Throughout the story, The Chrysanthemums, there are various themes and motifs that are portrayed by John Steinbeck. In the beginning he starts out by giving this lovely description of the beautiful valley that Elisa and Henry live on their cattle ranch, but then he adds a quick note that the valley was a “closed pot”. Some would be quick to overlook that, but what Steinbeck is trying to tell the reader is that Elisa is stuck or seemingly forever stuck on this ranch to garden chrysanthemums and never elevating herself above the social status of a rancher’s wife. We also learn from the lengthy description of how Elisa grows the chrysanthemums that she is highly intelligent. From my own personal experience with gardening, it takes a lot more
