Discussing the Chrysanthemums
In studying the various schools of criticism and using them to
decipher the inner workings of novels, short stories, and poems, it
becomes apparent that they all share a common factor: a theme. The
theme of a story is the general idea or insight, which is revealed by
the entire story (Kennedy, 195). Although there are many themes that
seem to be similar, it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to find to
stories with identical themes. Two stories with similar themes,
however, are "The Chrysanthemums," by John Steinbeck, and "The Yellow
Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. These two stories show the
damage caused by male domination in the past.
The short story "The Chrysanthemums" gives insight into the life of
its author; John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas,
California. The locale of the story is of key resemblance to the
Salinas in which Steinbeck was born and bread. "Salinas was a typical
American small town, [differing] only in location and a few
distinctive features" (McCarthy 3). The story begins by displaying the
setting: "The high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas
Valley from the sky and the rest of the world."
Though this does not directly illustrate the theme, the setting plays
a role in building Elisa Allen's "prison." The main protagonist in
"The Chrysanthemums," Elisa Allen, is a mid-aged housewife who also
has a passion for growing chrysanthemums. This passion expressed in
the planting of these flowers brings out the suppressed romance in her
life. The fact that she is childless seems to have sublimated her
motherly instincts to produce extraordinary flowers. Nevertheless,
"the plants and flowers cannot compensate for t...
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...nius soon tells Ophelia that she must seek out
Hamlet. Much to her dismay, Hamlet rejects her, and this begins a
downward spiral for Ophelia. She begins acting in a depressed fashion,
and everyone begins to think she has gone mad. Unfortunately, all the
negative light placed upon Ophelia leads to her death. It is not
certain whether she was murdered or whether she in fact committed
suicide, but she came to a tragic end by drowning.
The events in "Hamlet" and "The Chrysanthemums," though different in
appearance show a very similar topic. The problem of male dominance is
shown in both situations to devastate the emotions of the women. In
showing respect and obedience for the male characters, the females are
in fact hurting themselves. This theme of male dominance destroying
the psyche of women has been, and will continue to be a major theme in
literature.
In conclusion, this show focuses on many aspects, particularly gender roles and sexism. Although this show could have more diverse characters, it focuses on male and female stereotypes very well. I appreciate that there are several strong female characters who aren’t afraid to stand up for themselves and perform typically masculine
Recently, I saw a movie about female tennis champion – Billie Jean King, and although I have never been into the feminism (neither can I say that I quite understand it), her character woke up some other kind of sensitivity in me. After this – to me significant change – I could not help myself not to notice different approaches of John Steinbeck and Kay Boyle to the similar thematic. They both deal with marital relationships and it was quite interesting to view lives of ordinary married couples through both “male” and “female eyes”. While Steinbeck opens his story describing the Salinas Valley in December metaphorically referring to the Elisa’s character, Boyle jumps directly to Mrs. Ames’s inner world. Although both writers give us pretty clear picture of their characters, Boyle does it with more emotions aiming our feelings immediately, unlike Steinbeck who leaves us more space to think about Elisa Allen.
The animals in Yellow Wallpaper, Chrysanthemums, and Boys and Girls represents the characters and their characteristics. In Yellow Wallpaper John’s wife has postpartum depression. John is her physician but he doesn’t let her go out or do anything. She sits in a room that she hates and eventually escapes. Chrysanthemums is about a girl named Elisa and she loves to grow chrysanthemums. She meets this guy who is on the road all the time and he lives off of fixing broken pots and pans. Boys and Girls is about a family whose father takes the foxes fur and sells it for calendars. They get two horses named Mack and Flora who are going to potentially be used as horse meat. They don’t kill them instantly because at the time they had too much meat so they used them on the fields although Mack is lazy. They eventually kill both
Women are stereotypically viewed as leeser to their male counterparts, as mainly portrayed in Hamlet. Women can also hold the general role of men as the powerful leaders, expressed in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Views on gender roles are also changing in society today. The one woman who was truly respected and liked, was the asian nurse in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. She was both compassionate and caring, but was also powerful and a
...te when it comes to emotions and each of the female characters are the product of male influences and much of their rage is intermixed with occasional feelings of love due to their lack of self-recognition.
In John Steinbeck's short story," The Chrysanthemums," there is a strong underlining of betrayal. We can see betrayal in three forms throughout the story. First we see Elisa being betrayed by the salesman who plays on her emotions by giving her a sales pitch only to get some work out of her. Then, in result to confiding in the salesman Elisa betrays her husband by opening herself up, and confiding to a complete stranger things which she couldn't reveal to her own husband. Finally, we see Elisa betraying herself by not allowing herself to fully express her true emotions, and by being too afraid to step out of societies norms for woman during this time.
However, well beneath the surface of the plotline, the viewer can also find himself or herself looking at a struggle for survival that is greatly affected by the roles of genders. Collins asks many questions regarding this; such as “If young girls do not see themselves reflected in media, will this diminish their sense of importance and self-esteem? Will boys conclude that women and girls are unimportant, as well? Will girls lack role models? Will adult women feel disenfranchised? Does the under-representation of women constrict societal perspectives and information in important ways?” (Collins). If Becky had not followed the standard gender role that the frame of time presented itself, she may have seen herself surviving the endeavor, despite almost no chance of her doing so. It is one of those things that today’s society may be glad to have moved past, because there is no reason for anyone to lose their life because they rely so heavily on the opposite
The story written by John Steinbeck called “The Chrysanthemums” could be named “The Story of an Afternoon” because of the time range it took the tragedy to occur is around the time of a few hours. John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” is similar to Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” in the sense of tragic, irony, happening to women in a small amount of time. In both stories women are bamboozled by men, they become misguided and gain a desire. Aiming to achieve the desire causes them to see a false reality and in ruination.
The short story "The Chrysanthemums" gives insight into the life of its author. John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California. The locale of the story is of key resemblance to the Salinas in which Steinbeck was born and bread. "Salinas was a typical American small town, [differing] only in location and a few distinctive features" (McCarthy 3). The protagonist of this story, Elisa Allen, also resembles Steinbeck's first wife. "Steinbeck probably based the character of Elisa Allen on his own first wife, Carol Henning Steinbeck. Like Elisa, Carol was a woman of considerable talent and energy who wore 'masculine clothes' and was 'strong, large-boned' and 'handsome rather than pretty'" (Hughes 23). Similar to the time frame in which Steinbeck lived, the theme of the story comes across as being male dominant and the rustic setting allows us to visualize this.
and their daily lives. This presentation of masculinity can alter how men respect women in the
From the Mid Century of the 1900’s to today, women have strived to be noticed and respected by society; and to be a part of a world with little confidence and many insecurities leads to wanting more and stepping out of the box that society builds to keep traditions alive.
... Their attitude and tone is something that can be contrasted in the two stories.
John Steinbeck uses symbolism to give alternate meanings to his short story “Chrysanthemums.'; A symbol is a device used to suggest more than its literary meaning. He uses these symbols to look further into the characters and their situations. The character Elisa has a garden, which is more than just a garden, and the chrysanthemums that she tends are more than just flowers. There are actions that she performs in the story, which also have other meanings.
The most important events of this film all revolve around the female characters. While there are some male charac...
This movie attempts to show this progression, and that depending on a man for the life one desires is a notion of the past. The suburban women were expected to rely solely on the man to live, without him she had minimal schooling and no way of survival in suburbia. Although this film still at times puts women into a negative light, but this was also a point of receiving a profit when the movie premiered. This movie received a good reaction from the public considering the public does not always take well to women in lead roles. Even though we live in a world that no longer projects women as accessories on a man’s arm, women still must be put into an objectifying light in order to make a profit consistently. Because the women gain a label of sexual being from the first camera angle, the man becomes “the bearer of the look of the spectator” (Mulvey). This is shown in the way that even though the women are the leads the man is still in control of the “film phantasy” (Mulvey). Films with women as the leads and in control of the films plot line rarely exceed that of the other because the spectator is so used to putting the control into the hands of a male. The dependency of women on men transcend the household it is a systemic epidemic that has been in effect since the beginning of time. Suburbia is a microcosm of the worlds inner workings. The women are forced into a role