Salinas Valley

The setting takes place in a ranch at Salinas Valley, California in December. Since it takes place during the winter, “it was a time of quiet and of waiting” (paragraph 2). This reveal that there isn’t much to do on the ranch since “there was little work to done” (paragraph 3). The valley is also described as a “closed pot” (paragraph 1) which hints that the ranch is isolated from any sign of civilization. To pass the time, Elisa work in her garden. While it give her something to do, this doesn’t satisfy her. Elisa is trying find joy in her life. Near the end of the story, Elisa wanted to drink wine and watch the fights. She previously didn’t want to do those things, but she change her mind as she is trying to find some kind of fulfillment…

The Chrysanthemums is a short story by John Steinbeck. It tells a story of a strong women named Elisa Allen and her husband Henry who live on a ranch across the Salinas River where winter has come, where the sun is blocked by a “grey-flannel fog.” At the beginning, Henry begins to negotiate a sale of thirty head of cattle, while Elisa Allen, his wife, and the main focus of the story, attends to her chrysanthemums in her garden. While handling the flowers, her husband comes back with great news:…

John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. grew up in the abundant Salinas Valley of California. He loved the Salinas Valley, writing to one of his friends, “I think I would like to write the story of this whole valley, of all the little towns and all the farms and the ranches in the wilder hills. I can see how I would like to do it so that it would be the valley of the world.” He achieved his goal of making it the valley of the world through Of Mice and Men. The novel takes place in the Salinas Valley amidst…

John Steinbeck is about a thirty-five-year-old woman named Elisa who has an intense love for gardening. Although she is a great and extremely capable gardener, she is forced by her husband to apply her skills only on the tasks that are dictated to her role as a woman in society. As a result of this, she is forbidden from helping him with the farm’s harvest for the season. Steinbeck uses several other examples in addition to the one above to show how gender inequality can lead to extreme…

“The Chrysanthemums”, a short story by John Steinbeck depicts the typical life of people living in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Steinbeck focuses on Henry Allen and his wife Elisa Allen, who live on a small ranch in The Salinas Valley, California. It starts with Elisa doing what she loves to do, work on her flower garden, although she wishes Henry would care more about her talent of gardening. Even though Henry did end up complimenting her flowers she was not satisfied because she knew it was…

In the beginning of the story its described with the fog acing as a lid on the pot of the valley (1061). The description of a closed pot closely mirrors the language Steinbeck uses to describe the life of Elisa as a prison. It’s no wonder Steinbeck would use a valley, which is enclosed on both sides by mountains, in which to place this story. The time of the story constitute the ultimate restraint on Elisa as woman’s right had only been brought to light in the past 15 years, with their right to…

use merely to look pretty rather than an equal partner to her husband. When the tinkerer throws her chrysanthemums to the side of the road, it really ends up showing how society has thrown away her ideas, talents, and ambitions. Where Steinbeck uses symbolism to express Elisa’s feelings, Ibsen chooses to use the dialog between Nora and the other characters to express feelings and portray the theme. Steinbeck also uses the setting to contribute to the theme. The story starts off describing the…

Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck in 1937. John Steinbeck writes mostly about migrant farm workers. All of his books are placed in Salinas River Valley in California. Of Mice and Men is about two men trying to reach their American Dream, but don't succeed. In this novella, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses sexism with Curley’s wife, racism towards Crooks, and ableism in Lennie to prove that prejudice exists in America. First, John Steinbeck uses sexism in Curley’s wife to prove…

beating her, leaving her in the middle of nowhere. However, later Adam finds Cathy in her condition and takes her in. Charles disapproves of Cathy, but Adam admires her and makes sure that she heals. Adam and Cathy are married, though, the night of their wedding, she intoxicates him with her medicine she has been taking for her pain causing him to fall into a deep sleep. After he is asleep, she seduces Charles and sleeps with him; Charles had put forth no efforts in resistance. Adam is so…

John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas California. Steinbeck wrote over 30 books along with many short stories, plays, screenplays, and omnibus volumes (John (Ernst) Steinbeck Almanac). Steinbeck is the son of Olive Hamilton, a school teacher and John Ernst Steinbeck, a treasurer for Monterey Country. From the time that Steinbeck was fourteen years old, he had know that he wanted to pursue a writing career (Selected par 6). Throughout John Steinbeck’s career as a writer, he has…