The Chrysanthemums Literary Criticism

The most appropriate literary critical theory for John Steinbeck’s, The Chrysanthemums, is the psychological approach because Elisa’s conscious and unconscious imbalance, usage of defense mechanisms, and unsatisfiable lifestyle wholly possess psychoanalytical features. To begin, Elisa’s id and unconscious mind scarcely override her conscience, which presents the depths of her motives. This is apparent when Elise, “... touched the under edge of her man's hat, searching for fugitive hairs...Kneeling there, her hand went out toward his legs in the greasy black trousers. Her hesitant fingers almost touched the cloth” (Steinbeck 5). Her acts of flirtation are extremely passive as her superego represses her sexual urges because she is a married woman. Furthermore, nothing physical seemingly occurs as no valid act of disobedience such as cheating

occurs, yet Elisa’s emotions and sexual frustrations drive her to initially act upon her impulses. Although, Elisa’s desires are clear, she lacks motivation and intense desire to fulfill and actualize her personal needs. Moreover, her emotional occupancy is brimming with lustful fantasies, but her physical existence refrains from such pleasures. Therefore, the intricacies of Elisa’s soul primarily match with the psychological approach. Next, Elisa adopts the defense mechanism of rebellion to mask her fragility. Evidently, after Elisa finds the Tinker’s chrysanthemums on the road she asks Henry, “"could we have wine at dinner?"..."Henry, at those prize fights, do the men hurt each other very much?"” Henry replies to his wife’s hint at attending a fight, “"...I don't think you'd like it, but I'll take you if you really want to go"” (Steinbeck 7). On the outside, Elisa craves to portray herself with an ambience of adventure and liberty, but realistically and authentically, she is a fragile woman; her immediate reaction of utilizing a defense mechanism, from the Tinker rejecting her gift, reveals the sensitive and delicate spirit of her psyche. Additionally, she cannot balance her conscious mind that abides by social roles of conventional femininity, or her unconscious urges of attending the fight. Much like society’s ordeal with repudiation, Elisa’s faces rejection in a bitter and toxic manner. Altogether, Elisa’s neurotic behaviour reflects the faults in society regarding rejection, to exclusively interlock with the psychoanalytic literary approach.

Onward, Elisa’s structured relationship with Henry depicts the complexities of humanity’s need for fulfillment. More specifically, Henry’s composition as a successful, caring, and amiable husband is shown, “I sold those thirty head of three-year-old steers. Got nearly my own price...We'll go in town about five and have dinner at the Cominos Hotel. Like that?” (Steinbeck 2) Elisa and Henry’s marriage is surely pleasant as everything is lovely in theory and on paper seeing that he takes care of her and even escorts her to a date. Unfortunately, their relationship is simply frivolous, it is just a treasured social rite of passage that appears well on paper and nothing else; the couple is missing depth, which explains Elisa’s unconscious and substandard conduct of rebellion. She yearns something greater, but refuses to physically defy social rules. Much like humanity, humans require self fulfillment and actualization and this virtue is larger than any superficial label.

Correspondingly, Steinbeck encompasses human needs, individual faults and society’s desires that unveil disproportions of the psychic zones to conclusively classify The Chrysanthemums under the psychological literary approach.