What is the function of the setting in "The Chrysanthemums"?

This is an excellent short story that features the life of
one woman, Eliza, who feels trapped and enclosed by life. It is important to note how
the setting adds to this feeling of oppression and entrapment through its physical
details. Note how the story opens and the description of the weather that we are
given:

The
high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all
the rest of the world. On every side it sat like a lid of the mountains and made of the
great valley a closed
pot.

Note how the Salinas
Valley, the setting for this story, is "closed off" by the winter fog and effectively
isolates it from all other forms of life. The valley is described as a "closed pot" with
the fog acting as a "lid." From the very beginning, then, the oppressive and almost
claustraphobic nature of Eliza's life is made clear, which helps us to understand the
way she responds to any interest whatsoever in her life, even if it comes from the
tinker. Her intense, almost uncontrollable desire to reach out and touch his foot comes
as a result of being trapped in her life with no form of understanding, empathy or
outlet for who she is. Setting in this story is thus vitally important in how it builds
up our understanding of character.