Throughout history, women have been portrayed as the weaker sex. As a result of these unfair social assumptions, women have been working hard to dissociate themselves from this stereotype and become more independent with their lives. In the story “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, he describes Elisa Allen’s frustration with her marriage, her sense of isolation from the world, and her hidden desires to express herself as a woman and to explore her sexuality by living a more passionate life. The setting plays a significant role in the story.
It reinforces Elisa’s feelings of isolation from the world. The tale is set in the beautiful valley of Salinas, California, but with all its beauty, this location takes on the role of some sort of prison in which one could feel trapped. “The high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from 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” (260). We can see how this atmosphere could have a negative effect on a person.
Another part of the setting that plays an equally important roll is the fence that surrounds Elisa’s garden from her husband and the rest of the world. “He leaned over the wire fence that protected her flower garden from cattle and dogs and chickens” (260). These animals represent Henry’s world, while the garden represents hers. The peddler is the first person to want to enter her world. Later Elisa decides to let him into her garden, and with that act, breaks the barrier that has isolated her from the outside.
The chrysanthemums themselves and her clothes illustrate a great deal about Elisa’s struggle to find her own identity. The chrysanthemums meant a great deal to her. She grew them with the work of her hands and the care of her heart. We observe this when she talks about them so passionately with the peddler. The author portrays that “the stems seemed too small and easy for her energy” (260). This symbol makes it clear to the reader that she wants more from life than just being a gardener.
Her initial appearance in the story is incredibly conservative and manly; “Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man’s black hat pulled down over her eyes, clod-hopper shoes and heavy leather gloves” yet still allows a feminine side to be noticed, “She wore a figured print dress almost completely covered by a corduroy apron” (260). This imagery represents her repression of her own sexuality. Despite her hiding behind these symbolic clothes, she was still doing the “female” job of looking after the flower garden.
She learns, but does not accept, that she possesses a weak feminine power not the masculine one she tried to achieve The peddler is an especially important figure in this story and represents the kind of life Elisa Allen would like to experience. He is described as a big, bearded and greying man with an attractive presence, whose eyes are dark and full of brooding. He lives his life on the road, traveling the country and making what little money he can from his loyal customers by fixing their pots and knives. After entering Elisa’s yard, he repeatedly asks if she has anything he can fix.
She refuses him a job and becomes very irritated, “The irritation and resistance melted from Elisa’s face” (263). But when the peddler admires her flowers, she “grew eager and alert” (263), and feels like he admires her. “She tears off the battered hat and shook out her dark pretty hair” (263). She decides to allow the peddler into her world by giving him some sprouts of chrysanthemums in a pot for the “customer” that he claims is interested in chrysanthemums. By giving him the sprouts, she gives him the symbol of her inner-self. Her enthusiasm for her flowers is a very feministic characteristic.
She gives the peddler a job and he leaves. The fact that others might be interested in her passion for gardening gives her the idea that she may have a distinct role in society and can make a difference, even a small one. After the departure of the man in the wagon, Elisa feels like a transformed woman and acquires hope for herself and her marriage. She feels like a renewed woman and rushes to take a bath. She washes and scrubs herself as if to remove the bits and pieces of her old lifestyle and to allow her new, confident self to shine through.
She then looks at her new self in the mirror and beams at the sight of it. She hopes that Henry will recognize her as a woman and provide her the romance and excitement for which she longs. However, she becomes very frustrated when Harry sets eyes on her, and his best compliment on her appearance is, “You look nice” (265). Elisa is bothered because he cannot grasp what she sees and how she feels. She realizes that her life is not going to change, and that her femininity and sexuality are never going to be fully appreciated nor understood by Henry. She later declares to him that she is “strong.
I never knew before how strong” (266). “In a moment it was over” (266). The moment when she sees her flowers discarded on the road, she suffers an overwhelming feeling of rejection. She feels weak, betrayed, and feminine. She has no desire to try and be strong, and realizes that she can never live up to the expectations she places on herself. She realizes all the peddler wanted was the pots. The entire experience was a lie. Elisa felt a false sense of awakening, and it affected her strongly. In an attempt to save her newly discovered strength and will, she asks Henry about the prizefights.
Henry replies that she would not like the fights, putting Elisa back into the chains of domination that she felt she had broken free from not to long ago. At first glance, this is a simple story about a simple time, when men were the only support of a family and women were at hand to serve them. However, the further we look into the story, we discover a woman of outstanding will trying to force herself into society as an individual. Even though her revolution is brief, Elisa comes of age by discovering the world beyond her garden and coming into the realization that she too could make a difference in the world.
