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John Steinbeck’s short story, “Chrysanthemums”, was written in 1938. The story tells of a woman’s struggle to find self respect and worth from her male counterpart within a very patriarchal society. Throughout the story symbols are constantly used and Steinbeck specifically chooses symbolism in order to express the inequality of women during that time. The use of chrysanthemums in Steinbeck’s story is to symbolize Elisa and her self worth.
John Steinbeck’s, The Chrysanthemums, is a story set in the early 20th century. The story takes place in December, on the ranch of Henry and Elisa Allen, near the Salinas Valley in California. The Allen ranch has an apple orchard and cattle on it. Henry runs the ranch as head of household and Elisa is a homemaker with a knack for growing chrysanthemums. We pick up the story with Henry, who has just sold some cattle.
I have always wanted to be a barista, the person behind the counter at that cute little coffee shop who would make the drink that gave me life. When I was given that opportunity of course I took it as soon as I could; I had always felt like I was already a part of that community with all of the hours I would spend in coffee shops and having the knowledge of what all the drinks were. But on arriving at my first day of work at River City Coffee I quickly realized the life and community behind the counter is a completely different world than the one I had been living in. River City Coffee is a discourse community.
How can someone avoid social privilege, or privilege in general that restricts people? In the material Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates examples of how the majority is constricted of how far they progress in life due to social advantages and relations. With the characters in Of Mice and Men, readers get a wide variety of diverse negative and positive benefits across the palate of struggling people. Privilege is a harsh reality defined by social status and molds humans into a predetermined way of living. Women are generally less privileged due to the gender barrier and roles.
In the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck Lennie and George go to Soledad to work on a ranch. George and Lennie are migrant workers that are trying to get a farm for themselves. This is hard for them because Lennie is disabled and seems to always be getting in trouble. When they -- George and Lennie -- are at the ranch, they and the reader experience lots of racial discrimination towards African Americans. One of the people that gets discriminated in the book is Crooks.
The Discrimination action of the 1930s By reading “Of Mice and Men”, John Steinbeck, is showing a huge piece of discrimination by putting Crooks in the book as the only African American on the ranch. They push him around and don't even want him there but come to accept him. Are able to work with them as a person of color and it shows major respect to the colored. To see the perspective of a northern colored guy getting accepted.
Still, he is an adequate businessman who runs his ranch successfully and provides a comfortable life for his wife. Then there’s A tall, bearded man knows as the tinker who makes his living repairing pots, pans, and other kitchen utensils. The tinker taps into Elisa emotions to try and make a sale and comes across as a witty man who flirts and banters with Elisa. He is also clever and canny enough to convince the skeptical Elisa to give him work, begging at first and finally resorting to flattery. He makes Elisa feel like she’s useful and makes her feel important.
During the era of The Great Depression, African-Americans and women had major impact on their lives. In Steinbeck’s novel, “Of Mice and Men” he had portrayed discrimination through two characters, Crooks and Curley’s wife. Both characters somehow have a relation with each other. For example, they were discriminated and felt like they did not belong in the ranch. Though Crooks was discriminated because of his skin colour and Curley’s wife was victimize because of her gender.
In Steinbeck's views “ While the man came through the picket gate Elisa ran excitedly along the geranium- bothered path to the back of the house. And she returned carrying a big red flower pot. The gloves were forgotten”(1227). The gives the reader a glimpse of who Elisa. She is strong and intelligent women that she wants to be.
Findlay Eyre Ms. Moussa E.L.A. 9-C Findlay Eyre Race also needs its breathing space We all once thought racism was just people discriminating a race, but if you dig just a bit deeper its more than a one-sided conflict it is, in fact, a domino effect, easy to start but hard to stop. You can quickly realize how racism isn’t just so simple, and neither sides help each out. This builds more tension and provokes even more racism sometimes leading to people being completely isolated to “stop” the racism. But clearly isolation doesn't stop it either as I have seen with Crooks, a black stable buck in John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” (Penguin books 1993).
Throughout the novel, Of Mice and Men, there are several characters that have to face some type of discriminations because they are different from the rest of the camp workers. One of the prejudices that occur in this novel is sexism. Sexual prejudice is when a person is judged on their gender or how the person behaves. Men and women can both experience sexism but it mainly occurs with women, especially during the mid-1930s. During this time period, the Great Depression began and people were looking for jobs like in the novel, Of Mice and Men.
Masculine and Feminine Roles in Steinbeck’s “Chrysanthemums” In the story “The Chrysanthemums”, by John Steinbeck, Elisa Allen lives an unsatisfactory life as she desires more than what is bestowed upon her. The reader learns Elisa’s husband is culpable for not seeing the beauty of his wife, leaving an open door for the antagonist, a traveler, to prey upon Elisa’s. Steinbeck uses Masculine and Feminine roles of the early 20th century, Internal Conflict, and an antagonist, to show Elisa’s struggle for Identity. Steinbeck illustrates Masculine and feminine roles of the 20th century in the “Chrysanthemums” to show Elisa’s struggle with identity.
In 1920 when the 19th amendment was passed allowing women to vote, many women thought that Gender Inequality was coming to an end. Soon after, the Great Depression happened, and everyone was focused on that. Life for women was especially hard then because they had to live in a world full of poverty and discrimination. Throughout Of Mice and Men we see this through Curley’s Wife. She just wants to fit in and talk to the men without thinking she wants something, or being called rude names.
In the story “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, takes place in a time when women were living in a male dominated society. The female protagonist Elisa, is an intellectual and passionate woman who struggles with feeling trapped in her unfulfilling life as a typical housewife and gardener. She longs for purpose in her lonely life and in her relationship with her husband. She has an unexpected encounter with a tinker, who arouses her femininity. From this encounter her hope in life and marriage have been renewed but is quickly dismissed due to her less than romantic husband.
In the novel “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck portrays the theme of social injustice throughout the story in the lives of several characters that include Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and the stable buck, Crooks. All of these characters are mistreated in some way, shape or form. The hardships that these characters faced help guide us to see the social injustice that is prevalent in the story. Lennie is a victim of social injustice due to the fact that he is mentally disabled. He is not treated fairly when he was accused of rape.
