A Feminist Perspective of John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums
John Steinbeck, in his short story "The Chrysanthemums" depicts the trials of a woman attempting to gain power in a man's world. Elisa Allen tries to define the boundaries of her role as a woman in such a closed society. While her environment is portrayed as a tool for social repression, it is through nature in her garden where Elisa gains and shows off her power. As the story progresses, Elisa has trouble extending this power outside of the fence that surrounds her garden. In the end, Elisa learns but does not readily accept, that she possesses a feminine power weak for the time, not the masculine one she had tried so hard to achieve through its imitation.
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They look at a tractor and smoke, manly things, as they conclude their man's work. Just as their environment surrounds all persons, fences surround animals and men surround women.
As she looks out to these men, we look at Elisa. Although she is doing the "feminine" work of gardening, she is dressed like a man. She wore a black hat low on her forehead to cover her hair, thick leather gloves covered her hands, and clodhopper shoes covering her small woman's feet. A "big corduroy apron" covered the dress making "her figure look blocked and heavy" (396). Unconsciously, as she looks through her fence at the men talking business, she is trying to cover up her feminine qualities. She longs to be in their position and possess their characteristics.
As she does her gardening, something she enjoys and excels in, "Her face was lean and strong… eager and mature and handsome" (396). Her use of the scissors is described as "over-eager" and "over-powerful" (397). All of these characteristics are usually masculine adjectives. But in this case they describe a woman attempting or at least imagining living as a part of such a man's world.
Yet Elisa's power is not used for "masculine" activities; in fact, her power is derived from a feminine source, nature. Mother Nature, a female, controls the environment. This female power is part of matriarchal lineage since Elisa'a mother also "could stick anything in the
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.
Elisa not having any attention is in her gardening area when a mysterious man approaches her. Elisa is interested in this man. The man wants to fix something for Elisa but her being so strong she refused. So the man changes the tactics and shows interest in her Chrysanthemums. Elisa not being complemented about her Gardner and now someone says something so she begins to act differently toward the pot mender. She becomes attracted to this man and wants to do more then just be a gardener. The pot mender says something about her flowers and she feels appreciated. The pot mender leaves and her husband is ready to go out with her for diner, she now has confidence to go out.
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
John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums”, is a story about a woman struggling with strong inner feelings of loneliness and isolation. Elisa Allen is initially portrayed as a woman who overcompensates and whose tasks are far exceeded by her abilities. She appears content with her life and adores tending to her garden. However, a tinker briefly enters her life and through his power of persuasion and manipulation provides Elisa with hopes of change and excitement. He gives her the much needed attention she is so desperately looking for. As the story continues we learn that these hopes are crushed as we unravel the betrayal the tinker has bestowed upon Elisa. He exploits her and takes advantage of her hunger for company, aspirations, and
John Steinbeck’s short story, “The Chrysanthemums” features many themes: themes of gender suppression, love, passion, and betrayal. This short story revolves around the character Elisa Allen who has a strong love and a great passion for her flowers, for her beloved chrysanthemums. However, when a mysterious man arrives towards the end of the text Elisa’s love and passion for the chrysanthemums weakens and she feels betrayed by one of the things she loves most. Steinbeck uses the unlikely encounter between the Tinker and Elisa, as well as, the encounter between Elisa and her husband as a way to express the theme of love and betrayal.
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
John Steinbeck uses symbolism to give alternate meanings to his short story “Chrysanthemums.'; A symbol is a device used to suggest more than its literary meaning. He uses these symbols to look further into the characters and their situations. The character Elisa has a garden, which is more than just a garden, and the chrysanthemums that she tends are more than just flowers. There are actions that she performs in the story, which also have other meanings.
In the three short stories “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, and “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, each author provides insight into the complexity of human nature through the internal struggles faced by a main character within each story. In “The Chrysanthemums” Steinbeck paints Elisa in a way that displays her lack of feminine identity, highlighting her personal sexual views of herself and ¬¬the internal struggle it creates, then in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Oates also presents a female who struggles with her sexual view of herself which we see throughout the story as Connie hides her sexuality at home but lets it run wild for the rest of the world, ultimately leading to her demise, and lastly in “Sonny’s Blues”, Baldwin introduces Sonny and the complex issues he goes through as his brother doubts his
In his short story, “The Chrysanthemums,” John Steinbeck’s use of symbolism throughout the story provides the development for the plot which demonstrates that women sometimes suffer from estrangement and solitude while in search for their identity. Steinbeck presents the main character, Elisa Allen, as a frustrated woman who is dissatisfied with her current lifestyle as she yearns for a more adventurous one, instead of living up to society’s expectations of a woman only being a simple housewife. To support the theme, the author uses the fence and the flowers in a symbolic technique to represent the feelings of loneliness and alienation to portray Elisa’s relationship with the outside world.
“The Chrysanthemums” is one of John Steinbeck’s popular short stories. “The Chrysanthemums” represents inequality of gender, limitations, and feminism. The story is about a married woman living in the early 1900s who longs for a more exciting, meaningful existence. Elisa Allen is intelligent, accomplished, attractive, and ambitious. Yet she feels confined in her life and marriage.
Elisa’s garden is her private escape, where she is free to daydream, yearn, and wonder about life outside of her valley. Her little fenced in garden not only keeps the dogs and cattle out, but her husband does not trespass in it either. It is hers and hers alone. Elisa shows signs that she is miserable in her marriage and her life, by being curt and dismissive to her husband, uninterested in his buyers, and equally rude and dismissive towards the panhandler that rides up in an ancient, rickety, covered wagon. being pulled by an old horse and a mule.
In "The Chrysanthemums" John Steinbeck develops a theme of limitations. The story is essentially a man in the mirror story where the rigid Elisa sees herself for the first time as trapped. Although Elisa has recognized her life as limited and confining, she sadly accepts her life as is and does nothing to rectify her situation. In John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" symbolism of the fence, the garden, and the chrysanthemums help illustrate the story by striking an emotional chord with the audience.
Second, the male woman is portrayed as a member of male team who can stand on her on by “learning to be assertive within her male colleague environment, have a rough and harsh voice, dress practically and tend to acquire unhealthy lifestyle such as bad sleeping habits, smokes, drinks” (Flicker 311). To some extent, this ‘male woman’ female scientist is parallel to the character of male scientist who is often times portrayed as “hard, very diligent worker, absent minded, confused or worse, mad (Haynes quoted in Flicker 311). More to this, in term of femininity, this female scientist does not have such quality, rather she is seen as asexual characteristic. Even though, her
"The Chrysanthemums", one of John Steinbeck's masterpieces, describes a lonely farmer's wife, Elisa Allen. Elisa Allen's physical appearance is very mannish yet still allows a hint of a feminine side to peek through. John Steinbeck brings symbolism into play to represent Elisa Allen's frustrations and hidden passions. Isolation is another representation through symbolism found in "The Chrysanthemums." Elisa's failing detached marriage is represented through two symbols. The two reoccurring symbols are the chrysanthemums and fences. John Steinbeck draws pity from the reader for Elisa Allen who desperately wishes to experience the passions of a fulfilling marriage and the stimulation of
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.