Not Just a Pretty Flower
An issue that has spanned through all of time is gender inequality and viewing women as equals. In 1937, when John Steinbeck wrote “The Chrysanthemums”, the view of women were far worse than they are today. Steinbeck subtly critiques society by illustrating the inequalities of gender through symbolism and imagery. To this day, women are treated as second class citizens. There are many examples in “The Chrysanthemum” of how Elisa is perceived as lower than the men in the story, despite seeming to possess more skill. “The Chrysanthemum” shows that class difference that stems from being a woman takes away opportunities, a person’s ability to express, and prevents women from maximizing their potential. Throughout “The
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Their interaction shows the negligence that women face when it comes to fulfilling their needs. Elisa is openly flirting with him because finally someone is willing to engage with her at a human level. It is clear it has been a long time since she has been stimulated sexually and intellectually. Their talk about the stars and the tinkerer 's adventures fill Elisa with wonder. She reverts into a submissive, yet excited, position, “kneeling on the ground looking up at him. Her breast swelled passionately” (Steinbeck 5). Because of her social class, society will never let her go out on her own to experience these things. She therefore can only experience these things second handedly. When the tinkerer notices the chrysanthemums, he is also metaphorically recognizing Elisa. She has poured her soul into caring for these flowers and they represent an extension of herself. Though she cannot actually leave with the Tinkerer she gives him a potted flower, a piece of herself, and detailed instructions as to how to care for and nurture it. This moment demonstrates the inability for women to have their own lives because they are considered second class citizens. The chrysanthemums going out with the tinkerer is the closest she will get to going on an adventure. If Elisa had not been ignored, she would not have been made so vulnerable. The tinkerer, …show more content…
The flowers are completely abandoned and unwanted. Steinbeck makes it obvious that the chrysanthemums represent Elisa. The way the tinkerer keeps the pot and throws aside the flowers is symbolic for how society, or men to be specific, disregards women and only takes from them what it wants. The blatant rejection of the chrysanthemums and, to an extension, Elisa herself dampens her mood. When she sees the flowers on the road “it was over. The thing [is] done. She d[oes] not look back...She turned up her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly” (Steinbeck 7). Elisa realizes both that society has no need for her and does not value the things she values. Her husband is of course oblivious, as he lacks the ability to connect with
The difference between men and women is a very controversial issue, while there are obviously physical differences; the problem is how the genders are treated. It is stereotypically thought that the men do the labor work and make all the money, while the women stay in the house, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children. While this stereotype does not exist as much in the 21st century, it was very prevalent in the 1900s. By using many different literary tools such as character development, symbolism, and setting, Alice Munro’s Boys and Girls and John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums challenge this controversial topic of the treatment of women versus men in the 1900s.
“Elisa stood in front of the wire fence watching the slow progress of the caravan. Her shoulders were straight, her head thrown back, her eyes half-closed, so that the scene came vaguely into them. Her lips moved silently, forming the words 'Good-bye—Good-bye.' Then she whisprered: 'That's a bright direction. There's a glowing there.'” (American Short Stories 321) John Steinback's story, The Chrysanthemums centers around a young woman named Elisa Allen and the struggle she faces with her individuality. The uniqueness of Steinback's story can be accreditted to his use of symbolism throughout his writing to create and prove the central theme of equality within genders. An analysis of the characterization, setting and theme of The Chrysanthemums, as well as John Steinback's internal experiences support his modernist veiwpoint.
Within Steinbeck's story, "Chrysanthemums," the main character, Elisa Allen, is confronted with many instances of conflict. Steinbeck uses chrysanthemums to symbolize this conflict and Elisa's self-worth. By examining these points of conflict and the symbolism presented by the chrysanthemums, the meaning of the story can be better determined.
Elisa is a trapped woman. She is trapped in her “closed off” (Steinbeck 459) location of the Salinas Valley; trapped in her “blocked and heavy” “gardening costume” (Steinbeck 460); trapped behind her “wire fence” (Steinbeck 460). Elisa is trapped woman, however all of the things that keep her trapped are ultimately hers: “her wire fence” or her constricting clothing (Steinbeck 460). Elisa's inability to step beyond her boundaries ultimately leads to her continued unhappiness and feeling of entrapment in her feminine role.
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).
...and ready to be rediscovered again. Early in the story Henry offers Elisa to a dinner in town and half heartedly suggests going to a local fight. Elisa not keen of fights refuses. In retrospect to her inner ambitions Steinbeck tactfully portrays the message that the only way to follow “the bright direction” Elisa strongly wants is to be willing to fight for it. Nonetheless, don’t be fooled to believe any such inspirations to be acquired will come to you. But Elisa verily on the edge at the end of the story asks Henry about the fights and he suggests if she wants to go. She refuses, Steinbeck again symbolically suggesting she is unwilling to fight for what she wants. So her chrysanthemums will remain out of reach until she decides to do so.
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.
Both Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants and John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums portray oppressed female characters in the early 1900s. In Hemingway’s short, Jig is oppressed by her lover known only as “The American,” whereas, the main character in The Chrysanthemums, Elisa Allen, feels the weight of oppression from society (male dominated) as a whole. Although the driving force of the two women’s subjugation varies slightly, their emotional responses to such are what differentiate the two.
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...
In this short the Chrysanthemums, written by John stein beck. The author tells a character who is in need of love. Stein back reflects the charazteratiom of Elisa in the story because he shows us how Elisa character changes threw out the story. The traits of Elisa’s show us that Elisa is strong and want affection and resorts to the chrysanthemums as a way to show herself.
During a rather bleak period of her life, Elisa was visited by a strange wanderer. Galore o...
It can be deducted that Steinbeck’s writing often limits the potential of a woman’s aptitude in society, which reflects an internal bias in opposition to women. Incredibly smart women, such as Eliza from “The Chrysanthemums,” have their ambition and intelligence stifled by their homes and are left broken. Other women have shallow personalities and no aspirations to acquire further knowledge. Curley’s wife’s mindset perfectly mirrors this idea. Furthermore, the irrelevant women in The Grapes of Wrath lack any ambition, and hold no place in their society painted by Steinbeck.
How does one compare the life of women to men in late nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century America? In this time the rights of women were progressing in the United States and there were two important authors, Kate Chopin and John Steinbeck. These authors may have shown the readers a glimpse of the inner sentiments of women in that time. They both wrote a fictitious story about women’s restraints by a masculine driven society that may have some realism to what women’s inequities may have been. The trials of the protagonists in both narratives are distinctive in many ways, only similar when it totals the macho goaded culture of that time. Even so, In Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing we hold two unlike fictional characters in two very different short stories similar to Elisa Allen in the “Chrysanthemums” and Mrs. Louise Mallard in “The Story of an Hour”, that have unusual struggles that came from the same sort of antagonist.
At first glance John Steinbeck’s "The Chrysanthemums" seems to be a story about a woman whose niche is in the garden. Upon deeper inspection the story has strong notes of feminism in the central character Elisa Allen. Elisa’s actions and feelings reflect her struggle as a woman trying and failing to emasculate herself in a male dominated society. Elisa is at her strongest and most proud in the garden and becomes weak when placed in feminine positions such as going out to dinner with her husband. Steinbeck carefully narrates this woman’s frequent shifts between femininity and masculinity over a short period of time.