Similarities Between The Horse Dealer's Daughter And The Chrysanthemums

Throughout our short story study, while reading The Horse Dealer’s Daughter and The Chrysanthemums, we found a deep and significant relationship between the two women and main characters in the stories; Mabel and Elisa. These characters both experience similar, yet difficult situations within their own families, their relationships in the society, and the power they both lack and possess over their own affairs.

There are many times where Mabel and Elisa’s relationships and roles within their families affect their personalities, decisions, thoughts and character traits within each story. Elisa’s family only consists of her husband Henry, who she shares a distant relationship with, and which allows her to be the main focus, or ‘powerhouse’

of the family. All through The Chrysanthemums, there is evidence of this distant relationship between Elisa and Henry, but the most outspoken example is when Henry and Elisa are getting ready for their night out; “‘ Elisa, where are you?’ ‘In my room, dressing.’” (Steinbeck, 9). Evidence of Elisa’s powerful and demanding influence over Henry, is when she makes the major decisions for their night out, and the nervousness of Henry during their conversations both at the beginning and end of the story. As for Mabel, her family life shows similar characteristics and features to the distant relationship between Elisa and Henry, but conflicts with her brothers for a more negative effect on Mabel. Before her parents passing, Mabel had a very comfortable and welcoming relationship with her mother and father in The Horse Dealer’s Daughter; until her father married again after her mother’s passing. An exclamation of Mabel’s relationship with her mother is explained by Lawrence here; “she lived in the memory of her mother… whom she had loved.” (Lawrence, 8). Evidence of Mabel’s relationship with her father is also exclaimed by Lawrence here; “She had loved her father too, in a different way, depending upon him, and feeling secure in him, until at the age of fifty-four he married again.” (Lawrence, 8). After her parents passed, all Mabel had was her brothers (Joe, Fred and Malcolm), which consisted of a very distant, isolated and controlling relationship. After reading all these examples and relationships Mabel and Elisa have within their families, it is easy to see how different and abstract these relationships are between stories; relating to their wealth, their families’ personalities, and how they are thriving throughout their lives. For Mabel, she is very isolated and distant from her brothers, because they have no parental support or wealth, whereas Elisa shows a distance from her husband, but is not as isolated. Their relationship shows that they are in the same ‘book,’ but not on the same page. All these comparisons show how similar, yet different and abstract Mabel and Elisa’s relationships/roles between their families are.
Elisa and Mabel also have similar relationships and roles within the society, as they deal with many different events and make life-changing decisions over the course of the stories.

Within the society of The Chrysanthemums, Elisa is a very strong and independent woman, who is also very neat and organized in the work that she does. These attributes all contribute to her great personality, but allows for some separation from the ideal figure of women in society. Evidence of Elisa’s dignified and separated personality is when Steinbeck goes on about her over-powerful and mature nature on page 1 and 2 of The Chrysanthemums; “Her face was eager and mature and handsome; even her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful. The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy.” (Steinbeck, 1-2). As for Mabel, within the society she is considered a nervous, depressed and isolated woman, who has been forced to labour over her brothers since her parents are gone, and the society/community has not helped her to see her inner beauty and strength. With this in mind, we can see that in her eyes, Mabel’s only way to find happiness is by finding someone to love (her). Mabel’s need and desperateness for someone to love (her) is pretty frequent and conscious throughout The Horse Dealer’s Daughter, although it is sometimes hard to see how isolated and separated Mabel is from the society, not just her family. Evidence of these feelings are shown when Lawrence exclaims; “She thought of nobody, not even of herself. Mindless and persistent, she seemed in a sort of ecstasy to be coming nearer to her fulfilment, her own glorification, approaching her dead mother, who was glorified.” (Lawrence,8). Throughout both stories, Elisa and Mabel show separation and isolation from society and their “roles,” but each express their separation in a different way. For Mabel, she is separated/isolated from society because she has no parental influence to guide her, and she is

greatly affected by poverty and power. Whereas Elisa sees this separation in a way that keeps her from meeting the societal standards for women. Despite this invisible separation, Elisa still shows strength and maturity throughout her personality, whereas Mabel figures that the only way to fight/grow away from this depression and isolation, is to find someone to love (her). Yet again, these comparisons show how Mabel and Elisa have both similar and different relationships and roles within their societies.
Furthermore, throughout both The Chrysanthemums and The Horse Dealer’s Daughter, Lawrence and Steinbeck raise many interesting and effective factors towards the circumstances of women within their families and societies, both having great patriarchal effects/influences on their literature. For The Chrysanthemums, Steinbeck expresses the issue and concern for the women’s right to individuality and dignity, by adding a dramatic twist to the (thought as) thoughtful Trinker, who ends up betraying Elisa’s trust, dignity and upsetting her pride and joy (gardening and the chrysanthemums). For The Horse Dealer’s Daughter, Lawrence is able to express this same issue through the effects of separation from society; as Mabel is isolated from her brothers, the community, and many others, giving her no hope and support for her future. This sadly allows Mabel to make some (negative) life-changing decisions upon the lack of support for her from others, forcing her to make decisions for herself and make a fresh start without any financial and parental support; which is probably why she is so desperate for love. All these examples are able to show how Mabel and Elisa’s lives are interconnected throughout the clever and patriarchal literature presented to us by Lawrence and Steinbeck throughout each short story.