Chrysanthemum

“The Chrysanthemum” by John Steinbeck In the short story "The chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck. Elisa the protagonist of the story is a strong and proud woman who owns a garden. This garden fulfills the empty space she feeling at her own house. Plating chrysanthemums is a way to release Elisa’s frustration. This is the only place where she can be herself and portrays what many other women go through during marriage. Flowers are usually associated with a woman because they represent beauty, delicacy, life and fragility. Elisa’s flowers represent the children she would never have with Henry. She takes care of the garden full of chrysanthemums with so much care, affection, and love. It is the same way she would take care of the kids she would…

Interpretative Response #1 September 14, 2015 The Symbol of Chrysanthemum’s In “The Chrysanthemum’s” the short story by John Steinbeck, we follow the relationship of Elisa and the chrysanthemums throughout the story. We learn the value these flowers have to Elisa and how the theme of inequality of gender ties into with the main symbol. As describe by Joseph Kelly, “a literal symbol us an object with symbolic meaning limited to the very narrow context of a particular work of literature” (12). In…

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:…

Elisa, the wife of Henry, gardener, and protagonist in John Steinbeck's, “The Chrysanthemums”, begins the short story showing little affection to others and isolating herself from her husband. She acts defensive around Henry, and the two are not close. They do not seem open with one another while they both show resistance. In the beginning, she sees herself as a strong and fully capable woman. She can rely on herself while gardening and does not need any help, but wishes to be accepted by her…

The yellow flowers reflected the happiness her heart yearned for. In the story “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, a woman named Elisa, is disappointed with her life and also wants to be more equal to men. Through her love for her flowers, Elisa teaches the reader to make more of the life given before it’s too late. Starting off in a gloomy setting, Elisa is a married woman with no children, but has a garden of yellow chrysanthemums to tend to. Her husband, Henry, owns steer that he is…

While at first glance level short stories may simply appear to be fascinating accounts, the bigger significance and reason for each piece can be substantially more profound. They can be devices of correspondence for social discourse or voices for the generally unheard. Both John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" and Charlotte Perking Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" exhibit the abuse of ladies in the public eye using imagery and setting. Distributed in 1937 and 1892 individually, both of these…

The short story "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck is a story about a woman, Elisa Allen, who is approaching her middle age and she has reached a point in life where she realizes her creative drive and energy exceeds their opportunities expression. The story depicts a capable woman who is denied fulfillment socially, sexually, and personal fulfillment through prevailing the woman's role conception in the men dominated world. Thus, this brings the questions: In what ways does Elisa’s…

Elisa and Mrs. Baroda’s Metamorphosis John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” and Kate Chopin’s “A Respectable Woman” both feature strong female protagonists who try to fight the rules society has set upon them. Both setting of the stories are placed in the past back when woman had certain expectation of how they were to behave. Both of these woman follows these expectation, but at the same time the women’s personalities also defy the expectation. This is where the theory of role identity…

The shorty story “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, deals with a person who is at odds with an unjust society. The story is about Elisa Allen who is unsatisfied with current life. Elisa’s frustration stems from not having a child and that her husband fails to appreciate her passionately as a woman (Kennedy). To ease her frustration, Elisa nurtures flowers in her garden where she grows chrysanthemums. The chrysanthemums are Steinbeck’s symbol for Elisa’s inner self and the inner self of…

SA 2: "The Chrysanthemums" is a short story of John Steinbeck which reflects the frustration in the present life of Elisa Allen, strong and proud woman. This frustration arises from not having a child as well as from the dissatisfaction in a romantic relationship with her husband. The only possible way out for Elisa's frustration is her beautiful flower garden where she plants chrysanthemums. The author frequently uses chrysanthemums as a symbol as well as a number of other items in order to…