The Long Valley

Steinbeck's protagonist expresses both male and female traits, just as the chrysanthemums she cultivates. In fact, the chrysanthemum has a strong and robust appearance though it is a tender and delicate flower. Furthermore, Elisa' frustration is clearly evident from the way the author describes her, "blocked and heavy in her gardening costume," as if she was forced into a confining role that limits her expressiveness. "The high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world. On every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot." Also, the setting of the story suggests that the rural context does not allow exchanges with the outside world, definitely increasing the sense of isolation of the poor protagonist, who is trapped in a temporal bubble in which the women's revolution has no place. Written in 1932, right after the legal right of women to vote (enstablished in 1920), “The Chrysanthemums” addresses the challenges experienced by those women who live in isolated rural environments where the achievements of the women's movement have not scratched the sexist…

John Steinbeck's short story "The Chrysanthemums" is about woman named Elisa Allen who feels discouraged with her current life. Her frustrations come from not having any children and from her husband's failure to see her in a romantic, passionate way. The only way she releases the frustration is by tending to her flower garden where she grows stunning chrysanthemums. Steinbeck uses chrysanthemums as symbols of Elisa’s children and her sexuality. The chrysanthemums symbolize Elisa's children. She…

article, Timmerman states, “Organizational and Gendered Imagery in John Steinbeck's ‘The Chrysanthemums.’”, the author explains how organizational imager occurs in two different moments of the story, as he writes, “The color yellow used throughout the paragraph accentuates the illusion of sunshine… It remains an illusionary world wrapped in fog” (Timmerman, 32). This line reveals that the sunshine that we as readers see at times of the short story is just an illusion and the reality is the fog…

temporarily, similar to how Mrs. Allen feels temporarily strong and may also symbolize how Mrs. Allen looks at the stranger as a way to save her from her isolated life. At last, the flowerpot that the stranger takes at the end symbolizes how he defeats Mrs. Allen by persuading her with a tactic most women would fall for, a complement. Steinbeck implies that some women can feel embarrassed showing their weakness in front of men, as well as envious when men try and tell them what is expected of a…

Elisa is very delicate with the chrysanthemums and treats them with a constant enthusiasm and dedication. This symbolizes how long Elisa has been waiting for her husband to look at her and treat her the way she treats her flowers. She also hopes for her husband to notice her beauty because she feels unappreciated. Elisa 's femininity is being ignored and her husband 's failure to recognize Elisa 's needs. According to Cynthia Bily, an instructor of English at Adrian in the college in Adrian,…

Each individual in the world has unique tendencies, passions, and emotions. All of which can be expressed or tied to a specific object. Whether the feelings are negative or positive, they can vary in intensity. The dog in “My Kids Dog” and the chrysanthemums in the story “The Chrysanthemums” both represent strong emotions expressed by the protagonists. In the short story, “My Kids Dog” written by Ron Hansen, the protagonist, being the father, expresses his negative feelings for his his…

Allen’s wife, Elisa. Elisa’s inverse transformation and internal conflict in her realization of her lack of fulfillment is signified through the chrysanthemum’s different symbolic meanings of Elisa throughout the story. Steinbeck first introduces protagonist Elisa “working in her flower garden” (Steinbeck 1). Elisa is dressed comfortably in her “gardening costume, a man’s black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clod-hopped shoes, [and] a figured print dress almost completely covered by a big…

Family: In the short stories “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck and “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” by D.H. Lawrence, the protagonists, Elisa and Mabel, are treated poorly by their families because they are women. In the short story “The Chrysanthemums”, Elisa’s husband, Henry, does not treat her equally and does not treat her like a person. She is just kind of treated like she is Henry’s possession. “‘Good,’ she said. ‘Good for you.’” (Steinbeck 2) This shows that her husband runs the farm…

Love is a motivation for people to fight, defend, and mature for. Lucius Apuleius' myth, Cupid and Psyche, tells the story of the strength and determination of the mortal needed to regain a lost love. Francesca Lia Block's modern retelling, Psyche's Dark Night, emphasizes the many issues that affect relationships and explores the pain that accompanies dating. The retelling offers a new look into love and whether or not it is worth all the pain that accompanies it. The updated setting and…

For example, in the beginning of the story, the narrator describes the valley the characters live in as a “pot”, and the heavy fog that hovers over the land as its “lid.” Through this imagery, the narrator symbolizes the continually growing character of Elisa, as well as the idea of feminism, as a pot, and the opposition created by the men in the story and by society as the “lid,” which exists solely to manage, oppose, and oppress the advancement of the former. This bleak reality is enforced…