From start to finish, Elisa is alone: physically, emotionally, and sexually. Perhaps it’s that loneliness that leads to dissatisfaction with her life, or perhaps her dissatisfaction sparks her loneliness. It’s also important to note that part of what makes Elisa so lonely is the simple fact that she’s a woman. While the men do business and work the ranch, Elisa gardens and cleans. Everything changes when tinker disrupts her usual solitude. It’s when her isolation is broken that the story begins to unfold. The transformation in “The Chrysanthemums” are small, subtle, at times barely even noticeable. This is not a caterpillar-to-butterfly situation. But if we pay attention, we see that Elisa goes through a number of these small changes throughout