ipl-logo

The Chrysanthemum Literary Analysis

739 Words3 Pages

Elisa Allen, the protagonist in John Steinbeck 's “the Chrysanthemum”, is completely jaded by men in this story. The plot revolves around the interactions between Elisa Allen, her husband Henry Allen, and a male tinker that visits their farm. It is apparent that Elisa is a isolated on her home garden and suppressed by her husband. In their society men, especially the men in this story treat women in a very condescending way. When Elisa’s husband leaves her alone on the farm, she meets a tinker whose interaction liberates Elisa’s sense of self worth, but later crushes her spirit. She attempted to break free from the feminine restraints of society but fails at it. John Steinbeck 's “The Chrysanthemum” embodies how women are restricted and placed in subordinate roles in society.
When compared to Allen 's, Elisa’s role in society is much more insignificant. Elisa’s job is to tend her garden and to care for her husband. A …show more content…

Elisa’s desires to have a more invigorating, as well as meaningful, life than she currently has. When the tinker visits the farm she converses with him about how she could do his job of fixing things just as well as he could. In response the tinker is intimidated by her boldness and tells her that his life is “no life for a woman” (Steinbeck). She sees the life of the tinker as a fantasy, where she can travel and work independently in the free world, but her warns her that it’s not so easy. Because she is so infatuated with him, she eventually lets her guard down. This is symbolized when she removes her gardening gloves, that she rarely takes off when outside the home, to touch his hair. At this time she has opened herself to vulnerability. She becomes so naive that she goes as far as to give the tinker one of her precious “strong” chrysanthemums. She treats these flowers like the children she’s never had, she dedicates much of her time and energy to them. She so quickly hands them over to a stranger, assuming he would respect her prized

Show More
Related

  • Literary Analysis: Marigolds By Eugenia Collier

    798 Words  | 4 Pages

    First, Eugenia Collier uses Miss Lottie’s marigolds to symbolize hope. When Lizabeth sees Miss Lottie's house, and the narrator describes the marigolds. “Beyond the dusty brown yard, in front of the

    Read More

  • Toni Cade Bambara's 'The Chrysanthemums'

    1167 Words  | 5 Pages

    One of the top advisors to the President of the United States, Steve Bannon, wrote an article titled, “Would you rather your child have feminism or cancer?” Gender inequality is an issue that should have been solved long ago. However, the same actions by men that occurred in 1937, when “The Chrysanthemums” was written are happening almost 80 years later. At the end of the short story, Steinbeck wrote, “ She turned up her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly--- like an old woman.”

    Read More

  • The Chrysanthemums Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    484 Words  | 2 Pages

    Further supporting Henry’s expectations, the way Elisa dresses while she gardens, downplays her femininity. As Elisa is busy working in the fields, her hair gets in her way and she moves it to the side. In the process she “left a smudge of earth on her cheek” (1). Having dirt on her face did not concern her, and so she did not take time to remove it. In Elisa’s mind, tending her garden allows her to find inner happiness amongst her chrysanthemums.

    Read More

  • Archetypes In East Of Eden

    471 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the publication of East of Eden to today the rights and empowerment of women have escalated exponentially. Women are no longer obligated to follow the nurturing mother ideal; they can be independent and strong. Then, in the novel, East of Eden, some believe the author oversimplifies his female characters by filing them into either traditional, caring mothers or heinous villains. However, Steinbeck utilizes their simple, one-dimensional archetypes to show how complex his female roles truly are through subtle details.

    Read More

  • Female Comradery In The Secret Life Of Bees

    1170 Words  | 5 Pages

    Female comradery is one of the strongest connections any group of women can have with one another. In Sue Monk Kidd’s novel, The Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens is a fourteen-year-old girl living on the outskirts of Sylvan, South Carolina in 1964. Her mother is not in her life, as she has been accidentally shot by Lily when Lily was just four years old. She lives with her abusive father, T-Ray, who is still mourning the loss of his wife, Deborah, and his feelings and own issues carry over to how he treats Lily. He verbally and physically abuses her, shouting at her or making her kneel on grits until her knees swell up.

    Read More

  • The Chrysanthemums Literary Analysis Essay

    374 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Chrysanthemums Literary Analysis One of the themes of “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck is gender inequality. In this short story, the main character Elisa Allen was a strong, smart woman who was stuck being a common housewife. Elisa wishes she could go out and be like the tinker, sleeping under the stars and adventuring every day of her life. Elisa’s husband owns a ranch of some sorts, and when he tells Elisa of the business deal he’d just made he gave her an unspecific explanation, or a dumbed down one so he doesn’t “confuse her”.

    Read More

  • Water Imagery In The House Of Mirth

    741 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this article, Gabler-Hover and Plate talks about how Lily must follow what social construct wants her to be. She is represented as a male gaze but Lily attempts to move “beyond” the patriarchal values. As Lily tries to survive in this patriarchy world, “Trenor comes close to raping Lily after getting her into his home under false pretenses.” Women were meant to serve male desire, but Gabler-Hover and Plate state that the “language in The House of Mirth (for Lily) is controlled by men. Thus, she is blocked from fulfilling her desires.

    Read More

  • Literary Elements In The Chrysalids

    1207 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Chrysalids" by John Wyndham is a sci-fi novel which happens later, years after an atomic holocaust has crushed extensive ranges of the world. The story concentrates on the lives of a gathering of clairvoyant kids, who are compelled to escape to "The Fringes, a place where whoever is not the "Genuine Image of God", is a mutant. The content is composed in first individual and described by David Storm, one of the clairvoyant kids. It takes after David's life and the occasions he experiences. "The Chrysalids" demonstrates the unmistakable detachment between what is typical and what is anomalous.

    Read More

  • The Chrysanthemums Literary Criticism

    735 Words  | 3 Pages

    The chrysanthemums symbolize Eliza’s feminism but unlike the chrysanthemums, Henry does not appreciate or acknowledge her femininity. Their lack of connection as husband and wife leaves Elisa feeling vulnerable. During which time, the tinker shows up admiring Elisa’s chrysanthemums, making her ecstatic for the acknowledgement of her beautiful flowers. The tinker dotingly described her chrysanthemums as “a quick puff of colored smoke” (Steinbeck 4). While enjoying the tinker’s company, Elisa inquired about his life as a traveler.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In The Chrysanthemums

    1784 Words  | 8 Pages

    Interestingly though, Steinbeck paints a very manly sketch of the wife, not distinctively feminine by the standards of his time, whose face looks “eager and mature and handsome” (Steinbeck 1). Besides, her actions resonate with manly fortitude and sparks of energy as is evidenced in the line: “(E)ven her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful. The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy” (Steinbeck 1). Elisa’s gardening attire disguises her feminine grace. She seems to have found comfort in the heavy gardening costume, man’s black hat, clod-hopper shoes, and big corduroy apron (Steinbeck 1).

    Read More

  • Gender Norms In The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin

    632 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” is set in the late 1800s – a time when women were considered inferior to men. Women had traditional roles as wives and mothers. In this 19th century patriarchal society, Chopin shows us Louise Mallard, the main character, who does not comply with the female gender norms of the Victorian period. When Louise learns about the death of her husband, her reaction and the reaction of her sister and the doctor tell us a great deal about gender stereotyping during this time. Louise Mallard is described to us as “firm” and “fair.

    Read More

  • The Chrysanthemums Setting Analysis

    469 Words  | 2 Pages

    The setting shapes the mood and tone of a story and has a great affect on what happens in a story. The setting influences the events that take place, how the characters interact and even how they behave. Settings show where and how the character lives, what they do, and what they value. Characters have a relationship with the setting just as much as they do with other characters in the story. This is seen in the effects the setting has on the development of the Character Elisa in the story “The Chrysanthemums.”

    Read More

  • The Flowers By Alice Walker Literary Devices

    455 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short story “The Flowers”, Alice Walker sufficiently prepares the reader for the texts surprise ending while also displaying the gradual loss of Myop’s innocence. The author uses literary devices like imagery, setting, and diction to convey her overall theme of coming of age because of the awareness of society's behavior.     At the beguining of the story the author makes use of proper and necessary diction to create a euphoric and blissful aura. The character Myop “skipped lightly” while walker describes the harvests and how is causes “excited little tremors to run up her jaws.”. This is an introduction of the childlike innocence present in the main character.

    Read More

  • The Chrysanthemums Literary Analysis

    1217 Words  | 5 Pages

    Masculine and Feminine Roles in Steinbeck’s “Chrysanthemums” In the story “The Chrysanthemums”, by John Steinbeck, Elisa Allen lives an unsatisfactory life as she desires more than what is bestowed upon her. The reader learns Elisa’s husband is culpable for not seeing the beauty of his wife, leaving an open door for the antagonist, a traveler, to prey upon Elisa’s. Steinbeck uses Masculine and Feminine roles of the early 20th century, Internal Conflict, and an antagonist, to show Elisa’s struggle for Identity. Steinbeck illustrates Masculine and feminine roles of the 20th century in the “Chrysanthemums” to show Elisa’s struggle with identity.

    Read More

  • Feminism In Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway

    1500 Words  | 6 Pages

    He is an attentive gentleman who has a persuasive sympathetic manner. He symbolizes the empathetic men. In conclusion, these characters in this novel were selected consciously and judiciously by Virginia Woolf. There were more female characters in the novel than male because she sought to contrast the women to the men’s life. They had various values whose qualities were given from the life of the authoress because she also fought against the issues as the gender equality, women’s equality because she has also experienced the women’s restriction (a woman could not to school, could not publish her works etc.)

    Read More

More about The Chrysanthemum Literary Analysis

Open Document