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Gender Roles In The Chrysanthemums, By John Steinbeck

897 Words4 Pages

Thesis:
Intro: this relates to human nature

At this time in age, in the 1930’s women were economically limited. The roles for women consisted of staying at home, while the men worked. Particularly Elisa, she would work in the garden while her husband dealt with the business side of things. Steinbeck writes:
Elisa Allen, working in her flower garden, looked down across the yard and saw Henry, her husband, talking to two businessmen in suits. The three of them stood by the tractor shed, each man with one foot on the side of the little Ford-son. They smoked cigarettes and studied the machine as they talked. Elisa watched them for a moment and then went back to her work. (Steinbeck, “The Chrysanthemums”, 1)

“At it again,” he said. “You’ve …show more content…

In the second quote Elisa gets upset due to the fact that her husband, Henry makes her feel little, he is unappreciative of Elisa’s hard work in the garden. Though he does wish she would put her skills in the work force by growing apples it is not a right setting for a women.
Gender roles were a huge limitation for women. When the Peddler visits Elisa, he tells her how he travels from Seattle to San diego every year to follow the nice weather. Elisa wishes that she could be like the Peddler and travel. Steinbeck …show more content…

When the red ant gets inside of the shell, the turtle reacted by protecting itself, bringing its legs, head and tail inside its shell. The turtle would be vulnerable to everything around it without shell. The author states: “For a moment the turtle rested. A red ant ran into the shell, into the soft skin inside shell, and suddenly head and legs snapped in, and the armoured tail clamped in sideways. The red ant was crushed between boy and legs.” (“The Turtle”, 2). Though the turtle may be trapped and stuck inside its shell, the shell protects the turtle from the dangers of the outside world.
Elisa is stuck in a mans world,the men do everything- they work, they protect their loved ones, they provide for families, they do the the heavy duty ‘things’. Elisa does the same thing everyday, she works in her garden because there are not many things for her to do but cook, clean, and provide for her husband. Henry protects Elisa from the outside world an example of this is when Elisa sees her flowers on the road, Steinbeck

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