The Chrysanthemums
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since December 2006. |
The Chrysanthemums is a short story by John Steinbeck, written in 1937, about the happenings of one day in the life of a thirty-five year old woman named Elisa Allen.
Elisa and her husband Henry Allen live peacefully on their farm but lack an affectionate relationship; he is busy with his orchard and steers and she with her housekeeping and flower garden. Elisa is overtaken by an encounter she has with a tinker that passes by their farm first asking for work and then enquiring about her chrysanthemums and asks for some "seeds" to bring to a lady who asked him for some. Elisa gets emotional in the conversation and is left feeling very uplifted. Her great mood, however, does not last too long. A little later, riding on the road with her husband, she sees the chrysanthemum shoots she sent the "lady" thrown on the road. She realizes that the tinker was a phony and made up the story, perhaps to manipulate her to give him work. She is dismayed and cries sadly.
Contents |
[edit] The encounter with the tinker
What was so uplifting to her about the encounter may have been:
- Just the opportunity of having a nice conversation with a man other than her husband, which she did not have too often on her lonely farm (as symbolized by the "high gray-flannel fog" that "closed off the Salinas Valley from . . . the world," in the story's opening sentence).
- It made her feel wonderful about herself that a man showed interest in her chrysanthemums, unlike Henry who had no interest in them: "I wish you'd work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big" he added after complementing her chrysanthemums.
- She was amused about his adventurous life, the direct opposite of her closed-in life: "That's a bright direction. There's a glowing there," she whispered after a silent "good bye" as the tinker left.
- Perhaps the main reason she had been so overtaken by the encounter and felt so good about herself was the experience of having an emotional conversation -- of being able to share her personal joy with a man, whom she thought had been interested.
[edit] Feminist theme
Some see Elisa as having a feminist dream. She has some male bents, most notably she wears a man's hat and is seen as strong. She offers her husband to utilize her talents working in the orchard. Most strikingly she tells the tinkerer: "I wish women could do such things." And then: "You might be surprised to have a rival some time. I can sharpen scissors too... I could show you what a woman might do." She whispers "That's a bright direction. There's a glowing there" as the tinkerer leaves.
[edit] Another View
The conversation with the man did not uplift Elisa but rather compounded her sense of rejection. The analogy of pots and knives are used throughout the story. The handyman has on the side of his cart a sign that reads "pots, pans, and knives with the word fixed directly under it." Elisa sees this man as the cure to her sexual frustration. She also makes a couple subtle passes at him which are shot down.
Several factors could have contributed to Elisa's sexual frustration. Her husband was possibly homosexual, sterile, or impotent. There are several symbols that hint at her inability to express her sexuality. Apples and seeds are used as an allegory for fertility and the children her husband was unable to produce. Also, when her husband leaves to go work, he takes a couple of steers to sell, which are infertile animals. In addition, chrysanthemums are often seen as a symbol for birth. Also, she dilligently and forcefully works in her garden, raising flowers, which are usually a symbol of female sexuality and genitalia. This, in a way, symbolizes her sexual frustrations. The idea that her husband was homosexual can be derived from the fact that they slept in separate bedrooms.
The tragedy embedded in this story is Elisa's inability to change her situation. She lives in an unloving marriage that she cannot improve or change. The story ties into the concept of feminism, especially since at the time there would have been no escape for a woman like Elisa. Therefore, she puts on a masculine front.
