Angel Estrada . Engl 2310 - 120. Dr. Mcgregor. April 11,

There is no affection and they don’t have a smooth relationship and Elisa is described as “Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water. Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man's black hat pulled down over her eyes, clodhopper shoes, a figured print dress” (32-39). “this women harbors an unsatisfied longing for some way of life less settled than that of the rancher’s wife….” (Kempton 322) Henry has little interest in her and her Chrysanthemums. Elisa doesn’t feel appreciated by her husband so she takes care of the flowers. She just wanted some affection from her husband through her gardening, now you’ll see how she starts to change after being shown some affection from the pot mender.

In “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck it surrounds a woman named Elisa. Elisa’s marriage dynamic proves to be complicated as the banter between her and her husband Henry demonstrates the inability to communicate. Isolation leaves Elisa not satisfied in her life and marriage. Therefore, the loneliness Elisa looks for comfort when a tinker shows up looking for work and cons her. The tinker appealed to Elisa making her feel less alone than she usually does and even shows interest in her beloved flowers. By the tinker using Elisa’s interests, her loneliness subsides as she then craves the attention he gives. In “The Chrysanthemum” Steinbeck shows a theme of isolation throughout the story as Elisa is isolated from society, isolated from her own feelings, and even in her marriage.

Since society has existed, women have been known as different from men. For the longest time, women have been known as the “weaker sex” when compared to the male. There purpose, especially in the olden days is to obey and please the men. However nowadays there seems to be a more equality between the two genders. But even today discrimination between male and female takes place all over the world. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, you can see a lot of discrimination between the two sexes. The story takes place in the 1930’s and it has a bad view on women, they just got the right to vote for presidents, mayors, and senators. However most men thought that the women should only stay home and raise children, that they should not be involved in politics, and their ideas were not valuable. Women were treated as “house slaves” at times when all what they did all day, every day, was work around the house trying to improve the living for their husband and kids.

Throughout history, men and women have been viewed in utterly different spheres. Men have been, and still are, believed to be the hard working individual who is in charge of “bringing home the bacon” and supporting the household finically. On the other hand, women are expected to have little to say, the house spotless, supper on the table, the children bathed, fed, in bed, and educated, all while maintaining a flawless hairdo and makeup. These stereotypes seem a bit offensive nowadays, but if you really consider it, it has been and most likely will be this way for our entire existence.

The short story ‘’The Chrysanthemums’’ was published in 1937 by John Steinbeck. He is most known for writing ‘’Of Mice and Men’’. Most of his writings have the common themes of loneliness and isolation. John Steinbeck likes to write about people living in Salinas during the 1930s. ‘’The Chrysanthemums’’ also took place during The Great Depression. It was set in a foothill ranch in the 1930s. The author creates a cold, dull, closed-off environment of Elisa and her husband, Henry Allen. Her mannerisms and words indicate the sadness and oppression she feels and how uninteresting her life is. Yet, the Tinker walks into her world and motivates her to be something more. Isolation is shown through the depressing environment

A high school girl carried her feet along into the cafeteria, half past noon. Blue denim jeans and a chunky sweater is her outfit. She finds the nearest empty table, which happens to be in the corner, takes out her lunch and starts munching along. Not much expression is found on her face. A blank stare the whole forty minute lunch. It looks like she doesn’t have many people to talk to. This girl must be lonely. She is not the only person who experiences loneliness. Being lonely is extremely common. Loneliness is a major theme throughout the story, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. In the 1930s, Steinbeck powerfully portrays many characters to be lonely, which causes people to have depression and anger.

Elisa Allen is a lonely woman who enjoys growing and nourishing her chrysanthemums. Since her husband is always working the cattle in their farm, she never has enough attention or any kind of affection. The result of this dispassionate marriage leads Steinbeck to describe his main character as follows, "Her face lean and strong…Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man's black hat pulled low…clod-hopper shoes…completely covered by a big corduroy apron…" (Page 206-207) This neglect from her busband causes her to turn to her

The story concerns the unhappy marriage, which appears to be a theme in many of Steinbeck’s short stories, and the psychological effects this has primarily on the wife, Elisa Allen. The central character, Elisa, is appealing to many readers and scholars alike, because of the depth of her persona. Elisa is introduced to us in a less than feminine fashion which can be seen as a hint at oppression of women in

In Of Mice and Men, Lennie and George are portrayed by Steinbeck as the exception to lonesomeness, as demonstrated through the literary device of dialogue, such as “Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you.” (Steinbeck, page 15-16). In The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman shows loneliness in Jane, through extensive internal dialogue and description of her isolation. An example of this is when Jane tells her diary “Of course I don’t [cry] when John is here, or anybody else, but when I am alone. And I am alone a good deal just now.” (Gilman). The seclusion that Jane feels in the story inevitably contributes to her descent into madness. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to infer the presence of isolation in the novel; even through the name of the town “Soledad”, translating to solitude. Another example of Steinbeck portraying loneliness is the poor relationship between Curley and his wife. Curley’s wife is made to feel so isolated on the ranch that she turns to Lennie for someone to talk to; this shows the seclusion and control she must feel from her husband. “I get lonely,” “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad.” (Steinbeck, page 85). Similarly, John is very controlling of Jane in The Yellow Wallpaper. While Curley and John have very different intentions, each of the women are made to feel alone, and ultimately placed into the positions that lead to their deaths. Steinbeck and Gilman utilize these techniques, to successfully commentary how loneliness and isolation, can contribute to a fruitless

The word “soledad” directly translates to “solitude” in the Spanish language. Soledad is also town in which Of Mice & Men takes place. The entire novel displays the idea of solitude. Along with the presence of loneliness in this story, John Steinbeck also ties in the idea of companionship through the everyday lives of individuals. The correlation of loneliness and companionship in the lives of these characters, along with the diversion of lifestyles consistently shows. Of all the many themes of the book, Of Mice and Men, the most important theme is the theme of loneliness and companionship. This theme of loneliness and companionship proves most significant because John Steinbeck truly illustrates how vital companionship is to humanity and the residuum of living without it.

In Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, loneliness is an important theme that is revealed through the characters of Crooks and Curley’s wife. Loneliness is displayed by many characters in the novel, but the character that demonstrates

In "The Chrysanthemums," John Steinbeck uses the idea that males have complete dominance over women and denies her female qualities through her clothing, and lack of roll in the ranch. Although she struggles with this, with her courage and lively personality and her femininity will always be with her. Steinbeck was focused on creating a setting with two main ideas. He created a setting where Elisa is constantly burdened by male’s, such as Henry, and her struggle to regain her strength. John Steinbeck created an environment where it is a “man’s world,” and “a woman's place is in the home,” in this story.

Both genders are given the same rights and rules, depending on their level in society. Neither are allowed to feel pleasure, be attracted to one another, and both are encouraged to stay celibate. This society shows a good amount of gender equality in contrast to the society in The Handmaid's Tale, where the women are unequal to each other: “There are other women with baskets, some in red, some in the dull green of the Marthas, some in the striped dresses, red and blue and green and cheap and skimp, that mark the women of the poorer men. Econowives, they're called. These women are not divided into functions. They have to do everything; if they can” (Atwood 24). The women are split up so that not every woman has the same freedoms and rules as others; there are separate classes just for women. However, all women in general “can’t hold property” (Atwood 178). This means that while some women have more freedoms than other women, they all still have less freedom than men. Women are also treated differently because of the

The tinkerer was a true wool over the eyes kind of man, when Elisa did not play into his craft he pretended to show interest in her beloved chrysanthemums. He used what was closest to her and played her for a fool to gain profit, her flowers were like her children and for him to ultimately discard her gift broke her down. While already being vulnerable for thinking someone was truly interested in what she was doing she avoided the commitment to the thought that none of what they talked about mattered.

Furthermore, we read about Elisa’s abilities to make grow anything that she sticks into the ground. Still, Elisa’s innate ability to grow things was not enough for Henry to let her collaborate in the economic progress of the farm. Even though Henry agrees about her wife’s ability by pointing out “you’ve got a gift with things… I wish you’d work out in the orchard and raise some apples” (Steinbeck 182), he does not considers this ability a sufficient condition to let Elisa collaborate in the farm’s economic productivity as he claims by answering “well, it sure works with flowers” (183). This lack of support by Henry’s side, leads Elisa to a mental state in which she feels powerless and disadvantaged as we see when she celebrates Henry’s success by saying “good for you” (183). Thus, Henry’s lack of knowledge about women and feeling’s understanding makes the relationship itself a boundary for Elisa’s happiness, so as Palmerino admits “Henry and Elisa are