Why does Elisa want to see a fight at the end of the story? Why does she begin to cry?

Why does Elisa want to see a fight at the end of the story? Why does she begin to cry?

Elisa wants to see a fight at the end of the story, because the fight symbolizes Elisa’s desire to win over the authority of the male figure and become free. Since her current position as a housewife is basically to serve her husband, who is the dominant male, she imagines fighting males in general in order to feel dominant and therefore free. This desire is strengthened after her meeting with the tinker. She imagines “the fighting gloves get heavy and soggy with blood” (“The Last Crysanthemums”). However, the tinker also sort of played with her heart, and so she realizes how males tend to win over the trust of females, while at the same time keeping them in a position in which they cannot win over them. The only way for Elisa to win over them, according to her thoughts, is to beat them through a physical fight. This way, she can truly express her “power” and become a free person. However, the utterance of fighting is not like Elisa, according to Henry, which reminds the reader of Elisa’s sad reality of staying as a housewife. This is why she cries at the end.