In John Steinbeck’s short story‚ "The Chrysanthemums‚" he uses the flower to symbolize his main character’s thoughts and ideas. There are many examples of such symbolism in this work. Elisa Allen is a lonely woman who enjoys growing and nourishing her chrysanthemums. Since her husband is always working the cattle in their farm‚ she never has enough attention or any kind of affection. The result of this dispassionate marriage leads Steinbeck to describe his main character as follows‚ "Her face
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Mike and Elisa from the stories‚ “The Vigilante” and “The Chrysanthemums‚” from John Steinbeck novel‚ The Long Valley‚ both felt emptiness inside and wanted to fit in with their community to fill the shadow within themselves. A shadow is a portion of our personality that we neglect and never accept within ourselves. The shadow comes in different forms and once we think we understand it‚ it appears in another form. Jung states that‚ “ the shadow is an integral part of our nature‚ and it can never
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Steinbeck’s story “The Chrysanthemums” the main character Elisa is in the garden wearing men’s clothing; her appearance made her seem strong. "Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water"(Steinbeck 226). Elisa has a strong self-confident attitude in the beginning of the story before meeting the pot fixer‚ and by the end of the story she lacks confidence and feels like she is losing control. In the beginning‚ Elisa likes the power she has over the chrysanthemums. The author implies
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Stockings” by Kate Chopin and “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck deal with the journey to one’s identity‚ but they do so in different ways. In 1896 Kate Chopin wrote the story‚ “A Pair of Silk Stockings”‚ it takes place in an unnamed city large enough to have a department store‚ a fashionable restaurant‚ a theatre‚ a cable car and most likely depicts what it was like
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Nessa Arr. November 1‚ 2010 Literary Analysis of The Chrysanthemums John Steinbeck’s 1937 story “The Chrysanthemums” depicts women as typical housewives back in the 1930’s only being allowed to cook‚ clean and mother. Elisa‚ who is the protagonist and the dynamic character in this story‚ is the typical women for this time period but rather than mothering‚ Elisa uses her need for power and strength in gardening. Gardening isn’t necessarily Elisa’s passion although in the story she claims she has
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Both‚ D.H. Lawrence‚ author of “Odour of Chrysanthemums” and William Faulkner‚ author of “A Rose for Emily”‚ are products of their time with accurately representing their social‚ economic and historical realities of alienation through their works. The
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John Steinbeck was a free-lance writer from California who became well known after his first published story in 1935. In his story The Chrysanthemums Steinbeck‚ uses the theme of loneliness and confinement. The main character Elisa Allen is mainly focused on her garden of chrysanthemums will her husband is unaware of the changes she is going through while he sits next to her. He used imagery to reinforce his theme of loneliness and confinement by giving a detailed look on the valley and the characters
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emotions‚ but they are definitely not the same. Contentment is a state of having no problems or issues‚ whereas happiness is having joy. John Steinbeck writes about a woman who learns the difference between being content and being happy in “The Chrysanthemums”. Steinbeck’s protagonist‚ Elisa‚ is married to a man who has subpar communication skills and who has little to no understanding of women. Though Elisa is content with being poorly understood‚ she is not happy. However‚ Elisa discovers that those
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The stories‚ The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins – Gilman and “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck have the same characteristics. Both the women were trapped and suffocated‚ with many emotions. The ladies were restrained to a situation that made everything frustrating. In these two stories they will have similar and differences between them. In the Yellow Wallpaper‚ the differences in this story is that a married woman was always trapped in the house. In the beginning of the story the narrator
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John Steinbeck’s short story “The Chrysanthemums” is set in December near Salinas Valley‚ on a farm. The main theme in this short story is gender inequality. Gender inequality is seen throughout the story many times in different ways. In this essay I will explain how Steinbeck uses characters‚ culture‚ and plot to reinforce gender inequality throughout the story by making connections between the textual evidence and gender inequality‚ in order‚ to get a better understanding of why the theme is gender
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