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Social stratification and gender
Symbolism about the chrysanthemums by john steinbeck
What do the chrysanthemums symbolize in this story
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SS 10
As usual, answer the following questions completely by referencing specific parts of the stories.
“The Chrysanthemums”
1. How does Steinbeck’s description in the first two paragraphs give us insight into limitations in Elisa 's life?
The first description gives the reader insight into Elisa’s life. Steinbeck describes the valley as being “closed off,” and a “pot.” scene This similar to the restrictions Elisa faces in her life. Elisa is closed off and sealed in by societal restrictions that stipulates what women can do and what they could not.
2. What does the fence symbolize? The chrysanthemums?
The in both instances where the fence was mentioned, it acted as a physical barrier between Elisa and the men. However, the fence symbolizes
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In the beginning of the story Elisa was dressed in a very unattractive and manly way. The narrator stated she looked “blocked and heavy in her gardening costume.” In the bathing and dressing scene, however, Elisa took care in what she was doing and what she wore. She dressed slowly and put on her newest and nicest underwear. She also selected a dress that emphasizes her beauty. Elisa even went a step further and put on makeup. Elisa totally transformed from the woman not afraid to get her hands dirty to a beautiful, dutiful wife ready for a night on the town. Elisa scrubs herself so hard to remove not only the dirt on her from gardening but to remove her feelings of wanting to live like a …show more content…
She had let her guard down and trusted that the handyman new someone who appreciated and somewhat valued her work. She was so sad when she saw the flowers she gave to the handyman lying on the road that she tried, unsuccessfully, not to look at it. Also, when she passed the handyman wagon she turned her back to them. After passing she cried, according to the narrator, like a weak old woman. “The Lottery”
1. How does the opening scene contrast with what happens at the end of the story?
The opening scene of the story is quite opposite from the end. The story opens with the description of a “clear and sunny summer’s day. The Lottery would take place early enough for the residence to get home and resume their normal activity. The children were playing boiturous
2. What is Tessie’s reaction when her family is chosen? Is it normal?
Tessie’s reaction is normal. When her family was chosen she was upset and insisted that Mr. Summers had cheated. She kept repeating that her hadn’t given her husband enough time. Like any mother, Tessie is concerned about the wellbeing of the member of her family.
3. Why is Old Man Warner included in the story? What attitude does he
From the beginning of the short story, Steinbeck emphasizes that Elisa is a strong, competent woman who finds her considerable energy channeled into things, such as her garden, which never give her the sort of recognition or satisfaction that she craves. For a brief moment, she senses that she is capable of much more and feels her own strength only to, once again, have a man bring down her efforts, and her self-esteem. The story opens with Elisa working in her garden. Steinbeck makes a point of telling the reader that she is thirty-five. Her age at once implies a woman almost at her middle-age who may be reexamining the dreams of her youth as she contemplates the second half of her life. Steinbeck emphasizes Elisa’s strength as he writes, “Her face was eager and mature and handsome” (Steinbeck 279). Her husband, Henry, comes back to the house having just completed the sell of some cattle. He is complimentary towards her gardening and comments on her talent. He suggests that she put her talent to work in the orchard growing apples, and Elisa considers his offhand comment seriously,...
Elisa’s inner feelings are most apparent with the portrayal of her working in the garden, the conversation she has with the “Fixer-Guy”, and finally, when she and her husband are going out to dinner. Steinbeck offers an array of different details concerning the character of Elisa Allen. The main detail being that she is a strong woman on the inside although she seems to struggle in showing it throughout the story. Because of the "Pot Fixer," she is able to act, although for a short time, like that strong woman. Steinbeck unfortunately brings Elisa full-circle, back to where she started. She notices on the way to dinner her chrysanthemum sprouts at the roadside. This, along with her husband’s hesitation to allow her curiosity, puts her back where she started, canceling her emergence. One must ask after reading this short story if Elisa will continue this discontented lifestyle. Or will she be able to blossom beautifully for good, as do her chrysanthemums?
Elisa Allen is a thirty-five-year-old woman who lives on a ranch in the Salinas Valley with her husband Henry. She is "lean and strong," and wears shapeless, functional clothes (Steinbeck 203). The couple has no children, no pets, no near neighbors, and Henry is busy doing chores on the ranch throughout the day. Elisa fills her hours by vigorously cleaning the ''hard-swept looking little house, with hard-polished windows,'' and by tending her flower garden (204). She has ''a gift'' for growing things, especially her chrysanthemums, and she is proud of it (204).
...er introduction is the main reason why the foreshadowing is necessary for the reader. Therefore, this extract sets the tone for the rest of the book, a constant suspense on what will happen to Lennie and Curley's wife.
In the whole of the novella, Steinbeck uses a great deal of imagery in his writing, Therefore, helping us to understand the settings of the novel in much more detail. Within the first page of the book, Steinbeck uses a great deal of words and phrases that contribute to the recurring theme of loneliness. The name of the town in which he bases the entire novel is ‘Soledad’ which means ‘Lonely’ In Spanish. This is a key part of the novel, as it means the whole book’s surroundings, (no matter where it is), is based around that one meaning of ‘Loneliness’. Further on, in the first page Steinbeck describes to the reader the surroundings of the town, he uses a range of detailed vocabulary to emphasise the towns’ Isolation and Loneliness.
Steinbeck begins the story by creating a serene mood when describing the setting. He illustrates how the Salinas River looks, and stating that “the water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool. On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees—willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter’s flooding; and sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool” (1). Steinbeck’s word choice alone (“twinkling,” “golden,” and “fresh and green”) makes the setting appealing to the reader. The peaceful mood is created through the way he closely describes every detail; the images that the reader follows are animated and picturesque. He uses such a long sentence with semi-colons, commas, and dashes to make the passage flow smoothly, as opposed to choppy. The run-on like syntax he uses creates a comfortable feeling, showing that the Salinas River and everything surrounding it is an undisturbed area; the...
An extremely capable women, Elisa Allen, armed with her scissors, clodhopper shoes, corduroy apron, and a man’s hat, seems to be anything but a demure, timid women. However, her husband, Henry, views her in a stereotypical way, seeing her as a helpless woman who is disinterested in practical concepts. Though he acknowledges she has “got a gift with things,” he limits her gifts to things that deal with a typical woman’s job: gardening. In addition, Henry jokes, “I wish you’d work in the orchard and raise some apples that big,” though he does not really except, or desire, her to leave the hobby of her flowers to perform “real” labor around the farm. Furthermore, after Henry decides to treat her to dinner, he playfully jokes with her about going to a boxi...
Many readers who analyze Steinbeck's short story, "The Chrysanthemums", feel Elisa's flowers represent her repressed sexuality, and her anger and resentment towards men. Some even push the symbolism of the flowers, and Elisa's masculine actions, to suggest she is unable to establish a true relationship between herself and another. Her masculine traits and her chrysanthemums are enough to fulfill her entirely. This essay will discuss an opposing viewpoint. Instead, it will argue that Elisa's chrysanthemums, and her masculine qualities are natural manifestations of a male dominated world. Pertinent examples from "The Chrysanthemums" will be given in an attempt to illustrate that Elisa's character qualities, and gardening skills, are the survival traits she's adopted in order to survive, and keep her femininity and vulnerability in a man's world.
This frustration is evident when Elisa is first introduced. Her figure is described as "blocked and heavy" because she is wearing heavy gloves, heavy shoes, a "man's black hat," and a big apron that hides her printed dress (Steinbeck 330). Her home has the masculine qualities of being "hard-swept" and hard-polished" (Steinbeck 330). Elisa is bored with her husband and with her life (McMahan 455). Obviously, Elisa is unhappy with the traditional female role and is attempti...
This essay of literary criticism is going to be on the Chrysanthemums written by John Steinbeck. This short story is considered to be one of the greatest short stories of all time. The author uses characterization to describe Elisa, she is a dynamic character. He shows us that she is a very lonely strong woman in the begging who wants to be loved. Who later changes because of this mysterious man. In this paper, I will prove that the author wanted to show Elisa as a dynamic character and how she changes through the story, from being strong and lonely in the begging, in the middle she because friendly talking to this man, and finally she gets all nice and dressed to go out
A more clear example of how Elisa feels can be better explained by Steinbeck's description of the where Elisa and Henry live. "The high gray-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world. On e...
The setting in the beginning of The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, creates a mood of peacefulness and tranquillity. The image portrayed by the author is that of a typical town on a normal summer day. Shirley Jackson uses this setting to foreshadow an ironic ending.
Elisa Allen embodies the image of a simple woman eager to escape the confines of a gender defined role in society. Readers are introduced to Elisa as a 35 year old, strong woman living with her husband, Henry, on a ranch in Salinas Valley (Steinbeck 460). Elisa’s masculinity is highlighted from the attire she is wearing to the strength in her hands. Henry affirms that Elisa is capable in her endeavors when he states, “you’ve got a gift with things,” in regards to her garden (Steinbeck 460). Even though Elisa is delighted at Henry’s suggestion that she work in the orchard, the idea does not seem to get a second thought (Steinbeck 460). The idea of a woman working in the orchard is dismissed on the premise that the orchard is not a woman’s place. In Elisa’s account with the man in the wagon, her sexuality exudes in her graphic explanation of picking off the flower buds and being under the stars, to the point that she almost physically touches the man (Steinbeck 463). Her desire would go unsatisfied, as it would not be appropriate for her to act on her impulse. Elisa is searching for fulfillment in life but finds her role to be trivial. Intrigued by the idea of traveling, as the gentleman in the wagon does, she states, “It must be very nice. I wish women could do such things.” She is shot down as the man replies, “It ain’t the right kind of a life for a woman” (Steinbeck 464). This conversation clearly depicts the prevalent inequality of the sexes. Furthermore, once the man leaves in the caravan Elisa cements her urge for something more, looking out at the horizon whispering, “That’s a bright direction. There’s a glowing there” (Steinbeck 464-465).
John Steinbeck, who witnessed all these drastic and dramatic changes, used this short story to illustrate what he felt was the questing mind-set of American men and women. He not only made people consider the rhetorical question, “Is the grass really any greener on the other side?“, but he sought to answer it. The reader senses that this woman, Elisa Allen, is a woman who is very unhappy with her life. She feels boxed in, limited, and unfulfilled. The only satisfaction, the only pride, and the only pleasure Elisa gets out of life is being in her garden with her "family" of chrysanthemums. She has fenced in the garden, to insure that it remains off limits to everyone, including her husband, the dogs, the cattle, and visitors. Elisa feels like a prisoner in a prison of her own making. While Henry Allen, her husband, embraces farm life in
A plethora of emotions triggers a person's motivation to write. Whether it is disappointment, fear, bliss, or pure excitement, feelings produce an overwhelming sensation. The response to these feelings can rise from a person's environment, relationships, interests or current struggles. However, emotional madness can be simmered down through a practice of writing (Science 20). Clinical trials indicate that writing about deep or traumatic experiences can clear the mind of all the “confining” stresses and emotional suffocation (Bolarius 2). In detail, a new brain imaging study, conducted by UCLA psychologists, reveals how “verbalizing” feelings can cause a sense of peace and prove to be a “cathartic” exercise (Science 20). In fact, writing down emotions born from experiences provides an opportunity in the documentation for posterity. In the same way, John Steinbeck, the author of Nobel Prize winning literary work, has marked milestones in the history of literature, leaving insightful and evocative images in the hearts of millions and for future generations. Steinbeck's work has drawn influence from several events in his life. David Bender, author of the Literary Companion, writes that any “serious” work from Steinbeck “must begin in his western home of the Salinas Valley” (Bender 13). Steinbeck's strong relationships and time growing up in the West were tremendous influences in his novels The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl, as well as his short story “The Chrysanthemums.”