John Steinbeck wrote a story called “The Chrysanthemums”. Throughout the short story, john talked about various symbols. The author was very creative with the symbols and themes used in this story. I am going to tell about a few of these symbols and themes.
The first symbol the author talked about was the flowers. Elisa Allen relates to the flowers in many ways. She is lovely, strong, and thriving. Elisa strongly identifies herself with the flowers, even saying that she becomes one with the plants when she tends to them.
The second symbol is the Salinas Valley. This symbol represents Elisa Allen’s emotional state of mind. The story begins with a brief description of the valley. The author relates it saying, “it sat like a lid on the mountains
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I mend pots and sharpen knives and scissors. You got any of them things to do” (3)? The pair of scissors that Elisa placed in her pocket was merely dull, but she acts as if she needs nothing fixed. Elisa answered quickly with “Oh, no,” “Nothing like that” (3). The man suggest that Elisa takes a pot. He also suggests that she takes one as a saving for herself.
Elisa continues on telling the man that she had nothing for him to do, and was not interested in conversation until he mentioned the chrysanthemums. An older woman down the road had been searching for chrysanthemum seeds all along. After the man left Elisa hurried back inside to bathe. Elisa stood in front of her mirror and looked at her body, trying to seem sexy. She began to dress slowly, and “she put on her newest underclothing and nicest stockings and the dress which was a symbol if her prettiness” (6).
Soon after he little stint she heard Henry calling for her. She had prepared him a nice warm bath in ways to make him feel appreciated. Elisa Allen was a good woman, and she showed it by laying her husband’s clothes on the bed nicely. Henry would soon appreciate his wife as he walks on the porch to see her looking as nice as she did. “Why—why, Elisa. You look so nice”