Summary Of ' If It Weren 't For The Honeysuckle ' Essay

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.

The two housewives have a passionate love for gardening and bestow their love and appreciation towards their gardens. In the twentieth century, gardening was advocated as beneficial to one’s life and family. In the New England Quarterly, the journal, “Gardening as ‘Women’s Culture’ in Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s Short Fiction,” states,“The time women spent in

The garden is the vehicle in which the narrator reveals her reluctance to leave behind the imaginary world of childhood and see the realities of the adult world. The evidence supporting this interpretation is the imagery of hiding. The narrator uses the garden to hide from reality and the

of her trees, and farm. It gave her comfort when she ws living in Bybanks because she was all around these

She is pushed into being dependent on her husband and the only way out is her garden.

Before I read this chapter, my understanding of garden is a resting place with flowers and bushes that surrounding by fence. Instead of flowers and bushes, homeless garden is build by largely random materials, such as toys and milk carton. It is not a traditional garden. In additional, it is a place of repose for homeless people or we can say it is temporary home for homeless people. Their home is deliberately constructed because homeless people want to live comfortably. That is why we called it garden.

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.

In the essay Gardening by Bailey White the women telling her story about starting her garden. As she stated she fell for it “ I don't know whether it was the pictures on the seed packets, or the vision I had of myself, dressed all in white, strolling through and in the Vista of poppies and daisies”. This statement leads me to believe she was fascinated with what the appearance of the garden would look like. She had it all planed out how she would get this perfect garden and how she would even line up the rows. As years went by more and more flowers bloomed as she weeded out all the weeds. Once all the flowers were in bloom she no longer needed her long white lace dress and she passed it on to her sister Louise. After conquering this dream she then decided she will Conquer the next greatest thing in gardening. In this essay it showed

The short story writer’s book title is derived from the title of an essay which was a discussion of the struggles of a writer as a black woman and her struggle of self-expression and her search for creativity. Ajarry threatened to “dig a hammer in [anyone’s] head if they so much as look at it [the garden]” and Cora put that threat into action. (Whitehead 140). The garden is much more than a garden. It fed all three of the women and fed Mable and Cora on their journey North to a better life. Whitehead wrote, “After Ajarry’s death, Mable assumed care of the yams and okra, whatever struck her fancy. The fuss started when Cora took it over” (14). This generational exchange is an example of what Walker meant when she said a womanist “appreciates and prefers women’s culture”. These women see the value in not only feeding themselves but their generations to

Cora desired something to separate herself from her work as a slave - Ajarry’s garden served this purpose by allowing Cora to grow and enjoy the produce she grew in the garden.

However, this oppressive description heavily juxtaposes with the “delicious garden” that surrounds the building. As Gilman has used repressive and harsh language to describe the nursery, whilst using positive and descriptive language for the nature outside, it could be argued that she is expressing her love for nature and all things natural, and her dislike towards materialistic and man-made things. The narrator continually describes the external nature, which she observes through the “windows” of the building. The rich and feminine description of the “roses” and “long-grape covered arbors” create a somewhat romantic and delicate feel, alluding to feminine qualities. The juxtaposition between the two settings, not only creates a conflict between the private and public sphere; deviating from Millett’s criticism, but also creates a conflict between the masculine male dominance of the nursery; and the elusive, feminine surroundings. This conflict between male versus female stands in line with many radical feminists’ views, including that of Mary Daly, who advocated a reversal of socio-political power between the sexes. [2] The fact the narrator is viewing this external nature through a window strengthens the divide between the ‘public realm’ and the ‘private sphere’. However, one can also look at one’s reflection; suggesting the narrator’s constant observations through her window are instead reflections of

This perspective communicates to the reader that although this garden looks like a restful or beautiful place, it does not end their suffering. The garden only appears to be a haven from a distance. Through this example, Atwood illustrates that the wives’ choice to demand only oppressive or meaningless rights or privileges does not decrease their present

the road, it was clear that his garden meant everything. Every day of every week, one could see the salt-and-pepper head belonging to the stocky widower bobbing through the flowers. More often than not, a tawny cat would accompany him—weaving through the flowers with the elegant, flowing steps.

Depending on what each person’s purpose was for having a garden, each garden would have different elements. A nurse or midwife would have medicinal herbs, a spinner or weaver would have dye plants, or a decorative garden would have brightly colored flowers. (Pleasant 2004)

In the book, Mary having nothing to do all day goes on and explores the accessible garden. As she learns about the secret garden,