The Significance Of The Defining Moment In The Chrysanthemums

In this presentation I will be talking about the defining moments, for one or more of the characters, in the three stories: This Blessed House by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck, and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. The defining moment can change the view of the situation, problem, themselves, or about life in general of a character or characters.

I show that the defining moments of This blessed House and Death of a Salesman are quite similar, but the defining moment in The Chrysanthemums is a different one to the other two stories. In both, This Blessed House and Death of a Salesman, the characters experience a change in behavior caused by the acceptance and understanding of another character. While in The Chrysanthemums,
the character experiences the change in herself.

In This Blessed House, the character of Sanjeev is the one that experiences the change.
At the beginning of the story, he does not agree with his wife, Twinkle, and her desire to place all the Christian memorabilia they’ve found in their new house in the mantle, where anyone who enters may see it. Subconsciously, Sanjeev sees his wife as nothing more than an object, something he collected and can now put on display.

As the story progresses, Sanjeev begins to understand and accept his wife. He accepts that she is her own human being that can make her own decisions, instead of an object that he can control and bend to his will. He understands that for their marriage to work, they must accept each other the way they are.

In Death of a Salesman, the character of Biff is the one that experiences the change. Biff did not get along with his father after he found out about the affair his father had maintained while in Boston. Ever since then Biff resented his father and reacted harshly towards of him. But after a series of events that take place when his brother, Happy, and he were staying over at their parents’ house, he begins to understand his father is not the bad guy he had painted in his mind, but instead just a human being who struggled and made mistakes. Biff stopped being so hard on his father and instead tried to remedy their
relationship.

Afterward, Biff started to see himself differently and in a more realistic way. Happy also experienced change, even though for him it was minimal, he also understood his father was not the hero, his brother and him believed he was. Both understood that his father was just a human being, flaws and all.

In The Chrysanthemums, the character of Elisa is the one that experiences the change. After a conversation with a stranger who arrived looking to sell and/or fix her pots, she perceived herself differently. She starts to see herself stronger and more capable. Until she sees a chrysanthemum she had gifted the man on the road and she begins to once again, doubt herself. Even though the change in her was brief, she began to understand her place in life was not going to be a glamorous one.

In both This Blessed House and Death of a Salesman the changes that occur to the characters were based on their acceptance and understanding of another character. Because of this, they changed their behavior and their opinion of certain things. Whilst in The Chrysanthemums the change that occurs to the character was one based on a conversation and on the contemplation on her present situation. These three stories teach us about the importance certain events have on our lives and how they shape and change us.