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In-Class Writing Assignment Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums Name:_____________________

You are a well-respected psychologist. One day, Elisa Allen from Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” comes to you for counseling. After telling you the same story we read, she asks what you think was the real cause of the discomfort she felt by the story’s end—in other words, she wants to know why she was “crying weakly--like an old woman” in the final scene.

PROMPT: In a well-written paragraph, what would be your response?