How Is Elisa Allen Weak

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Recommended: Role of women in literary work

In literature and short stories, women can be portrayed however the author chooses. They have complete control and freedom when creating their characters and can form symbolism and get a message across or teach a lesson in doing so. In some of the short stories we read, women were depicted as both weak and strong. In the story “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, Elisa Allen is portrayed as weak women because of men around her making her seem weak and not as strong as them. Steinbeck portrays Elisa as a 35 year old attractive women who works in a garden and loves her flowers. She wore masculine clothing including a men’s hat and shoes. She also wore an apron that covered her dress. I wonder if Steinbeck chose to make Elisa wear men’s clothing symbolically, perhaps meaning that women think they are as masculine and can do whatever men can. Henry, her husband, admires her work on the flowers and compliments her. He followed with a comment saying that she should work with him in the orchard and grow apples as big as the chrysanthemums, Elisa got excited for a moment before realizing it seems that he was …show more content…

The tinker comes looking for work, and at first Elisa repeatedly denies having any for him. The tinker then pretends to show interest in Elisa’s flowers and mentions how he knows someone who wants to start a chrysanthemums garden. This enlightens Elisa and lightens her up. When she starts talking about her chrysanthemums, she is no longer annoyed with him pestering her for work. She prepares a pot of soil and sprouts for his customer, and joyfully tells him instructions to pass on. Later in the story, she finds the sprouts dumped in the road. However, for the time being, it got the tinker work as she handed him pans to fix. This shows a man taking advantage of a women for work, as he never did care for the plants and didn’t have a customer wanting to make a chrysanthemums

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