The Chrysanthemums

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 setting of John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" has much to do with the character of Elisa Allen. Much like the Salinas Valley of California where she lives that is compared to "a closed...

She cries like an old woman because she is defeated and she is weakened and powerless to go back and change it. She is defeated in the sense that the man from the repair wagon manipulated her and...

Elisa and Henry's marriage is moderately happy but lacks a certain spark. How do we know this? Because Elisa is so susceptible to the flattery of a handsome drifter. Had Henry been perhaps a little...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 "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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

As defined by Buzzle.com... "Naturalism in literature was a literary movement that suggested the involvement of environment, heredity and social conditions in shaping the human character." In the...

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...

"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...

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....

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...

The crucial moment of foreshadowing in the story occurs when Elisa sees a dark speck on the road and realizes, to her great sadness and disappointment, that the traveling tinker has discarded the...

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...

Coming up with a thesis statement for John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums"—or any piece of literature—is a process in and of itself. A thesis statement is basically a position you are arguing...

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...

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...

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;...

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...

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...

According to Freytag's Pyramid, a tool of structural analysis of a literary piece, the rising action is the segment of the story in which the conflicts begin to escalate. In John Steinbeck's "The...

The theme is the general idea or message about human nature or life that a story can convey.The meaning stems from how details in a story are used to express the overall theme/general idea of the...

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...

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...

The story begins with a descriptive narrative about the Salinas Valley, in which the story is set. After a couple of paragraphs about the geographical setting, Steinbeck hones in on Henry Allen's...

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,...

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...

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...

The symbol of loneliness is the clump of chrysanthemums Elisa carefully pots for the tinker to take with him. When she later sees them lying in the road, unceremoniously dumped with the pot...

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...

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...

The connection between Elisa and her treasured chrysanthemums is illustrated in John Steinbeck's short story "The Chrysanthemums." The opening of the story shows the relationship Elisa has with her...

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...

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...

A superb story, John Steinbeck's "Chrysanthemums" has been one about which critics are divided over whether the main character, Elisa Allen, is sympathetic or unsympathetic, powerful or powerless....

Having written of his story, It is entirely different and designed to strike without the reader's knowledge it is only through minimal indirect characterization that the reader learns of Elisa in...

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...