difficulties that married life presents by comparing and contrasting Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” and John Steinbeck’s Elisa from “The Chrysanthemums.”
Ibsen is profoundly challenging social norms or the status quo with this conclusion. The central protagonist was prepared to end her own life in order to save her husband’s reputation (Akter). Still, she quickly discovered that he was nothing more than a narcissistic and selfish person. A quiet yet incisive indictment of a culture that does not value wise women may be found in “The Chrysanthemums.” Elisa is intelligent, vivacious, gorgeous, and ambitious, yet these qualities are useless. The two main characters in the novel are less attractive and accomplished than she is, but they have fuller and busier lives. The bottom line is that both stories are about how intelligent and resourceful women tried to find success in the shadow of men, but the women’s society was not so developed in order to give an apparent rebuff.
Work Cited
Akter, Saima. “Re-reading Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House: A Modern Feminist Perspective.” International Journal of English and Comparative Literary Studies 2.3 (2021): 79-87.