In Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" Elisa, poster woman for the feminist movement is a victim of her environment by disconnected. Working attempts to change and coming to realization that she will remain oppressed. Elisa opens her door of acceptance to Tinkerman. She yearns for someone to understand her quest for adventure. Buried in the third world of individualism, behind her fenced flowers, she longs for escape. Despite her efforts, she looks forward to the recognition of her circumstance and imprisonment.
Elisa Allen is a lonely woman who enjoys growing and nourishing her chrysanthemums. Since her husband is always working by the fence, he never gives Elisa due attention and affection. Knowing that she can never intervene her husband¡¦s work ¡§Elisa watched them for a moment and then went back to her work.¡¨ Her husband says: ¡§I wish you¡¦d work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big.¡¨ Letting alone his lack of interest for her chrysanthemums, he does not even care about her. Elisa is vex and anger by her husband¡¦s lack of care, and she decides to take care of her chrysanthemums-symbol of how beautiful she really is. Despite her effort, she realizes that she is gradually detached from the world outside the garden. Her gardening area is a ¡§cage¡¨ that protects her from potential harms. Everything changes, however, when the tinkerman arrive. Seeing that the tinker shows interest in the Chrysanthemums, Elisa, although hesitant at first, ¡§melted¡¨ the irritation from her face and begins to reach out towards the outside world.
Knowing that the flowers and Elisa have interchangeable meanings, the tinkerman shows interest in her chrysanthemums, which reflects to Elisa directly, in order to persuade her to find something for him to fix. He says ¡§oh beautiful,¡¨ with this, she now feels appreciate and attractive to this stranger. His compliment to her about her flowers leads her to feel obligate to allow him to enter her world. The tinkerman asks Elisa to help another lady, Elisa feels strong and ¡§tight with eagerness.¡¨ After giving the instructions, Elisa feels proud and good. After hearing the tinkerman¡¦s description of his profession, Elisa wishes to explore more with him, ¡§it must be very nice. I wish women could do such things." The disappointment for Elisa follows her wishes, the tinkerman says ¡§it ain¡¦t the right kind of a life for a woman.¡¨ The time has come, Elisa must let the tinkerman go on to his own adventure, but in their exchange, Elisa gain confidence and realize how beautiful she can be.
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.
While Boyle describes Mrs. Ames as elegant, gentle, and quiet, Steinbeck gives to Elisa more strength. Her face was “lean and strong”, and her figure looked “blocked and heavy in her gardening costume”. Both women find their own ways to cover lack of happiness in their everyday lives. The astronomer’s wife is managing the house finding the silliest things to keep her busy: “…from the removal of the spot left there from dinner on the astronomer’s vest to the severe trashing of the mayonnaise for lunch”. Elisa spends her days in garden raising chrysanthemums “bigger than anybody around here.” The fact that these two women did not have any children can mislead us to the conclusion that they were both trying to satisfy the instincts they were probably having at the age of thirty-five. While this is the case with Elisa, the astronomer’s wife had different problem: the lack of communication with her husband and incapability to understand the world he was in.
...ots her memory, the blossoms her dreams, and the branches her vision. After each unsuccessful marriage, she waits for the springtime pollen to be sprinkled over her life once again. Even after Tea Cake's death, she has a garden of her own to sit and revel in.
“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.
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.
off as a tactless man’s attempt to compliment, but is that all it is? In “The Chrysanthemums”,
John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" shows the true feelings of the main character, Elisa Allen, through the use of setting and her interactions with other characters in the story. By way of vivid descriptions, Elisa's feelings of dissatisfaction over the lack of excitement in her life are portrayed. Her role as a mere housewife and then the subsequent change to feelings of a self-assured woman are clearly seen. These inner feelings are most apparent with the portrayal of Elisa working in the garden with the chrysanthemums, the conversation she has with the man passing through, and finally, when she and her husband are going out to dinner.
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.
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).
John Steinbeck’s, The Chrysanthemums, was published in 1938 in a book of short stories, entitled The Long Valley. The Chrysanthemums has been a rather powerful draw for scholars because of its wide gap for interpretations and analysis of its main protagonist character, Elisa Allen and also the unique descriptions used to portray the deeper meaning behind the setting of the story. Themes of sexuality, oppression of women, as well as other numerous types of conflict portrayed in this rather somber short story have made it a popular study among scholars and students alike. Steinbeck also uses literary elements including a dramatic tone, rich symbolism, and personification which increase the stories feeling and value exponentially. Steinbeck was critically acclaimed for his portrayal of the “common man” through his ability to illustrate in a “realistic style rich with symbolism,” the essence of life in the 1930’s (Price, Victoria).
“It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.” This quote was once said by an amazing author, who described the world’s society today so perfectly that one may forget that he had was describing his society in the early and mid-nineteenth hundreds. John Steinbeck is considered one of America’s greatest author of literature. Many of his work is still read today as required reading in most high schools and college literature classes throughout the United States. His most famous story that had outlived him was the Grapes of Wrath, which led to him receive the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. Many of John Steinbeck told in a realistic view of life and how men lived in them. Steinbeck grew up in California's Salinas Valley, a diverse area with a rich history. His upbringing help shape his writing, which gave many of his works a sense of place. The Chrysanthemums is a short story a part of John Steinbeck collection of The Long Valley. In his short story, The Chrysanthemums, it deal with different problems in society; however, some problems stand out more than others. Many people have interpret the story into many different ways, but my interpretation of the story depicts the inequality of gender in society, the analysis of the character Elisa , and the symbolic meaning of the Chrysanthemums.
"The Chrysanthemums" is a good depiction of most marriages in the early 1900's, the husband is the chief breadwinner and the wife is considered nothing more than a housewife. "The simple story outlines are enriched by irony and imagery which contrast the rich land and the sterile marriage, the fertile plants and Elisa's inner emptiness" (McCarthy 26). The story begins by introducing the setting: "The high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and the rest of the world" (Steinbeck 115). This vivid illustration unconsciously gives the reader a look into the dominating theme. However, it is not until the climax of the story that the reader begins to notice Elisa's true pain and need for her own self-identity. The main protagonist i...
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.
Eugenia Collier’s “Marigolds” is a memoir of a colored girl living in the Great Depression. The story does not focus on the troubles society presents to the narrator (Elizabeth), but rather is focused on the conflict within her. Collier uses marigolds to show that the changes from childhood to adulthood cause fear in Elizabeth, which is the enemy of compassion and hope.
...le older and a chance to show off her bravery emerges in the form of Flora making her escape, she doesn’t even consider playing the part of the hero, she simply follows her father’s orders, and even that she goes back on when she leaves the gate open. She doesn’t daydream of action and excitement anymore; she instead imagines herself in a love story.