The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck demonstrates many feminist examples, it both agrees and goes against the Cult of Domesticity. Elisa Allen is one of the main characters in this story, demonstrating the domestic role of Cult of Domesticity. She works on the garden which is a common womanly duty. But within her working on the garden, she does not just plant the flowers she does the hard labor towards gardening along with her husband, Henry Allen, as well. We see examples of Elisa doing hard labor on the first page, while she is checking to see what her husband is doing with the three business men, Elisa is cutting down the old year 's chrysanthemum stalks with a pair of short and powerful scissors. She is cutting the stalks very over-eager