John Steinbeck - Essay Example

John Steinbeck: The Chrysanthemums John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” is a short story about a womanand her garden. There is very little action to the story as it tells of the simple activities of a day in the life of Elisa Allen. Although the day seems relatively uneventful, it is unusual for Elisa in that she has a visitor in the form of a tinker who expresses interest in her flowers and her husband decides to take her out for the evening in a rare display of affection and good will but the story ends before she gets very far from her garden as she discovers her flowers broken and crushed on the road. As might be expected from such a summary, the action of the story goes much deeper than the simple activities of a woman tending her favorite plants within the strictly defined space of a cottage garden. Steinbeck’s fluid style and gentle suggestive use of language highlights a deeper meaning to the story, particularly when the reader reaches the final lines in which it is seen that Elisa is “crying weakly – like an old woman.” With his use of imagery and action, Steinbeck highlights Elisa Allen’s isolation and frustration both within her garden and through her relationships with others such as the tinker and her husband, Henry. Elisa’s garden quickly illustrates the degree to which Elisa herself is isolated from the rest of the world. Elisa, like her flowers, is completely enclosed within the garden space which is marked by a low fence. This fence stands between her and the other characters throughout much of the story. This is symbolic of how she is enclosed and isolated from the rest of the world. This isolation is also emphasized by the setting described: “The high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the [valley] from the sky and all the rest of the world.  On every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot” (Steinbeck). This setting indicates that even if she were to leave the garden, Elisa would still find herself cut off from the rest of society. Her isolation is also made clear as she watches her husband talk to strangers not far away but is prevented, by custom and expectation, from joining them despite her own curiosity about what they are saying. In a similar way, Steinbeck forces the reader to make a mental link between the chrysanthemums in the garden and Elisa’s tremendous frustration with her life. He does this first by pointing out the manner in which she works with the flowers, “The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy” (Steinbeck). The ferocity that she demonstrates in tending the plants is the fierceness of her frustration as she realizes that she cannot just saunter over to where Henry is talking with visitors and take part in the conversation no matter how strong the desire. At the same time, Elisa’s pride in these plants takes on the notes of a mother’s pride in her children, illustrating that Elisa is frustrated both in her own personality as well as in the prescribed role society has placed on her as a woman in that she does not have any children running around. The unusual size and beauty of her flowers demonstrate the frustrated care she has lavished upon them, care that is prevented from making any significant contribution to the rest of the world regardless of how much she might wish to or how talented she might be at bringing about positive change. This is an idea that is brought out again and again through her relationships with the visiting tinker and later with her husband. The ideas of Elisa’s frustration and extreme isolation are also expressed during her interaction with the tinker who stops at her ranch because he has lost his way. This is significant because the tinker would not have stopped at Elisa’s ranch normally, meaning her home is not on the typical circuits for salesmen and others who might serve to break up a woman’s normally isolated and lonely day. Although she initially treats him with friendly suspicion, as was customary for the situation, the tinker’s astute interest in her chrysanthemums, with his poetic description of them as “quick puff[s] of colored smoke,” elicits a response within her. As she thought of her flowers and his interest in them, and, by extension, in herself, “she tore off the battered hat and shook out her dark pretty hair.” As she kneels on the ground at his feet, the quintessential subjected female figure, “Her breast swelled passionately.” These types of descriptions on the part of Steinbeck cause the reader to begin thinking in more sexual terms, illustrating how the intimate interest of the tinker has, for Elisa, sexual undertones. She provides the tinker with some of her precious chrysanthemum shoots, a symbolic sharing of the procreative spirit – a sort of reverse sexual intercourse in which the man walks away pregnant. The emotion of having shared such an intimate encounter with someone, anyone, has Elisa feeling particularly well when her husband suggests they go out and, perhaps still carried away by these emotions, she hurries to dress in “the dress which was the symbol of her prettiness. She worked carefully on her hair, penciled her eyebrows and rouged her lips.” For this brief moment in her life, Elisa experiences a sense of fulfillment knowing that her efforts have born fruit and she is to be permitted into the company of others. Elisa’s strong reaction to the tinker is then sharply contrasted to the politely distant relationship that exists between Elisa and her husband, Henry. There is a distinct separation between the two of them that prevents them from being able to move beyond the bounds of a strictly business relationship. He recognizes her talent with the flowers and casually mentions how such a talent is sorely needed within the orchard that provides them with their living. However, when she shyly offers to try, “Maybe I could do it, too. I’ve a gift with things, all right” (Steinbeck), he immediately rejects her. He does this by trivializing her talent, again restricting it to the strict boundaries of her garden space, “Well, it sure works with flowers” (Steinbeck). This portrayal of husband and wife interaction again indicates that Elisa remains unnaturally confined and isolated in Henry’s inability to see beyond established gender stereotypes. This aspect of their relationship is made clear again at the end of the story when Henry cannot imagine Elisa might want to go see the fights. Following this interaction with her husband and discovering the ‘pregnant seed’ she’d shared with the tinker smashed alongside the roadway forces Elisa to realize the harshly confining limitations of her marital relationship and she breaks down into the tears of a woman old before her time. Through this short story, Steinbeck manages to capture a strong sense of the frustration and isolation of the typical ranch wife of his time period in the character of Elisa Allen. Through his use of setting and action, her encounter with the tinker and the relationship she experiences with her husband, Steinbeck illustrates the utter impossibility of Elisa escaping the unhappy and lonely life she is living. Every effort she makes to try to connect herself with the outside world, or even with her own husband, is rebuffed and rejected. While male perceptions commonly held that a woman’s place is in the home and this is where she will be happiest, Steinbeck illustrates, through this story, the incredible injustice this belief perpetrates on the woman herself and suggests a more open minded approach to the issue is called for. Works Cited Steinbeck, John. (1995). “The Chrysanthemums.” The Long Valley. New York: Penguin Books: 1-13. Read More