Summary Of The Chrysanthemums By Elisa Allen

87 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: How World War II Affected Women

Elisa Allen tends to her chrysanthemums while her husband is talking to some businessmen. After striking a deal Mr. Allen wants to celebrate and have dinner in town. After Mr. Allen leaves a strange man approaches Elisa. She strikes up a conversation with this man. She gives him some chrysanthemums before he leaves. She finally gets ready and while going into town she sees her chrysanthemums by the road. She considers watching boxing with her husband but he dismisses her. She turns around then proceeds to

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Stories: The Astronomers Wife & The Chrysanthemums

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    Recently, I saw a movie about female tennis champion – Billie Jean King, and although I have never been into the feminism (neither can I say that I quite understand it), her character woke up some other kind of sensitivity in me. After this – to me significant change – I could not help myself not to notice different approaches of John Steinbeck and Kay Boyle to the similar thematic. They both deal with marital relationships and it was quite interesting to view lives of ordinary married couples through both “male” and “female eyes”. While Steinbeck opens his story describing the Salinas Valley in December metaphorically referring to the Elisa’s character, Boyle jumps directly to Mrs. Ames’s inner world. Although both writers give us pretty clear picture of their characters, Boyle does it with more emotions aiming our feelings immediately, unlike Steinbeck who leaves us more space to think about Elisa Allen.

    Read More

  • Struggles with Individuality in The Chrysanthemums by John Steinback

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    Elisa Allen reveals two very different sides of herself in The Chrysanthemums- the person she forces herself to be outwardly and the person she inwardly craves to be. As the story opens, Elisa is very quiet with her husband, giving him brief responses that lack enthusiam. After exchanging a few words with her husband, consisting much of the word “good,” “she said: 'I'll have plenty of time to transplant some of these sets, I guess” (American Short Stories 315). Here, Elisa's responses are neither affirmitive nor a reflection of how she truly feels. Progressively, though, Steinback unveils an eager, overly-expressive Elisa as she encounters a stranger that come to visit her. With the pot fixer, Elisa shares her passion for growing chrysanthemums and expresses a personality trait that is in direct opposition with her otherwise passive attitude. “'It must be very nice,' she said. 'It must be very nice. I wish...

    Read More

  • Living Inside The Fence You Create

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    Elisa's unhappiness in her role as the wife of a cattle farmer is clear in her gardening. Through the authors detailed diction it is clear that gardening is her way of freeing herself from her suffocating environment. “The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy” which is “over-eager” and “over-powerful” (Steinbeck 460). The intensity with which she gardens, “terrier fingers destroy[ing] such pests before they could get started” suggests more than simply a deep interest, but a form of escape completely submerging her self into the task (Steinbeck 460). It is possible that some...

    Read More

  • John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums

    576 Words  | 2 Pages

    In John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums, the reader is introduced to the seemingly timid and shy Elisa Allen. Elisa is routinely planting her yearly sets of Chrysanthemums, which appear to be the sole receptor of her caring and gentle touch, but all the while it is evident that “the chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy.” Her hidden eagerness seems not only out of place, but out of touch with her dry and wilted surroundings, of which her husband, Henry, abruptly interrupts her steady pace. Inquiring of dinner plans, he is quickly shuttered out, so that Elisa can continue her work in the fenced in flower bed. This seems to be the only place on the ranch that belongs to her, and thus devoting the entirety of her time, and consideration, towards this lonely sandy square.

    Read More

  • John Steinbeck's “The Chrysanthemums”

    1277 Words  | 3 Pages

    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?

    Read More

  • Betrayal in "The Chrysanthemums"

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    One day, when her husband Henry goes to work a traveling salesman stops by the house looking for some new work. There is a sense of slight flirtation at first, but that's just because Elisa is so excited to have conversation with someone else other than her husband. However, once he tries to reveal his sales pitch Elisa becomes irritated and short with the man. It wasn't until the salesman made mention of her chrysanthemum's that, " the irritation and resistance melted from Elisa...

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Chrysanthemums

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    The short story "The Chrysanthemums" gives insight into the life of its author. John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California. The locale of the story is of key resemblance to the Salinas in which Steinbeck was born and bread. "Salinas was a typical American small town, [differing] only in location and a few distinctive features" (McCarthy 3). The protagonist of this story, Elisa Allen, also resembles Steinbeck's first wife. "Steinbeck probably based the character of Elisa Allen on his own first wife, Carol Henning Steinbeck. Like Elisa, Carol was a woman of considerable talent and energy who wore 'masculine clothes' and was 'strong, large-boned' and 'handsome rather than pretty'" (Hughes 23). Similar to the time frame in which Steinbeck lived, the theme of the story comes across as being male dominant and the rustic setting allows us to visualize this.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Elisa Allen in The Chrysanthemums by Steinbeck

    1261 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... real love, she may be able to find fulfillment in her flowers more than she ever has. They can be released into the male world and survive, beautiful and strong, though fragile, just as she has. The chrysanthemums are not Elisa's frustration, they are her hope in a world she sees without hope. Therefore, when the tinker simply drops the flowers on the side of the road, the symbolic weight of the chrysanthemums must be considered. Higdon states that "the crucial question remains whether or not Elisa has been destroyed" (Higdon, 668). The reader can see how the flowers represent mostly a positive symbol of growth and life. Elisa may not have anywhere to turn for real understanding, since men are not able to explore her inner-qualities, but it is better that she grows flowers than shutting off her own emotions and feelings and using others like the men around her.

    Read More

  • Popularity Vs Authenticity: Insights from John Green

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    John Green, a well-known American author, vlogger, actor, and editor, once said, “That’s always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they’re pretty. It’s like picking your breakfast cereals based on color instead of taste.” Everyone is born different, but there are always those people who just look better than others, or in other words, more popular, and most people just try to hang out with them. However, there are also people like John Green who do not care about being popular. He once stated that it is “ridiculous… that people want to be around someone because they’re pretty”, which really means that he has never been popular and thinks kissing up to popular kids is just obscured. However, being unpopular

    Read More

  • The Dynamic Character Elisa in Steinbeck's The Chrysanthemums

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Symbolism in The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    All of this insight and analysis of the meaning behind Elisa's chrysanthemums is what opens up the undisclosed doors of this story. If one did not look further into the story, it would seem as if the author was providing a bunch of unnecessary pieces of information about a specific day in the life of Elisa Allen. The chrysanthemums, being the key to the story, give a more in-depth understanding of this woman's life and her struggles that would otherwise not be acknowledged.

    Read More

  • Free Essay: The Odor of Chrysanthemums

    442 Words  | 1 Pages

    The locomotive engine may be symbolic of Walter. It is an overwhelming thing, strong and powerful, the way that Walter is a huge part of her life. However, it is also impersonable and cold, just as her relationship to her husband is. Her moments with her husband, like "the winding engine" are hurried "with brief pauses" (2113). Lawrence describes their intimacy as an "exchanging of nakedness," but without any real connection for long periods of time.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Chrysanthemums And The Story Of An Hour

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story written by John Steinbeck called “The Chrysanthemums” could be named “The Story of an Afternoon” because of the time range it took the tragedy to occur is around the time of a few hours. John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” is similar to Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” in the sense of tragic, irony, happening to women in a small amount of time. In both stories women are bamboozled by men, they become misguided and gain a desire. Aiming to achieve the desire causes them to see a false reality and in ruination.

    Read More

  • A Doll's House And The Chrysanthemums Analysis

    1793 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout history, women have struggled to become equals with men. Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” share a theme to their readers: feminism. The two authors placed their female protagonists in male dominated worlds of the 19th Century Norway and 20th Century America. They used these characters to rebel against the passive role of woman during their time. This theme is promoted through the narration of Nora and Elisa’s marriages, an epiphany that arose from initial disappointment in a male dominated society, and the use of symbolism throughout both works.

    Read More

  • Feminism in John Steinbeck's The Chrysanthemums

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the opening of the story Elisa is emasculated by the description of her clothing. She wears "a man’s black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clodhopper shoes, a figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron…" (paragraph 5). When Elisa’s husband Henry comes over and compliments her garden and ability to grow things Elisa is smug with him and very proud of her skill with the flowers. Her "green thumb" makes her an equal in her own eyes. When Elisa’s husband asks her if she would like to go to dinner her feminine side comes out. She is excited to go eat at a restaurant and states that she would much rather go to the movies than go see the fights, she "wouldn’t like the fight’s" at all (paragraph 21). Elisa is taken aback with her own submissiveness and quickly becomes preoccupied with her flowers as soon as her husband leaves. When the drifter comes and asks Elisa for work to do she is stern with him and refuses him a job. She acts as a man would to another strange man and becomes irritated. When he persists in asking her she reply’s "I tell you I have nothing like that for you to do" (paragraph 46). The drifter mentions Elisa’s chrysanthemums and she immediately loosens up as "the irritation and resistance melt(ed) from her face" (paragraph 51). The drifter feigns great interest in Elisa’s chrysanthemums and asks her many questions about them. He tells her he knows a lady who said to him "if you ever come across some nice chrysanthemums I wish you’d try to get me a few seeds" (paragraph 56). Elisa is overjoyed by any interest in her flowers and gives the man chrysanthemum sprouts to take to his friend.

    Read More

More about Summary Of The Chrysanthemums By Elisa Allen

Open Document