Elisa Confused Essay

If he gave her any personal praise, as a woman of distinct qualities (one who was vital to the farm's survival), he might be empowering her. Thus, he keeps his praise for her superficial skills, growing flowers. In this way, Henry frustrates Elisa by not seeing into her true character. The flowers represent Elisa trying to find some way of escaping from her frustrated and repressed husband, not from her own sexual frustration.

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.

The flowers are beautiful and eye catching, but serve no real purpose to the house. Elisa feels a connection to the flowers when she tends to them. She claims to have “planter’s hands” just like her mother. When someone compliments or asks about the chrysanthemums her mood brightens, as if they are acknowledging the work that she puts in and her talents. However, after the tinker leaves and Henry and Elisa are driving down the road, she notices that the tinker had discarded the chrysanthemums she had given him on the side of the road. This symbolizes the society that she lives in discarding her abilities and drive because of her

Elisa, also a housewife, usually had activities involved in routine housework and maintaining her flower garden, that was filled with chrysanthemums. She took care of the chrysanthemums as if they were her children, and being a farmers’ wife, she had more free time than her husband, Henry. When the tinker, also known as the tin man, came up to Elisa for work he tried to manipulate her into giving him some work to do. When the tinker saw there was no way Elisa would give him work, he tried to work her. “What’s them plants, ma’am?” (Steinbeck, 208). Tinker asked Elisa about the plants probably so he could influence her about chrysanthemums- that way they bond on the subject of the flowers and from there Elisa started to explain the importance of these flowers. Elisa doesn’t realize she’s being played with until near the end when tinker finally leaves she waves goodbye to him but her voice drops as she says the word “Goodbye to goodbye”, finding that the tinker threw Elisa’s chrysanthemums away (Steinbeck, 210). This quote showed the attachment for the chrysanthemums Elisa had, and the minute the tinker threw away those flowers, it broke Elisa’s heart. This makes Elisa thinks about how a man can get what he wants while Elisa

Towards the end of the story, Elisa feels rejected when she sees the chrysanthemum flowers were tossed off the side of the road. The chrysanthemum was a metaphor to explain the life of women, they need a lot of attention to bloom and if they are not taken care of they can die or dry up. “She turned up her coat collar so he cannot see that she was crying weakly---- like an old lady.” (pg.8) At the end of the story, Elisa’s husband realized that his wife changed by not reacting to his comments as she usually did, but agreed with him, “It will be good, tonight, a good dinner.”

In the short story, “Chrysanthemums,” by John Steinbeck, a woman named Elisa is transformed into a chrysanthemum in parallel to the actual chrysanthemum flowers she cares for. In the beginning of the story, Elisa is similar to the chrysanthemum shoots when she is working in her garden in her dirty dress, apron, and a man’s hat. When Elisa is getting ready for dinner, however, she transforms into a beautiful chrysanthemum flower by cleaning herself and putting on a nice dress. In addition to being like a chrysanthemum, Elisa acts like the chrysanthemum flowers are the children she doesn't have in the way she cares for and loves them. This is the reason why Elisa cries when she sees the chrysanthemum shoots she gave to the tinker lying

In the story “The Chrysanthemums” the women Elisa Allen had this deep passion for the flowers call chrysanthemums. That even her husband Henry gave her much space when she was dealing with the chrysanthemums. The story opens when Elisa hears a “squeak of wheels and a plod of hoofs”, and a man drives up in and old spring wagon and does not have a name but simply called the man. Earning a meager living, he fixes pots and sharpens scissors and knives. He travels from San Diego to Seattle and back every year. The man chats and jokes with Elisa, but she admits that she that she has no work for him to do. When he presses for a small job and she becomes annoyed and tries to send him away. Suddenly, the man’s attention turns to the flowers and gives a brief description of the chrysanthemums while Elisa is attending the flowers. The man says kind of long stemmed flower, looks like a quick puff of smoke, and Elisa becomes delighted of the description.

John Steinbeck’s theme in the Chrysanthemums is to show the discrimination between men and women and the need for sexual contentment. John Steinbeck uses symbolism throughout his story in different objects, places, and characters. Some of these symbols were the chrysanthemums, the Salinas Valley, and Elisa herself. Steinbeck uses the chrysanthemums to symbolize Elisa’s sexuality and femininity, the Salinas Valley to symbolize her dull and emotional life, and finally Elisa’s manliness to show how no one has appreciated her feminine side.

When her husband, Henry, comments about her "strong" chrysanthemum crop, Elisa is pleased by the manliness the word implies, but her husband reminds her of her femininity by offering her an evening on the town (Dickman). Henry suggest that Elisa should work out in his orchard due to her bountiful flowers, but, as Elisa gets excited, he indicates that he was only joking (Steinbeck 2). Soon Elisa is introduced to a traveling man known as a tinker. Elisa's first response to the tinker is that of a man, for she resists giving him work, but as the tinker talks, Dickman’s article points out, Elisa's calculated and conscious masculine efforts become more and more feminine. Elisa's feminine side begins to emerge as she takes off her masculine gloves and hat.

In the home, Henry’s influence on Elisa is reduced due to her help around the house and in the kitchen. Henry believes that women cannot live alone. They need company, protection, and care that they cannot provide without help of a man. For example, in the story Elisa is described as wearing men’s clothing.

Elisa’s favorite hobby is gardening. I realized that’s the only thing she loves doing, which makes her happy. Her favorite flower is the chrysanthemums, thus the title of the story. Mr. Steinbeck, illustrates this woman in masculine terms, yet he makes it known that she’s a woman. Although it’s not mentioned or said in an obvious way, it’s easy to presume that Elisa isn’t happy within her life or marriage outside of gardening. Several attributes that Elisa has, helped me come to this conclusion: her insecurities, being naïve and seemingly frustrated in the

Elisa pays close attention to the chrysanthemums. She does not give the bugs a chance to infest and destroy all the hard work and time she invested. Elisa protects the mums from harm with her fingers. She uses the mums to define her beauty and

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.

The images of Elisa nurturing the flowers, as they are her children are of course feminine, but masculinity is observed in her “hard-swept and hard-polished”3 (Steinbeck35) home. These images are carried over into her marriage in which Elisa feels that her husband Henry never recognizes her in a loving manner and causes her to be distant from him. Henry fails at never recognizing his wife as the nurturing woman she is, but Elisa fails to for not speaking up for herself and pointing them out to him. On observing her chrysanthemums, all Henry could say is “I wish you’d work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big”4 (Steinbeck48). Henry’s inability in understanding Elisa’s needs leads her into flirting with the strange man whom arrived to their home.

The Chrysanthemums form the ideal title of the story as a motive of the suppressed aesthetic and intellectual value of the feminine race in a patriarchal society. The lovely, strong, and prolific life of the chrysanthemums reflects the suppressed aesthetic, manual, and intellectual potential of Elisa’s character in a male-dominated society. Furthermore, the chrysanthemums serve as the only avenue for unlocking Elisa’s suppressed feminine potential and beauty. Elisa’s face “was eager and mature and handsome” (207) as she worked with the chrysanthemums. Ironically, the feminine potential and beauty unleashed by the chrysanthemums is interpreted from the masculine lens as evidence from the use of the male phrase "handsome" referring to Elisa's beauty.