John Steinbeck 's recognized story "The Chrysanthemums" is about a full of pride, strong woman named Elisa Allen who feels unfulfilled with her actual life. Her frustration derives from not having children and from her husband not being able to make her feel like a real woman romantically. The only way out of her frustration is her beloved garden where she plants and takes care of beautiful chrysanthemums. The author uses chrysanthemums as symbols of Elisa inner-self and of every woman who could be in this situation.
To begin with, the chrysanthemums represent Elisa 's children. She takes good care of her garden and treats the chrysanthemums with a lot of affection and caution, just as the same way she would handle her own children. Protectiveness …show more content…
The description of Elisa caring so much for the chrysanthemums as if they were her children is undoubtedly a feminine image, but her masculine image is also shown in their "hard-swept looking little house and hard-polished home” (205). This image is passed over into her relationship with her significant one. Elisa feels that her husband doesn 't identify nor appreciate her femininity, and this makes her feel bad and sees him like someone who doesn’t value what he has. There is a feeling of dislike towards her husband. Henry doesn’t see his short-comings, but Elisa also fails to make him understand what he’s doing wrong. There is an obvious absence of harmony between them, which makes Elisa to become unhappy with her husband. When he is observing her flowers, all he says is, "I wish you 'd work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big" (205). The failure to see Elisa 's needs makes her exposed in her meeting with the tinker. The encounter with the tinker makes Elisa’s feelings of femininity and sexuality renew as a woman. Her opposition to his everyday matters disappears after the tinker describes in a romantic way the chrysanthemums as a "quick puff of colored smoke"(207). By admiring the chrysanthemums, he metaphorically is admiring her. The flowers symbolize her sexuality, and she "tears off the battered hat and shakes out her dark pretty hair"(243). With some nice placed words from …show more content…
Elisa removed her old self by scrubbing and cleaning bringing out change in her and a new life. She begins to prepare for her night out with her husband. She dresses, standing in front of the mirror and approves her body and her femininity. She puts on a beautiful dress and carefully applies her make-up. She is really looking forward to her evening with her husband. She hopes he will this time distinguish her needs as a woman and give her that romance and excitement that she’s been waiting for, for so long. However, this hope and new light is quickly destroyed. Her husband’s best compliment on how she looked after she changed was: "You look strong enough to break a calf over your knee, happy enough to eat it like a watermelon" (210). This unappealing comment on her appearance didn’t do much for Elisa 's ego as a woman. Her hope is now completely gone when she sees the flowers that she gave the tinker on the roadside. She felt devastated by the tinker 's insensitive rejection of her very own soul. He, like her husband, has failed to understand and appreciate the qualities that make her unique. This small symbolic action has left her hopeless. She then realizes that her life is not going to get any better or change for that matter. Her sexuality and femininity is never going to be fulfilled
To begin with, the chrysanthemums represent Elisa 's children. She takes good care of her garden and treats the chrysanthemums with a lot of affection and caution, just as the same way she would handle her own children. Protectiveness …show more content…
The description of Elisa caring so much for the chrysanthemums as if they were her children is undoubtedly a feminine image, but her masculine image is also shown in their "hard-swept looking little house and hard-polished home” (205). This image is passed over into her relationship with her significant one. Elisa feels that her husband doesn 't identify nor appreciate her femininity, and this makes her feel bad and sees him like someone who doesn’t value what he has. There is a feeling of dislike towards her husband. Henry doesn’t see his short-comings, but Elisa also fails to make him understand what he’s doing wrong. There is an obvious absence of harmony between them, which makes Elisa to become unhappy with her husband. When he is observing her flowers, all he says is, "I wish you 'd work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big" (205). The failure to see Elisa 's needs makes her exposed in her meeting with the tinker. The encounter with the tinker makes Elisa’s feelings of femininity and sexuality renew as a woman. Her opposition to his everyday matters disappears after the tinker describes in a romantic way the chrysanthemums as a "quick puff of colored smoke"(207). By admiring the chrysanthemums, he metaphorically is admiring her. The flowers symbolize her sexuality, and she "tears off the battered hat and shakes out her dark pretty hair"(243). With some nice placed words from …show more content…
Elisa removed her old self by scrubbing and cleaning bringing out change in her and a new life. She begins to prepare for her night out with her husband. She dresses, standing in front of the mirror and approves her body and her femininity. She puts on a beautiful dress and carefully applies her make-up. She is really looking forward to her evening with her husband. She hopes he will this time distinguish her needs as a woman and give her that romance and excitement that she’s been waiting for, for so long. However, this hope and new light is quickly destroyed. Her husband’s best compliment on how she looked after she changed was: "You look strong enough to break a calf over your knee, happy enough to eat it like a watermelon" (210). This unappealing comment on her appearance didn’t do much for Elisa 's ego as a woman. Her hope is now completely gone when she sees the flowers that she gave the tinker on the roadside. She felt devastated by the tinker 's insensitive rejection of her very own soul. He, like her husband, has failed to understand and appreciate the qualities that make her unique. This small symbolic action has left her hopeless. She then realizes that her life is not going to get any better or change for that matter. Her sexuality and femininity is never going to be fulfilled