In John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemum”, Elisa Alien signifies the idea of isolation
Elisa is alone: physically, emotionally, and sexually. She lives on a farm far from town, and is unable to socialize with others except when they visit her, or when her husband drives her around. In the same way, she is a victim of emotional isolation - it is clear throughout the story that her private, inner life is not one her husband could understand, even if she were to give him access to it. When the tinker comes into Elisa’s life she begins to reveal herself to another person for the first time. As soon as she meets him, Elisa and the tinker immediately begin to laugh and joke a bit. As they continue to speak, “Elisa took off her gloves and stuffed
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As Elisa and her husband leave for dinner, she sees that the tinker has thrown her chrysanthemums onto the side of the road. This is a painful and emotionally experience, she realizes that she has been used, in a way. “She tried not to look as they passed it, but her eyes would not obey. She whispered to herself sadly, "He might have thrown them off the road.” ….” But he kept the pot," she explained.” She has let someone into the most personal aspects of her life and soul, has given him a piece of herself and the tinker has merely discarded it. Elisa try to forget the horrible moment with some wine at her dinner with her husband. “"Henry," she asked, "could we have wine at dinner?” She wants to take away the pain by using alcohol as her source of escape from the reality she is living in. This is a painful experience for her--she realizes that she has been exploited, in a way. She has let someone into the most personal aspects of her life and soul, has given him a piece of herself (quite literally) and the tinker has merely discarded it. Up until this moment, allowing herself to feel has only been positive for Elisa. But now she realizes that to truly experience life, one must feel pain as well. This is difficult for Elisa. She wants to revert back to her "fog" of not feeling; she wants to take away the pain by putting up her barriers again. At the end of the story, Elisa is “crying weakly, like an old woman” she could not control her feeling broke and unwanted by the one person she thought was interested in her and her
...hich was the symbol of her prettiness” (Steinbeck 94). Although when Elisa and Henry are on their way to go to the town, Elisa sees the chrysanthemums that the tinkerer had thrown out. At this moment, Elisa suddenly realizes that she will never be anything more than what she was before, a woman that is worthless to society.
Elisa Allen reveals two very different sides of herself in The Chrysanthemums- the person she forces herself to be outwardly and the person she inwardly craves to be. As the story opens, Elisa is very quiet with her husband, giving him brief responses that lack enthusiam. After exchanging a few words with her husband, consisting much of the word “good,” “she said: 'I'll have plenty of time to transplant some of these sets, I guess” (American Short Stories 315). Here, Elisa's responses are neither affirmitive nor a reflection of how she truly feels. Progressively, though, Steinback unveils an eager, overly-expressive Elisa as she encounters a stranger that come to visit her. With the pot fixer, Elisa shares her passion for growing chrysanthemums and expresses a personality trait that is in direct opposition with her otherwise passive attitude. “'It must be very nice,' she said. 'It must be very nice. I wish...
Yet, their characterization indicates different reasoning being behind it. In “ The Story of an Hour” , Louise is first given a glimpse of her freedom from the fact that her husband is dead and spending time alone in her room looking outside a window which leads her to know that she is able to experience a new start of freedom. “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully as she gazed outside the window she sees the outside world and things that she has never noticed before and wonders into those thoughts (Chopin 175). The open window portrays the new experience Louise is about to begin and the bright future she has ahead of her which is not run by someone else since her husband is dead. Somewhat similarly, Elisa is given that freedom in “The Chrysanthemums” when she gives the tinker her chrysanthemums and he heads back out on the road. “Then she whispers, that is a bright direction. There’s a glowing there” (Steinbeck 589). This quote indicates that Elisa has felt some gloomy change of freedom after knowing that her pride and happiness “The Chrysanthemums” are being shared with the world and her hard work is leaving the “ great valley [of] a closed pot”(Steinbeck 581). However, in contrast to “The Story of an Hour” she expresses her freedom through her own hard work and not herself whereas; Louise finds her freedom inside of herself as she realizes she is
Elisa is a trapped woman. She is trapped in her “closed off” (Steinbeck 459) location of the Salinas Valley; trapped in her “blocked and heavy” “gardening costume” (Steinbeck 460); trapped behind her “wire fence” (Steinbeck 460). Elisa is trapped woman, however all of the things that keep her trapped are ultimately hers: “her wire fence” or her constricting clothing (Steinbeck 460). Elisa's inability to step beyond her boundaries ultimately leads to her continued unhappiness and feeling of entrapment in her feminine role.
Elisa’s inner feelings are most apparent with the portrayal of her working in the garden, the conversation she has with the “Fixer-Guy”, and finally, when she and her husband are going out to dinner. Steinbeck offers an array of different details concerning the character of Elisa Allen. The main detail being that she is a strong woman on the inside although she seems to struggle in showing it throughout the story. Because of the "Pot Fixer," she is able to act, although for a short time, like that strong woman. Steinbeck unfortunately brings Elisa full-circle, back to where she started. She notices on the way to dinner her chrysanthemum sprouts at the roadside. This, along with her husband’s hesitation to allow her curiosity, puts her back where she started, canceling her emergence. One must ask after reading this short story if Elisa will continue this discontented lifestyle. Or will she be able to blossom beautifully for good, as do her chrysanthemums?
Elisa Allen is a thirty-five-year-old woman who lives on a ranch in the Salinas Valley with her husband Henry. She is "lean and strong," and wears shapeless, functional clothes (Steinbeck 203). The couple has no children, no pets, no near neighbors, and Henry is busy doing chores on the ranch throughout the day. Elisa fills her hours by vigorously cleaning the ''hard-swept looking little house, with hard-polished windows,'' and by tending her flower garden (204). She has ''a gift'' for growing things, especially her chrysanthemums, and she is proud of it (204).
The Salinas Valley is symbolic to Elisa’s inner feelings. The farm responsibilities Elisa shared with her husband Henry encouraged “cold and tender” thoughts that often left Elisa feeling “closed off from the rest of the world” (paragraph 1). Her consistent lonely and empty days began to “fog” the belief of any better days to come. The [quiet of waiting] was yearning for any “sharp and positive” (paragraph 2) notion that had yet to be nurtured. But until Elisa was given any chance to set free of such desires she had to remain forcibly content inside of her chrysanthemum garden.
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.
... real love, she may be able to find fulfillment in her flowers more than she ever has. They can be released into the male world and survive, beautiful and strong, though fragile, just as she has. The chrysanthemums are not Elisa's frustration, they are her hope in a world she sees without hope. Therefore, when the tinker simply drops the flowers on the side of the road, the symbolic weight of the chrysanthemums must be considered. Higdon states that "the crucial question remains whether or not Elisa has been destroyed" (Higdon, 668). The reader can see how the flowers represent mostly a positive symbol of growth and life. Elisa may not have anywhere to turn for real understanding, since men are not able to explore her inner-qualities, but it is better that she grows flowers than shutting off her own emotions and feelings and using others like the men around her.
This frustration is evident when Elisa is first introduced. Her figure is described as "blocked and heavy" because she is wearing heavy gloves, heavy shoes, a "man's black hat," and a big apron that hides her printed dress (Steinbeck 330). Her home has the masculine qualities of being "hard-swept" and hard-polished" (Steinbeck 330). Elisa is bored with her husband and with her life (McMahan 455). Obviously, Elisa is unhappy with the traditional female role and is attempti...
A more clear example of how Elisa feels can be better explained by Steinbeck's description of the where Elisa and Henry live. "The high gray-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world. On e...
Mrs. Sargent began by stating a specific time with her daughter, Elisa, where their two completely different personalities where tested in a very simple, common way. Elisa, who
Elisa Allen embodies the image of a simple woman eager to escape the confines of a gender defined role in society. Readers are introduced to Elisa as a 35 year old, strong woman living with her husband, Henry, on a ranch in Salinas Valley (Steinbeck 460). Elisa’s masculinity is highlighted from the attire she is wearing to the strength in her hands. Henry affirms that Elisa is capable in her endeavors when he states, “you’ve got a gift with things,” in regards to her garden (Steinbeck 460). Even though Elisa is delighted at Henry’s suggestion that she work in the orchard, the idea does not seem to get a second thought (Steinbeck 460). The idea of a woman working in the orchard is dismissed on the premise that the orchard is not a woman’s place. In Elisa’s account with the man in the wagon, her sexuality exudes in her graphic explanation of picking off the flower buds and being under the stars, to the point that she almost physically touches the man (Steinbeck 463). Her desire would go unsatisfied, as it would not be appropriate for her to act on her impulse. Elisa is searching for fulfillment in life but finds her role to be trivial. Intrigued by the idea of traveling, as the gentleman in the wagon does, she states, “It must be very nice. I wish women could do such things.” She is shot down as the man replies, “It ain’t the right kind of a life for a woman” (Steinbeck 464). This conversation clearly depicts the prevalent inequality of the sexes. Furthermore, once the man leaves in the caravan Elisa cements her urge for something more, looking out at the horizon whispering, “That’s a bright direction. There’s a glowing there” (Steinbeck 464-465).
Elisa is a country housewife. She is semi-distant from her husband and greatly distant from the world around her. She is a homebody, meaning that she rarely leaves the boundaries of her home and she has a lot of time and energy being built up. She uses some of this energy to clean up her house, but most of it is spent on her flower garden. Her garden is a place of solitude. It’s her own little world where she can let herself go and be the person that she wants to be. Her feminine side is brought out in her garden, the nurturer for the chrysanthemums, a mother almost to them. When the tinkerer comes to her home and into her garden he shows interest in her chrysanthemums. She takes this also as an interest in her as well. The garden in other words is a symbol for her femininity and womanhood.
When Elisa’s husband Henry comes over and compliments her garden and ability to grow things, Elisa is smug with him and very proud of her skill with the flowers. Her "green thumb" makes her an equal in her own eyes. When Elisa’s husband asks her if she would like to go to dinner, her feminine side comes out. She is excited to go eat at a restaurant and states that she would much rather go to the movies than go see the fights, she "wouldn’t like the fight’s" at all (paragraph 21). Elisa is taken aback by her own submissiveness and quickly becomes preoccupied with her flowers as soon as her husband leaves.