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masculinity vs femininity
masculinity and femininity
masculinity and femininity
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Throughout history, women have often been portrayed as inferior to men or considered the "weaker sex." As a result of these social assumptions, women have been fighting to dissociate themselves from this stereotype and gain their independence. John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" is a classic illustration of the frustration felt by a woman before she was observed as being more than just her sex. Elisa Allen, the main character, lives on a ranch in the Salinas Valley in California with her husband, Henry. Elisa's main focus is on her garden, especially on her beloved chrysanthemums. She tends to her chrysanthemums with great care, protecting them from bugs and disease and making sure they are started just right. They are her pride and joy, a symbol of her hard work and dedication. Elisa's garden and chrysanthemums hold a lot more symbolism then just the time and effort she puts into them. The garden is representative of the boundaries she lives within, her isolation from the outside world, and her ability to express herself freely. The chrysanthemums represent her inner strength, the one way she can express herself in the world she lives in. The relationship that Elisa has with her husband is described through dialog. He teases her about taking her to a fight, an event that is supposed to only appeal to men. He comments on her looks and she questions his meaning, instantly he is back peddling to try to avoid an emotional breakdown. The reader recognizes Elisa's need to be viewed as an equal by her husband, instead of him sheltering her like a stereotypical "emotional" woman. The reader is presented with Elisa's other frustrations when she interacts with a traveling salesman. From the start Elisa acts very hard towards the man, through her facial expressions, actions, and dialog. Over and over again the man tries to persuade Elisa to give him some work, she only accepts his gesture after he shows interest in her chrysanthemums. The man cons her into paying him to do repairs she is capable of doing herself by telling her a story of another woman who would be overjoyed to have chrysanthemums of her own. Elisa picks a bunch of her flower starts and plants them in a brand new pot for the traveling repairman to give to his other client. After the man leaves, Elisa seems to be satisfied with her treatment of him.
In the opening of the story Elisa is emasculated by the description of her clothing. She wears "a man’s black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clodhopper shoes, a figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron…" (paragraph 5). 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 with her own submissiveness and quickly becomes preoccupied with her flowers as soon as her husband leaves. When the drifter comes and asks Elisa for work to do she is stern with him and refuses him a job. She acts as a man would to another strange man and becomes irritated. When he persists in asking her she reply’s "I tell you I have nothing like that for you to do" (paragraph 46). The drifter mentions Elisa’s chrysanthemums and she immediately loosens up as "the irritation and resistance melt(ed) from her face" (paragraph 51). The drifter feigns great interest in Elisa’s chrysanthemums and asks her many questions about them. He tells her he knows a lady who said to him "if you ever come across some nice chrysanthemums I wish you’d try to get me a few seeds" (paragraph 56). Elisa is overjoyed by any interest in her flowers and gives the man chrysanthemum sprouts to take to his friend.
...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.
The two short stories have different characters, plot and setting and yet they have a common ground in which human beings are deeply involved. In short, the setting of each work powerfully suggests a rather calm, dull and peaceful mood at a superficial level; however, the main characters are struggling from the uncontrollable passions and exploding desire at heart. First of all, in "The Chrysanthemums" the Salinas Valley is depicted as somewhat dull, like "a closed pot." In addition, its geographical setting represents an isolated atmosphere, and, furthermore, Elisa's actions of handling chrysanthemums can be translated into a static, inactive one. However, when it comes to her concealed passion, the whole picture in this piece can be interpreted in a different way. In fact, Elisa is portrayed as "over-eager, over-powerful" in a sharp contrast to the unanimated space in which she lives. On top of that, Elisa expresses her volition to explore uncharted worlds like the peddler who happens to visit her farm house. Also, it must be noted that, even though Elisa does not reveal her desire openly largely due to the authoritative patriarchal system, Elisa's interior motive is directed toward the violent, bloody prizefights. In other words, the imbalance between the relatively restricted setting and Elisa's vaulting desire to wander into the unknown territory is chiefly designed to strengthen the overall imagery of Elisa, whose drive to experience the violent outer world. At the same time, it can be inferred that appearance (setting) and reality (Elisa's human nature) are hard to understand.
The wire fencing with which Elisa surrounds her garden is designed to “protect her flower garden from cattle and dogs and chickens.” (Steinbeck 460) What the fence truly does is keep Elisa in. Her energy is isolated to that which the fence encompasses: the house and the garden. In The Chrysanthemums the word ‘fence’ is repeated six times throughout the story with ‘chicken wire’, meaning the fence, said once. This repetition alludes to the fact that the fence is more than a mere object, but a symbol of Elisa's containment in her domestic role. The fence represents boundaries that Elisa will not allow herself to cross.
The interaction between Elisa and the traveling repairman helps develop the story’s theme because the repairman takes interest in Elisa’s chrysanthemums so he can try to get business with her. It he started talking to Elisa when he was traveling to some place and asked for directions. She told him directions and they started talking about sharpening scissors and repairing pots. So when it starts getting to the end Elisa gives him a chrysanthemum and he just throws it in the road. Elisa saw it and she started crying.
Elisa Allen is a strong hardworking woman that is very skilled at growing Chrysanthemums. Her husband recognizes her skill however he does not truly appreciate what is behind it. He instead attempts to encourage her to use her skills for a more practical and therefore supposedly more meaningful endeavor such as growing apple trees. “Her husband, Henry Allen does not understand her mind; his interest is focused not on the point that she likes to grow it but on the possibility o...
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).
Throughout “The Chrysanthemums” it is evident that Elisa is more skilled and more competent than the men. The great progress of Elisa’s garden shows her talent and potential ability. However, society clearly does not have any need for a woman like Elisa to be abled. She is not able to put her skills to work nor is she able to even use her ability while dressed as a woman.
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.
She was wearing “a man’s black hat…clod-hopper shoes, heavy leather gloves” and “a big corduroy apron” doing her best to cover up her femininity. In John Steinbeck’s short story, “The Chrysanthemums”, we are introduced to Elisa Allen. Elisa is living during a period after the Great Depression when women’s rights issues were becoming a topic of public concern. Steinbeck uses the character Elisa Allen to portray the women’s struggle for equality. She is a woman deprived of social, personal and sexual fulfillment in a male-dominated world. Elisa struggles to find satisfaction in her womanhood and a desire to escape from her isolated world.
In this short the Chrysanthemums, written by John stein beck. The author tells a character who is in need of love. Stein back reflects the charazteratiom of Elisa in the story because he shows us how Elisa character changes threw out the story. The traits of Elisa’s show us that Elisa is strong and want affection and resorts to the chrysanthemums as a way to show herself.
Within The Chrysanthemums, Elisa is frustrated with her life on the ranch and secretly fantasizes about running away with the stranger and living on the road instead. The Chrysanthemums themselves are used as a symbols of Elisa's life, Elisa cannot accept this disappointment, and therefore fails at changing. In The Chrysanthemums, "Elisa took off her gloves and stuffed them in the apron pocket with the scissors. She touched the under edge of her man's hat, searching for fugitive hairs. 'That sounds like a nice kind of way to live,' she said," so in this quote Elisa comments on the way the stranger lives his life. This could then hint to that she is unhappy with her life. Another quote to show Elisa’s unhappy, is when "Elisa's voice grew husky.
The author, John Steinbeck, uses many sources in his story, ¨The chrysanthemums¨ to develop the character. He specifically uses the setting as his main source for development.In the story ¨The chrysanthemums¨ the setting adds to the development to the main character Elisa by helping them get more understanding of the character based on the way the character acts in her surroundings. Elisa's connection to the ranch or garden is that the sunshine is lighting it up but in reality it doesn't because it is winter. How this connects to Elisas is that since she is a girl she is not expected to be such a strong women but when really she is and is not afraid to show it. As for the garden,Elisas connection with her garden is she keeps growing them
“She tried not to look as they passed it, but her eyes would not obey.” Here is when she realizes that she was taken advantage of, the man had gotten rid of the chrysanthemums. “He might have thrown them of the road.That wouldn’t have been much trouble, not very much. But he kept the pot, He had to keep the pot. That’s why he couldn’t get them off the road.” Also “She said loudly, to be heard over the motor.’It will be good, tonight, a good dinner.’”(pg 1253) This gives the reader the realization that the man needed the pot to sell it and that in fact their inference about Elisa getting taken advantage of was correct. When Elisa comes to the realization she becomes emotional. “She turned up her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly like an old woman.”(pg1253) She was emotional because now she knew that her life will always be what it is now. There will be nothing more to her life but her chrysanthemums, just like the chrysanthemums had nothing else but Elisa. She is stuck. In this story the chrysanthemums symbolize the life of Elisa and many other
In the story, “The Chrysanthemums” John Steinbeck allows the readers to be put in Elisas shoes to demonstrate her frustrations and feelings in her life. From the very beginning Elisa is shown to be a character whose life is filled with confusion and lifelessness. She’s not only trapped in Salinas valley but also in her own marriage and life with the only thing to nurture is her chrysanthemums. Just when she thinks she may have a chance of her needs being fulfilled when a stranger comes by her hope is then crushed. John Steinbeck creates this short story to show woman's need for sexual fulfillment is astonishingly powerful. Steinbeck demonstrates that if their needs aren’t met then the result of it can lead people to act