What is the central idea in Steinbeck's "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 cattle ranch with her devoted, if dull, husband. Contemplating middle age, she has a nice house to take care of but no children. Although Steinbeck does not mention any deep creative strands she has abandoned, such as painting or music, he makes it clear that Elisa is a creative person. She fulfills that aspect of herself with gardening.

Elisa’s interactions with the itinerant tinker throw a new light onto what she has assumed is her contented existence. The intensity with which she speaks to the wanderer, and the romantic ideas she harbors about his unattached life, create some sparks. When she tries to fan those into flames, however, she realizes she is deceiving herself. As the tinker’s careless disposal of her flowers shocks her, she turns her energies into behaving in a way that she thinks will please her husband—not just having a lovely dinner, but also attending a fight. Instead, he finds her behavior so inauthentic that her animation has an undesired effect on both of them.

The complexity of Elisa’s character is that a large part of her true nature has become the contented farm-wife—even if this persona did not always occupy so much of her. Any further pursuit of the unfulfilled romantic side would come at the expense of losing everything else that she values, and so it must remain an unrealized fantasy.

What is the central idea in Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums"?

The central idea in Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” concerns a woman’s loneliness and unfulfilling life in her marriage, which she sublimates by gardening and tries to satisfy through her fantasies with the tinker man, only to be brought back to the reality of her loneliness when she discovers that the tinker man had no real feelings for her at all and lacks the sensitivity she seeks in a man and in life.  Steinbeck validates a woman's sexuality in this story while also depicting a woman as facing enormous difficulties in satisfying sexual and other needs through men who lack own depth and sensitivity.

How does "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck begin?

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 ranch, which is located across the Salinas River.

Steinbeck specifically trains the spotlight on Elisa Allen (Henry's wife), the main protagonist of the story. In this exposition section, we learn that the story is mainly set at the Allen ranch and that Elisa will be the main focus of the story. We are told that Elisa is thirty-five years old, lean, and sturdy in build. As the story begins, she is cutting down the previous year's chrysanthemum stalks. Steinbeck portrays Elisa as an accomplished gardener.

As Elisa works, she watches Henry interact with two men in business suits. After the men leave, Henry makes his way towards Elisa. He first compliments Elisa on her extraordinary work with the chrysanthemums. Then, upon Elisa's inquiry, he tells her that he just sold thirty three-year-old steers to the two men for close to the price he wanted for them.

Obviously elated by his success, Henry suggests that he and Elisa go into town for a celebratory dinner and a movie. He also teases Elisa about attending the fights, but she quickly declines his offer to do so.

So, Steinbeck's story begins with an exposition section that introduces us to the setting and the main characters.

How does "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck begin?

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 a deal selling some head of cattle to the Western Meat Company. His delight at receiving "nearly his price" for the cattle is contrasted with the passion that Elisa has with her chrysanthemums. They're perfect - nearly 10 inches across - and require much attention to detail. The story states that they "seemed too small and easy for her energy," and it's clear that Elisa has bigger dreams than simply planting chrysanthemums every year - but right now, the chrysanthemums are what she pours that passion into. This brief interaction between Elisa and Henry shows the reader that Henry doesn't quite get Elisa's true desires in life - he doesn't understand that maintaining the flower bed isn't enough for her to be happy. This interaction sets the stage for Elisa's conversation with the traveling salesman and desire to speak to just about anyone about her passion.

Who is the main character in "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck?

John Steinbeck’s artistry encapsulates one day in the life of a woman who finds herself yearning for more in the story “The Chrysanthemums.”  The engaging story involves only three characters whose interactions are both hopeful and hurtful. 

Elisa Allen, the protagonist is a married woman who loves her husband.  She is intelligent, but unfulfilled in her life.  She wants excitement and actual intimacy.  Her life is on the farm with her husband Henry, who has made a comfortable living for both of them.  Her husband is unaware of her feelings.

On this wintry day, Elisa is working with her passion: her chrysanthemums.  She is preparing the flowers for winter.  She watches her husband who is talking with some strangers. 

Her husband compliments her by saying that she has a gift of growing things.  Elisa labels it “planter’s hands.” Henry wants Elisa to go with him to the fights but that really is not “her cup of tea.” He tells her that they will go out tonight and to the movies. She agrees.  They seem to be a happy couple.

As she works, Elisa hears a wagon pull up with a strange man.  He is a tinker, who travels around sharpening knives and fixing pots.  This man is never given a name.  He has learned how to manipulate women, so they allow him to do some work for them.  

Elisa tells him that she has nothing for him to do. The man chats and jokes with Elisa. When he presses for a small job, she becomes annoyed and tries to send him away.

Suddenly the man’s attention is caught by the chrysanthemum. When the man takes an interest in her flowers, Elisa’s attitude changes. The man tells her about one of his customers that always has work for him.  This other lady also has a garden and wants some chrysanthemum seeds if he ever comes across any.  The man has done it.  He has manipulated himself into Elisa good graces.

Now Elisa is captivated. She finds two pots for him to fix.  While he is working, she prepares a pot of chrysanthemum cuttings for the other lady’s garden. She also gives the man full instructions for taking care of them.  The man describes the chrysanthemums: ‘Kind of a long-stemmed flower? Looks like a quick puff of colored smoke?’ Elisa loves the description.

Even more important, it is obvious that Elisa envies the man’s life.  He is able to travel where he wants, and his freedom is unlimited. 

'I've never lived as you do, but I know what you mean.  When the night is dark--why the stars are sharp-pointed, and there's quiet.  Hot and sharp and --lovely.'

Strangely, she feels an attraction for the man because he appears to have a love of flowers.  She almost reaches for his hand with this new emotion welling up inside of her.  Instead, she pays him fifty cents for fixing the pots, gives him the pot of chrysanthemums, and sends him on his way.

Elisa goes to the house to ready herself for the night out with her husband.  She takes special care to look  nice.  Her husband compliments her and tells her that she looks different: strong and happy.

As they go down the road toward town, Elisa sees on the side of the road that the man has tossed out the cuttings of her flowers. This hurts her tremendously, and this strong woman turns her head and cries. 

The final dialogue ends with Elisa asking Henry if women really went fights.  She asks if there really is a lot of blood.

Yet, they end up going to the restaurant and having an extra glass of wine.

What is the main point of "The Chrysanthemums"?

"the Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck is a book about limitations and opportunities. The story opens with the setting in the Salinas Valley, fogged in. This will have symbolism throught the story as the reader begins to see that Elisa is fogged in as well. The garden, her little escape is fenced in, and her house is as well. Though Elisa enjoys what she does with her flowers, Steinbeck makes it a point that from her fenced in garden, she watches men come and go. It's not as if, of course, Elisa is a prisoner, she could come and go as she pleased, but she has confined herself to this life. It is for that reason, then, when the traveling tinker comes, she becomes swept away, imagining her life if it was his. She of course cannot go, so she imagines her Chrysanthemums traveling for her, reaching places she has never been and will never go to. when she sees her flowers on the road, carelessly thrown away by the tinker her becomes sad and cries because once again, she is confined.

Who is the antagonist in Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums"?

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.  In conflict with her need for aesthetic expression and appreciation, Elisa struggles within herself and, thus, is her own antagonist: 

Her face was eager and mature and handsome; even her work with the scissos was over-eager, over-powerful.  The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy.

However, this internal conflict of Elisa's for artistic expression does seem to overlap with an external conflict with her environment. Employing the images of dogs, Steinbeck clarify's Elisa's position in her environment is:  She is subservient.  Her "terrier fingers" destroy the pests, she kneels in the garden, looking across the yard at her husband; when he approaches her, she "starts at the sound of her husband's voice." While talking with the pot-mender, Elisa eyes shine when he praises her chrysanthemums as beautiful, excitedly digging up the soil with her fingers in order to plant some seeds for him.  Still kneeling on the ground, Elisa touches his pants leg, then her hand drops as she "crouches low like a fawning dog."  Finally, she stands and her face is ashamed as she realizes that the man has looked away self-consciously. 

And, although the man rejects her as an equal then even when she informs him that she is strong, too, and can sharpen scissors, she watches him drive off with straight shoulders, whispering to herself,

'That's a bright direction.  There's a glowing there.'

hoping for some resolution to her inner conflict. Yet, the "sound of her whisper startled her."

After she bathes, however, Elisa looks at herself before putting on her red dress, "the symbol of her prettiness."  Seeing Elisa, her husband tells her that she looks "different, strong and happy."  But, when he talks to her again, "his eyes...were his own again," meaning Henry still does not understand her aesthetic nature.  As they drive on the road that the pot-mender has taken, Elisa spots the dirt and seeds she has given him; she cries.

Perhaps, more than her inner desire for expression of her artistic passion, Elisa's environment, represented by Henry, her husband, and the pot-mender, is her antagonist as she struggles for equality and recognition in a world in which women are not recognized as equals. In 1974, critic Charles A. Sweet found in Elisa

Steinbeck's response to feminism...the representative of the feminist ideal of equality and its inevitable defeat.