The Chrysanthemums Theme Essay

617 Words2 Pages

The Chrysanthemums, written by John Steinbeck, is about a woman named Elisa Allen who

feels unappreciated and unloved by her husband, Henry Allen. The setting of the story is in Salinas

Valley in California in December, and John Steinbeck tells the story in the third person primarily

from Elisa Allen’s point of view. The theme of the story is the limited role of Elisa as a woman in

society and how her womanly qualities go unrecognized by her husband. John Steinbeck uses

Chrysanthemums as nature to illustrate his theme in the story.

In the Chrysanthemums, John Steinbeck illustrates the gender inequality of Elisa with her

husband in the society. Elisa Allen is a thirty five year old young woman who works on ‘foothill

ranch’ to grow orchards and a flower garden with her husband. Elisa is a hard working housewife

who is very gifted with growing plants and flowers on the ranch. As Elisa works on tending to

Chrysanthemums with much effort and care, her husband, Henry, works on managing the ranch.

The gender inequality is well described as John describes Elisa in the...

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