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The Chrysanthemums
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
Both The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck and Cinderella by Anne Sexton are connected by a major theme: the universal, feminine longing for relevance and autonomy. The female characters in both...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
The story begins in the Salinas Valley, which is pretty common in several of Steinbeck's stories. Elisa is planting her beloved chrysanthemums when her husband comes to speak with her after he made...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
In John Steinbeck's story, "The Chrysanthemums," the character of Elisa is indeed a confusing character. She exhibits conflicting behavior throughout the story. At first she is seen wearing...
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The Chrysanthemums
After the stranger leaves, Elisa feels energized. She feels profoundly alive and attractive. So to make herself appear on the outside the way that she feels on the inside, she applies her normal...
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The Chrysanthemums
With the description in the first two paragraphs of the dormant Salinas Valley that in the winter is a "closed pot," there is the suggestion of what is to come. "The grey-flannel fog of winter"...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
Marriage in both of these short stories is presented as an institution that ultimately creates expectations of fulfilment that cannot be realistically met. Both short stories feature marriages...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
The dominant symbol in this excellent short story is of course the symbol that gives it its title: the chrysanthemums that Elisa invests so much time and effort into. These flowers are so much a...
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The Chrysanthemums
In a way, the theme of the American Dream does surface in "The Chrysanthemums." Elisa has visions of a more exciting life, a more exciting American Dream. Elisa has a comfortable but limited life....
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The Chrysanthemums
One of the key aspects of Gothic texts is that of isolation and setting. A lot of the action in Gothic texts takes place in settings that are removed from "normal" society, such as abandoned abbeys...
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The Chrysanthemums
Indirect characterization is description of a character without "leading" the reader. Inferences are made, but the author allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions without coming right...
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The Chrysanthemums
“The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck concerns romance and deception. A woman who finds herself frustrated in her life may be susceptible to the deceitful talk of a man who wants something...
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The Chrysanthemums
Elisa had carefully prepared chrysanthemum shoots for the salesman to deliver too the woman down the road who had told him she wished she could have some. Elisa gave instructions for the care and...
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The Chrysanthemums
In literature courses, writing an essay based upon research has 3 main purposes: It teaches the student how to conduct literary research (i.e. how to find, evaluate, document, and cite literary...
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The Chrysanthemums
"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...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
In Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums," the reader sees a shift of Elisa's emotions several times in the story. When the peddler stops, looking for work, Elisa is business-like as he tries to convince...
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The Chrysanthemums
In Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums," the flowers are symbolic of Elisa's life—specifically as they are like her children. When the tinker arrives in his wagon, looking for work, Elisa is working...
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The Chrysanthemums
The author states specifically that Elisa is only thirty-five years old. Life on a farm was hard for women in the 1930s. They had to work from sun-up to sundown. There was always something to do....
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The Chrysanthemums
Although "The Chrysanthemums" was first published in 1937, the story was written in 1934, while the United States was still struggling with the widespread effects of the Great Depression. The...
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The Chrysanthemums
Elisa is caught in a world without the beauty she needs for fulfillment. Her husband focuses on the utilitarian worth of objects and efforts and doesn't know how to demonstrate the affection and...
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The Chrysanthemums
Living in the "closed pot" of the Salinas Valley, Elisa Allen spends her days in which she has an exuberant energy by digging with her "terrier fingers" in the earth as she works in her flower...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
Rich in symbolism, Steinbeck's story "The Chrysanthemums" begins with a description of the "grey-flannel fog of winter" closing off the Salinas Valley from "the rest of the world": On every side...
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The Chrysanthemums
In John Steinbeck's short story "The Chrysanthemums," the tinker represents society. His way of life greatly appeals to Elisa. She shares her dreams with the man: "I've never lived as you do, but...
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The Chrysanthemums
From the first line of this short story, it becomes very clear that Elisa Allen, the protagonist of the tale, is living in a world that is very claustraphobic and blocked off from the rest of the...
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The Chrysanthemums
If you are looking for ideas based on this story that you can use to write your own piece of creative writing, then I would suggest that this story offers a number of different possibilities. One...
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The Chrysanthemums
The book is "th Chrysanthemums" by Steinbeck
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The Chrysanthemums
This question has already been asked and answered. Please refer to the URL address below, and thank you for using eNotes! URL:...
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The Chrysanthemums
You have some good ideas. I think you need to work a little to clarify and organize them. To do that, I think you need to think about how, specifically, Elisa is oppressed. State that in the...
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The Chrysanthemums
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,...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
The initial tone of John Steinbeck’s story "The Chrysanthemums" might be described as somewhat oppressive or even depressing. Certainly it is anything but vibrant or full of vitality. The opening...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
Key to understanding the transformation of Elisa [by the way, the prefix e- means out of] is the opening paragraph of John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" in which the Salinas Valley is...
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The Chrysanthemums
Elisa Allen’s frustrations about her life dominate “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck. As the protagonist, Elisa wants more from life. She has a good husband who works hard to provide a...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
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;...
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The Chrysanthemums
Let us remember that a round character is the opposite of a flat character, in that the character is presented in his or her full psychological complexity, with a number of different...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
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...
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The Chrysanthemums
It is important to focus on the presentation of the central character in this story, Elisa, is presented. From the very beginning of this excellent tale Steinbeck is quick to focus on the...
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The Chrysanthemums
Usually "embellish" is what someone does who adds to a story they have heard, adds more to an experience than what really happened, or outright makes up lies about someone or something. It can also...
