Analysis Of The Chrysanthemums

The chrysanthemums is a story about a lady named Elisa, who is trapped and enclosed in a small world that she cannot escape from and that is her Husband’s ranch. Since she was a woman in 1930’s, she could not do much because women were believed not to be strong. She would spend her time planting chrysanthemums, and cleaning the ranch because she could not do anything else. That is the way she would relieve herself, but mostly with the chrysanthemum, and I will talk about the symbolism of the chrysanthemums. First, she did not have any children, and we know that most women’s dream is to have children, and she felt alone. Second, the chrysanthemums represents her femininity and soul. Third, it also symbolized how she wanted to put her mind on something, before she got bored, those flowers represent her only imagination of freedom.

Chrysanthemum represented women that were not actively recognized on society, and both were merely decorative and would add little value to the world. Women were treated like insignificant things just as the tinker man and Elisa’s husband rejected her chrysanthemums. In the story she does not want to accept that she was weak but she was actually controlled by a man and society that would not let woman too much. According to

According to Stanley Renner, "The Chrysanthemums" shows "a strong, capable woman kept from personal, social, and sexual fulfillment by the prevailing conception of a woman 's role in a world dominated by men" (306) This means that Elisa is unsatisfied because her husband do not appreciate her as a woman, but recognize her as a weak person that cannot take care of herself. That is why she starts getting angry at her husband. She is not getting enough attention and that makes her feel like an unimportant