The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck epitomizes the nature of Elisa Allen’s confinement. The chrysanthemums have been used to symbolize Elisa particularly. The Tinker has also been used to embody the wants that Elisa has. The narrator effectively uses symbolism to compare the Salinas Valley to a pot that is closed, due to the existence of the high gray-flannel fog during winter that is closed on the valley right from the sky and to all corners of the world. The chrysanthemums have been used to symbolize the inner self of Elisa, who was very frustrated in life due to lack of children.
First, the chrysanthemums have been used to symbolize Elisa’s children. She had had a lot of passion for her garden. She handles and tends the chrysanthemums with a lot of care and love, just the way she would do to her children. Elisa becomes very protective of the flowers in her garden. She even puts up a fence around the garden to ensure no access to others to the flowers. She ensures no pests gets to the flowers and gets rid of them in good time. The pests also symbolize real harm that parents have to ensure that their children are safe. The joy and pride that Elisa has when she grows those beautiful flowers indicate that she valued them just like her children.
The chrysanthemums in the second part of the story, strongly symbolize the sexuality and femininity of Elisa. There is a feminine image created when Elisa takes care of the flowers as though they were her children. There is also a masculine image that is observed in her, hard-polished and hard-swept home. The image has also been transferred over into the relationship she was having with her husband. Elisa develops a feeling that her husband Henry did not appreciate and recognize her femininity, this feeling creates room for antagonism to develop between her and the husband.Henry did not realize his mistakes and shortcomings, and also, Elisa does not make an effort towards making him understand his inadequacies by pointing them out to him so that he could rectify them. Disharmony develops between the two of them. Elisa develops discontent with Henry.Due to all this Elisa becomes vulnerable to tinker, who romantically terms the chrysanthemums as a “quick puff of colored smoke”.by admiring the chrysanthemums tinker figuratively admired Elisa. In this context, the chrysanthemums symbolized the sexuality of Elisa. This makes Elisa tear off the battered hat and also to shake out her lovely dark hair. Tinker uses some well-placed words which make the masculine image in Elisa disappear and to be replaced with her feminine image. Elisa finds Tinker to be a catalyst in her life. She gives him a red flower pot which contained some chrysanthemums. This symbolized that Elisa had given her inner-self to tinker. Elisa starts to get some hope for marriage and herself as well as tinker gets to leave. Her encounter with Tinker makes her start preparing for a more fulfilling life (Steinbeck 239).
The chrysanthemums have also been used symbolically to depict Elisa as a frustrated and sexually repressed woman. The chrysanthemums have been well represented in the passion that Elisa had and the eagerness to experience and live a life full of content. As she was tending her chrysanthemums flowers, she decided to pull out some of the firm little roots and also trim the leaves with a pair of scissors. This was a symbolism that Elisa Allen was on the verge of closing all available opportunities for her to grow as a sexual woman; she decides to embrace and lead the monotonous life just like a complacent wife of a farmer. The figure print dress which is under the apron shows the readers that Elisa is fully aware of her sexuality, but she decided not to act on it and preferred subduing it.Her passions and sexuality were under control as she tends to her chrysanthemums which were laid in a small, orderly pile.
Henry does not appreciate the efforts that Elisa makes to look beautiful for a dinner, despite all the preparations that she had made that day. Tinker after being given a flower by Elisa throws it by the roadside. Elisa finds the flower crushed by the road. The remarks that Henry gives her and finding her flower crushed by the road makes Elisa feel very frustrated and devastated, due to the thoughtless rejection of her very own soul by tinker and Henry.This was one of the symbolic acts that left Elisa with no hope. She realizes that her sexuality and femininity would never be understood and recognized, which left her crying weakly.
Conclusion.
The chrysanthemums have significantly been used in various aspects of the story, to symbolize the role of Elisa as a woman, symbolize her children, and also to show the sexuality and femininity of Elisa. Elisa, who is left frustrated in life due to lack of romance and children in their marriage with Henry Tinker, brings some hope in her life, but she is left devastated when she realizes that she will never be fully appreciated as a woman.
Works Cited
Steinbeck, John. "The Chrysanthemums." Kennedy, X. J. and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. 239-47. Print.
