The Chrysanthemums Feminist Analysis

Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" is a feminist text. Throughout the whole book there is a slight undertone about how Elisa is tired of her life and wants to leave her husband and the boring tedious life she leads there with him. While she is a somewhat strong woman, what with helping around on the farm, it still seems like she is eager to get away from it all and have an adventure. The story begins with discussing how good of a gardener Elisa is, and how proud she is of her garden. Gardening is usually though of by people as something that more girls tend to do, especially with flowers. When men garden it is usually referred to as planting, and in the story it appears that her husbands planting is crops, and Elisa just deals with flowers. Generally when Elisa is introduced to the prospects of doing the typical female thing, such as dinner with her husband, you can see her change and she becomes weak. No longer is
For her time period, she really was not the typical female. During that time, the females are supposed to be happy that their husbands want to take care of them, and do all the heavy work. Elisa wants to help her husband, but she is not allowed to because she is a female. She quickly tires of this and when the traveling stranger comes along, she is ready to get away from it all. She only considers it because she feels that if she leaves with him, she will no longer be constricted to the female lifestyle. Traveling around in the wagon with the stranger, she feels like she will be able to be an equal with him. She will finally be able to not be put in the box that women are put into, and she can feel more useful by helping out with everything. In the end Elisa realizes that she is most likely happier at home. She does feel a little longing for the life she could have led if she chose leave, but she is happy enough at home with her