Following is an excerpt from Sherwood Anderson's 1919 novel, Winesburg, Ohio.
Between Elizabeth and her one son George there was an unexpressed bond of sympathy, based on a girlhood dream that had died long ago. In the son's presence she was timid and reserved, but sometimes while he hurried about town intent upon his duties as a reporter, she went into his room…In the room by the desk she went through a ceremony that was half a prayer, half a demand, addressed to the skies. In the boyish figure she yearned to see something half forgotten that had once been a part of herself re-created. The prayer concerned that. "Even though I die, I will in some way keep defeat from you," she cried, and so deep was her determination that her whole body shook.
Based on this excerpt, what seems to have inspired Elizabeth's ceremony?