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Character Analysis Of Elisa In The Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck

554 Words3 Pages

Correspondingly, Elisa’s choice of actions cause for the damage of her femininity and goals. On her drive to dinner with Henry, Elisa notices her chrysanthemums laying on the side of the road, the exact ones she gave to the tinker earlier. This image causes a break down in her self-confidence, as she realizes that the tinker did not care for her or her flowers at all, but rather just getting what he wanted: “Could we have wine at dinner?” (Steinbeck, 277). Elisa tries to push away the pain by asking for wine as a way to escape from her disastrous reality. She believes it can be a short-lasting withdrawal from the life of isolation she will be going back to. She also tries to find another form of escapism by asking to go to the fights: “I don’t think you’d like it, but I’ll take you if you really want to go” (Steinbeck, 278). …show more content…

After her dinner she will go right back to being a boring house wife whose husband does not care deeply for her desires and aspirations. As a result, Elisa is back at the root of her problem of not being able to express herself as she truly yearns for: “She was crying weakly-like an old woman” (Steinbeck, 278). As an individual, she feels like she is hitting rock bottom. Everything she ever dreams and hopes of is lost in a matter of seconds. Her flowers on the side of the road are a symbol of her lost goals and ambitions, and because the tinker completely disregards the fact that they are her most meaningful possession, Elisa believes that there is no more worth for what she does. Thus, Elisa experiences feelings of betrayal against society due to her circumstances. Clearly, both protagonists experience such distraught in their lives as a result of their isolation and the position it puts them in to make poor

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