This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here. John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” describes the story of a couple, Elisa and Henry, who live in a farm in the Salinas Valley. The main theme to John Steinbeck’s story is the emotional life that Elisa leads. He portrays Elisa as a strong hard-working woman who longs for fulfillment and acceptance from the opposite gender, including her husband Henry. In the course of the story, her emotions are toyed with by both her husband and the tinker. Even though Elisa tries to keep her emotions in bal John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” describes the story of a couple, Elisa and Henry, who live in a farm in the Salinas Valley. The main theme to John Steinbeck’s story is the emotional life that Elisa leads. He portrays Elisa as a strong hard-working woman who longs for fulfillment and acceptance from the opposite gender, including her husband Henry. In the course of the story, her emotions are toyed with by both her husband and the tinker. Even though Elisa tries to keep her emotions in balance, both the husband and the tinker push her to her breaking point which results in a teary Elisa riding into the city alongside Henry. John Steinbeck utilizes symbolism in his story to portray Elisa’s emotional life and how she is undermined by the male gender. The story begins by describing Elisa as she works in her garden. Although life in a farm includes much more than planting a garden, Elisa is restrained to working with what she is good at. At the same time, Henry negotiates a deal with two well-dressed men from the city, as Elisa only watches them from a distance. After selling cattle to the men, Henry invites Elisa into town for dinner. Before going to dinner, a tinker passing by encounters Elisa and engages in conversation with her. He asks for things to fix and Elisa rejects him initially, but when the tinker notices Elisa’s chrysanthemums her attitude towards the man changes completely. Their conversation ends with Elisa sending the man on his way with a pan with chrysanthemum shoots. As Elisa gets ready for her evening dinner with Henry, she breaks emotionally when she sees the chrysanthemums she had given to the tinker thrown on the floor. In the initial part of the story as Elisa works in her garden she is dressed somewhat like a man, “a man's black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clod-hopper shoes, a figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron”. This attire symbolizes how the male gender diminishes her femininity. Even though Elisa believes that she is capable of more, her husband only teases her when it comes to engaging in more activities in the farm. Henry tells her, “I wish you'd work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big”, even though he probably did not mean it. Another strong symbol for Elisa’s emotional life is the chrysanthemums. Like her the flowers are pretty and strong but only flourish in the flowerbed inside the garden. When the tinker notices the flowers, Elisa changes into a happier person because she felt wanted. Finally, John Steinbeck uses a vivid description of the Salinas Valley to symbolize her emotional life, “on every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot.” The symbols that Steinbeck uses are very accurate at describing the emotional problems that Elisa is facing. John Steinbeck uses symbolism to demonstrate that Elisa’s emotional life is very disturbed. He portrays Elisa as a woman who feels that she can do much more but is held down by the male gender. The story demonstrate how her frustration progresses as she is first only teased by her husband, but ends up being rejected even by the stranger. Elisa despite the constant emotional suffering, finds the strength to keep her chin up and cover her tears.
