Essay on Chrysanthemums

In The Chrysanthemums, Elisa is a woman who is trapped at her husband Henry’s ranch by her gender and society’s idea of what a woman can manage. She is a very strong, capable woman who works all day to make the house spotless and the garden thrive. Elisa is good at her work, “behind her stood the neat white farm house… it was hard swept looking little house, with hard-polished windows, and a clean mud-mat on the front steps”. That show just how much work she puts into keeping the house clean. Elisa knows she is capable of successfully accomplishing any number of what society labels as men’s work and being held back makes her bitter and resentful. In an attempt to feel freedom, Elisa gifts some of her chrysanthemums to a traveling solicitor. She is devastated when she spots the flowers dumped on the road on her way to town with Henry. Elisa, like her flowers, feels discarded and devalued by men and society.

1. In "The Chrysanthemums," the interaction between Elisa and the traveling repairman helps develop the story's theme about taking risks. Describe their interaction and explain how it helps to develop the story's theme. Be sure to use specific details from the text to support your ideas. (10 points)

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,

In the portion of the story where Elisa is talking to the "Fixer-Guy" who happens to pull down the road to her farm, Steinbeck shows Elisa's eagerness for attention and how she comes to the realization that there is a more exciting life outside the farm. In the “Fixer-Guy”, Elisa finds somebody who sees her as more than a housewife, someone who can appreciate her from an unbiased viewpoint. He offers his services and she turns him down saying “I tell you I have nothing like that for you to do.” At first she resists conversation with him. Then when he asks about her plants Steinbeck writes “The irritation and resistance melted from Elisa’s face.” “I raise them every year, bigger than anybody around here”, she boasts. She is now very eager to talk about her chrysanthemums. Elisa's face becomes "tight with eagerness" as she talks about them, as if they were her children. The vibes from her infatuation with these flowers are picked up by the old man, and there is an unspoken connection between these two perfect strangers as they have both chosen their own preoccupation in life, his being a passion of pots and hers a love of chrysanthemums. It is this connection that ignites the realization that she longs to break free from the everyday routine she calls life. This feeling is so strong that "her hand went out toward his legs in the greasy black trousers" as if to grasp a piece

Everything is everything in the world of short stories. Steinbeck's The Chrysanthemums is full of thick rhetoric that raises questions and stirs the mind and imagination. Everything from the title, to the last line needs to be thought about more than once. The story isn't just about a farmer's wife who likes pretty flowers. Not in the least! The Chrysanthemums is a story about how Elisa Allen is forced to a life that she feels is trapping her. The story is set in the early twentieth century and these times don't allow for just any woman to leave her ordinary, socially and politically correct life. Feminism is a large part of the story, and main character Elisa Allen's language, actions, and even the way she is described play a large

She is upset by the loss of the day even though her mother attempts to distract her with a garden of flowering violets, her father also attempts to comfort her. Finally, she returns to sleep after dinner. Her memory is a positive memory and the motif if the violets are used to link the past and present as it will help her get through her dark times. In the visual her memory is included, and he mother confronting her is one of the main images that she remembers from this. The image of her mother comforting her is a very important one, as it establishes the role and persona of a mother at the time and how women in that era were seen as to stay home look after children and the men went out and worked to support the

Seemingly, the flowers represent Elisa. She believes she is strong and tough and able to accomplish anything thrown her way; however, taken for granted as she is only a woman allowed to look and act accordingly. Surrounding the flowers is a wire fence set up to keep out predators and to separate the flowers from the rest of the farm. The wire fence is symbolic in the fact that it is identical to the world Elisa lives in. Elisa is contained within the farm, unable to explore or leave without the help of someone else. Elisa is stuck on the farm, isolated from the rest of the world so that she can be kept safe. Naive and unaware of how the world works, her husband keeps her on the farm to protect her from harm. When Elisa gives the chrysanthemum to the travelling merchant, she gives him a small piece of herself. Later, as her and her husband are driving to town, she sees the flower tossed aside as though it was nothing; as a result, she realizes she could never go off on and live the way the merchant had. The flowers embody her character still, and how out of her home without protection, the world can be harsh and cruel. In short, Elisa’s isolation leaves her ignorant, unable to understand how callous the world is, and comes to the bleak realization that she can’t live a life anywhere outside of her fence. Because of how women were treated, constantly pushed down and unable to pursue their interests, Elisa is left unable to learn what life has to offer. Learning

Steinbeck introduces Elisa, the main character, as a masculine young woman with a “face lean and strong” (Steinbeck 209) and “her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man’s black hat...clod-hopper shoes.” (Steinbeck 209) He lets the chrysanthemums symbolize Elisa’s true beauty. She feels that her husband does not see her as beautiful woman. All he can see is a house wife and a gardener. He shows little interest in the chrysanthemums. When Henry says, “You’ve got

Elisa Allen in Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" and Louise Mallard in Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" have a great deal in common because of the fact that they both went through similar struggles. Both Elisa and Louise prove to be strong women that clearly had dreams of their own such as being equal to men and having a passionate relationship with a man. Although that may be true, they lacked resemblance in the true desire they each yearned for.

The setting of Alice Walkers short story” The Flowers” is important for us, the readers to obtain a perspective of how life was like growing up for a 10 year old African American girl by the name of Myop. The title of the story is “The Flowers.” When you think about flowers, you instantly compare them to being beautiful, pure, and innocent. The title of the “The Flowers” is a symbolism that correlates to Myop who is the protagonist of the story. Myop is just like a flower in the beginning of the story. She’s a pure and innocent child but that pure innocence changes when she discovers something that’ll change her life forever.

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

Elisa is especially proud of her chrysanthemums and how big they are this year. Steinbeck exhibited this pride Elisa portrayed as "she straightened her back and pulled on the gardening gloves again. Yes they'll be strong this coming year." Elisa worked hard at her garden and it was important to her. In fact it was the only thing she had to be proud of. For Elisa the chrysanthemums symbolized the work she feels she is capable of as a

There are many symbolic references to Elisa Allen as a sexually repressed and frustrated woman. One representation of the chrysanthemum is Elisa's passion and eagerness to live and experience life a content woman. While tending her chrysanthemums "she pulled out the crisp little roots and trimmed of the leaves of each one with her scissors (Steinbeck 1464)." This is a symbolism of Elisa Allen closing off all opportunities to grow as a sexual woman; She has resigned herself to the monotonous life as a complacent farmer's wife (Lee 1). The "figured print dress (Steinbeck 1463)" under the apron shows the readers that Elisa is aware of her sexuality but instead of acting on it has chosen to subdue it. She keeps her sexuality and passions under control like she cares for her chrysanthemums "laid [in a] small [and] orderly pile (Steinbeck 1464)" (Lee 1). Elisa begins to allow this sexuality to emerge when the traveling tinker romantically describes her

Both Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants and John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums portray oppressed female characters in the early 1900s. In Hemingway’s short, Jig is oppressed by her lover known only as “The American,” whereas, the main character in The Chrysanthemums, Elisa Allen, feels the weight of oppression from society (male dominated) as a whole. Although the driving force of the two women’s subjugation varies slightly, their emotional responses to such are what differentiate the two.

Steinbeck uses chrysanthemum’s to symbolize Elisa’s strength and power in order to show how societal standards cause women to miss out on opportunities and become frustrated with the confinement of their expression. “[Elisa] was cutting down the old year's chrysanthemum stalks with a pair of short and powerful scissors. She looked down toward the men by the tractor shed now and then. Her face was eager and mature and handsome; even her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful.” Chrysanthemum stalks require a great deal of force to be cut down, which is highlighted through Elisa’s use of “powerful scissors.” Ordinarily, flowers are portrayed as beautiful and delicate; however, chrysanthemums are sturdy and tough. Steinbeck chose specifically to use chrysanthemums because they symbolize the strength Elisa has; she is confident, empowered, and masculine, but all of her strength is confined within the standards of society just as the chrysanthemums are confined within the walls of her garden. Elisa, as a woman, is unable to express herself as strong, masculine, and proud because that was not the standard that women were held to during that time; her expression is confined to her work in the garden with her chrysanthemums, and it is frustrating for her to miss out on the opportunities that would showcase her strength and let it be appreciated by her husband and the mender because of the standard of delicacy and beauty that women are held to.