Short story authors use symbolism to describe particular scenes without actually saying the words, which adds to the interest of the story. In Frank O’Connor’s story “First Confession” and John Steinbeck’s story “The Chrysanthemums”, both authors use symbolism to enhance the readers insight of the story. Also, the symbolism offered by the authors provides the reader with a deeper look into the story, making the reader find more interest throughout. In “The Chrysanthemums”, Steinbeck uses a betrayal issue as the basis of the story, where O’Connor’s “First Confession” uses a religious basis.
Even though there is a wide spread in the subjects, a link is created. Wisdom, spirituality, and frustration are all symbols shared by these unrelated topics. “The Chrysanthemums” main character is Elisa Allen. Elisa is married and loves to work in her garden. While working in the garden, a stranger pulls his wagon into Elisa’s yard. The stranger manages to con Elisa by speaking of her flowers, which is Elisa’s ultimate soft spot. Elisa gives the man some of her prize Chrysanthemums to give to another woman that he knew. While going to dinner with her husband, she notices her beautiful flowers have been carelessly discarded onto the road.
This is one of Steinbeck’s main symbols. The discarded flowers symbolize Elisa’s beauty and femininity. Because Elisa has no children, she believes that her flowers are her children. She takes care of them better than anything she has in her possession does. When the smooth talking stranger disposes of her flowers, he has taken her children away from her. Elisa is also portrayed as venerable. The stranger takes advantage of this venerability by acting like he liked the flowers and was going to deliver them to a lady. The Chrysanthemums were Elisa’s life and even her entire being on her isolated farm .
Not only her trust was broken, but her faith in people and even herself was broken. She put her faith in the stranger and was betrayed. Elisa’s garden was consistent with the Garden of Eden. Her flowers were cast out onto the road as God cast out Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve betrayed God, like the stranger betrayed Elisa’s trust in him. In Frank O’Connor’s “First Confession”, a little seven year old boy named Jackie has been scared by a nun’s portrayal of confession. Frightened by this inaccurate encounter, Jackie is nervous about making his first confession.
Fortunately, the priest is softened by the innocence of the young boy. Jackie’s confession symbolizes his coming of age. It shows that he is growing up. When Jackie finally stumbles in to the confession booth, he is overwhelmed with not knowing what to do. Jackie eventually falls out of the booth onto the church floor. This symbolizes his actual fear of the confession, but the priest consoles him and shows Jackie that confession is something that has to be done. Jackie showed sincerity in his confession so the priest only gave him Three Hail Mary’s for penance.
Both stories shared ideas in symbolism. Elisa and Jackie both went through a cleansing process. Both were spiritual, but Elisa “scrubbed” herself where Jackie’s was all within. Jackie cleansed himself with his confession. Also, both characters gained a newfound wisdom by the end of the stories. Jackie learned that by going to confession he would become a better person. He also learned that confession was not meant to be frightening, but it was spiritual. Elisa and Jackie were terribly frustrated. Elisa’s frustration possibly comes about because of her inability to bear any children.
She also could be frustrated about being isolated on a far off farm with only her flowers. Jackie was frustrated by the nun trying to scare him. He believed that he would make a bad confession. Symbolism effects all stories in some small way. The symbolism in these two stories had a profound effect on the way the reader understood the story. Elisa and Jackie learned many important lessons about themselves. They learned that life has to be lived no matter what happens. Not only this, but both Elisa and Jackie grew up.
