The Chrysanthemums - Literary Analysis

In the short story “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck the author uses the flowers in Elisa’s garden to symbolize her femininity. Elisa’s garden is fell of beautiful big Chrysanthemums that are surrounded by a fence which helps with the symbolization that Elisa’s feminine beauty is caged in by the things around her such as her husband and his commitment to his work.
Elisa is introduced in the story with manly feature like having a face that “was lean and strong [and also a] figure [that] looked blocked and heavy.”(240) She has a “man’s black hat pulled low down over her eyes.” (240) She also “wore heavy leather gloves to protect her hands while she worked.” (240) This symbolizes how Elisa is covering up the feminine parts of her such as her figure, hair and hands.
Elisa’s husband sees the flowers that she worked so hard to gorw and pays no attention the beauty of them, but wants her to do something more productive with her talents. This symbolizes how Elisa’s husband pays no attention the beauty that Elisa possesses inside and out, but is more focused on the work that needs to be done on the farm.
When a stranger makes his way to the farm to look for some work to do, Elisa is instantly intrigued by his dark eyes and “calloused hands [that] he rested on the wire fence.”(242) By putting his hands on the fence of Elisa’s garden, the stranger is entering into Elisa’s beauty that she kept hidden from the outside. The stranger shows interest in Elisa’s chrysanthemums which excited her. Elisa runs “excitedly among the geranium-bordered path to the back of the house. And she [returns] carrying a big red flower pot. The gloves were forgotten now” (240) which Steinbeck uses to symbolize that Elisa is uncovering her femininity to the stranger. The excitement of this stranger brings out Elisa’s beauty when she sees herself in the mirror as what she is- a beautiful woman. She takes care of herself and puts on “her newest under-clothing and her nicest stockings and the dress which was the symbol of her prettiness.” (246) Her husband finally seems to notice Elisa’s beauty by only her outside appearance when she is dressed up.
Elisa is on the way to dinner with her husband when she sees a “dark speck” (24) which she knows is her flowers. Elisa realizes that she was used for her flowers and the stranger did not really notice the beauty of the flowers. The act of the stranger symbolizes an act of vampirism where the stranger sucks the life, which is the flowers, out of Elisa. Elisa then turns away from her husband and cries “weakly - like an old woman” (247) which symbolizes the beauty of Elisa being taken away by a man once again.
Steinbeck uses the flower to symbolize her womanly beauty and how no men understand her feminine side. The flowers were ignored by Elisa’s husband and taken advantage of by the stranger. This whole story shows the struggle of a woman’s place and society and the struggle to fit femininity in.