The Chrysanthemums

The tinker who passes by Elisa and Henry Allen's farm is looking to sell Elisa his services. He is a mender of pots and a sharpener of scissors and knives. He is not really interested in Elisa's...

Steinbeck's purpose in this section of text is to highlight the contrast between Elisa's lack of femininity early in the story and the feminine confidence the farm's visitor elicits. Elisa's face...

Enotes has an excellent article on the question of Elisa's sexuality, the link to which I provide below. In short, this critic argues that the tinkerer stirs sexual feelings  in...

The opening of the story features richly described imagery described in metaphoric terms, including "grey-flannel fog" and "black earth shining like metal." Steinbeck uses similes to describe...

The visit that Elisa has had with the stranger has awakened a desire to inject more excitement into her life and her marriage. Her vigorous bathing with a pumice stone is meant to suggest her...

In John Steinbeck's short story, "The Chrysanthemums," Elisa, the protagonist, is characterized at first as a woman who find pleasure in what she does on her husband's ranch. She especially loves...

Authors often use literary devices in their narratives as the employment of this figurative language embellishes a story, making the common uncommon, extending the meaning of something beyond its...

The "dark speck" that Elisa notices at the end of the story as she drives into town with her husband for dinner refers to the dirt that she gave the peddler. This of course triggers off a kind of...

In this story, John Steinbeck conveys the idea that suppressing one’s authentic self does not change one’s identity. The protagonist, Elisa, lives a contented, generally satisfied life on a small...

The narrative focuses on Elisa Allen, and she is a woman who seems to feel that she is marginalized by the male forces that surround her. She is clearly energetic, strong, and capable, but her...

At the beginning of the story, the narrator notes how efficient Elisa is at caring for the chrysanthemums; the suggestion is implied that she is capable of much more. This suggestion is fitting...

John Steinbeck’s famous short story “The Chrysanthemums” might easily provide the basis for a successful short film. The story has a lucid plot, memorable characters, an interesting setting, and...

No, Elisa Allen is not a round and dynamic character. She is a round character for sure; however, she is not dynamic. She is the same woman at the end of the story as she is at the story's...

"The Chrysanthemums" can be read in a feminist context as what Peter Lisca calls a "silent rebellion against the passive role required of her as a woman." This is a good starting point to...

In John Steinbeck’s short story “The Chrysanthemums,” the protagonist is Elisa, a lonely farm woman who struggles to find happiness in the isolated location where she and her husband, Henry, live....

When the tinker arrives on the Allen farm, his main objective is to be able to repair something so that he can earn money. After Elisa tells him that she has nothing in need of repair, he does not...

In The Chrysanthemums, Elisa is portrayed as isolated but initially unconcerned with the solitary situation of the farm where she and her husband live. A sensible person, she seems satisfied with...

The opening description of Elisa strongly suggests that she is an extremely capable woman whose potential is not being fully tapped on the farm where she lives. The house is aggressively...

Steinbeck's short story "The Chrysanthemums" does not contain any specific reference to the year in which the events of the story take place, but the story's publication took place in 1937, two...

In John Steinbeck’s story, Elisa has greatly enjoyed discussing gardening with the itinerant peddler who has stopped by the farm. Although some part of her understands that she is trying to sell...

Metaphorically linking Elisa with the "closed pot" of the fertile Salinas Valley, Steinbeck has both the land and Elisa existing in "a time of quiet and of waiting." After the stranger, who is "a...

The short story "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck tells of a couple living on a cattle ranch on the foothills of the Salinas Valley in California. The woman, Elisa, is thirty-five years old....

Irony, a contrast between what is expected and what actually occurs, serves to increase the impact of the story as well as its tone, the air of mystery that exists in "The Chrysanthemums." In...

Elisa is perhaps considered a complex character because she seems sometimes passionate and lively and at other times melancholy and restless. She is passionate and lively when she is working with...

Let us remember what has happened to Elisa through her meeting with the tinker man. She, through his interest in her and her chrysanthemums, suddenly feels free to imagine a different life where...

The stranger is a tinker: someone who travels from place to place, mending metal objects such as pots and pans. As part of his job, he effectively has to sell his skills to the people he meets on...

Eliza's epiphany in the short story "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck might lie in her realization that men often treat women as things to be used to different ends. Sometimes those ends are...

The quote that you are looking for can be found about halfway through this John Steinbeck story, and the quote is said by the stranger that comes to visit Elisa and Henry Allen's ranch. Most...

Below, I provide some quotes that exhibit one of the main themes of the story: female sexuality. Behind her stood the neat white farm house with red geraniums close-banked around it as high as the...

In her first interaction with her husband, Elisa is a little smug with him. He compliments her work but then, somewhat dismissive, says she ought to put more work into the orchard. He has sold some...

In the story, "The Chrysanthemums," by John Steinbeck, Elisa's "sense of power" comes from her ability to make things grow. She takes great pride in this, and this helps her to define who she is...

Elisa Allen and her husband have a certain barrier between them in their relationship that prevents intimacy and stimulation, whereas with the stranger, Elisa seems to subtly seek an intimacy and...

Elisa, the main character in this story, has an internal conflict. She struggles with her love for aesthetic beauty and desiring her husband to see and recognize it, not only in her flowers, but...

Elisa's sense of self-worth is tied to the land. She's connected to the season, the climate, and the terrain in which she lives. The author sets the mood of the story with the winter fog, which...

Elisa watches the tinker departing, leaving her behind on the farm. She has become captivated by the prospect of the tinker's adventurous and unpredictable lifestyle—the ability to "sleep right in...

Steinbeck's "Chrysanthemums" is a short story first published in an 1937 issue of Harper's, and later in a collection of stories in The Long Valley, published in 1938. It is believed by some to be...

In John Steinbeck's "The Chrsanthemums," chief among the symbols are the chrsanthemums, of course, pots, the fence, and the tinker man, but there are others, as well. In the exposition,...

Elisa's chrysanthemums are the only things that give her life meaning, but when the unscrupulous traveling tinker throws them away on the road it is as if he is negating her reason for living. The...

In John Steinbeck's short story "The Chrysanthemums," Elisa Allen presents as a strong, capable woman. She is proud of the work she does at home and in her garden, and Steinbeck makes it clear that...

To answer this question we need to understand that Elisa is a character who is fundamentally trapped and restricted in a world where she is unable to fulfill her own dreams and potential. The...

In John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums," the traveling repair man ignites the repressed passion in Elisa as well as her other hidden qualities. When he arrives he finds Elisa unreceptive to him;...

Elisa has a decent husband. He is steady and a good provider. So, Elisa has no real concerns about money or stability. However, as a result of her encounter with the stranger, she realizes that her...

Many of John Steinbeck's short stories and novellas take place in the Salinas Valley, like "The Chrysanthemums" and Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley, and he knew the area...

While the female protagonists in John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" and Ernest Hemingway's "Cat in the Rain" are vastly different, there are a few similarities between the two. Elisa and the...

Since the original question is "Name ten objects in the chrysanthemums that symbolize something [sic]," here are other symbols that John Steinbeck employs in his short story in addition to the...

The quest for the American Dream is portrayed through two different characters in "The Chrysanthemums." The typical American Dream is at least partially dependent on earning an income capable of...