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Symbolism In The Chrysanthemums By John Steinbeck

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In the short story “The Chrysanthemums” written by John Steinbeck, the flowers are symbolizing more than the eye may catch. The author displays how important these chrysanthemums are to Elisa Allen, but there is a deeper meaning to the flowers than just the love she has for them. The chrysanthemums represented more than just a passion and more than just her strength, but also her dignity. When they were thrown out on the side of the road, they symbolized her dignity which was now gone since the man she trusted them with had abandoned them and her husband she catered to lacked affection for her, because through their lenses she will never be enough. At the beginning of the story, Elisa Allen was progressively working in the garden with her flowers. Steinbeck described her by stating that “Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man’s black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clodhopper shoes, a figured printed dress almost completely covered by a big …show more content…

After going an entire day showing her strength, when she went off to a dinner she seen something that broke her down completely. Steinbeck wrote “Far ahead on the road Elisa saw a dark speck. She knew” (210). Before even driving upon them she knew that those were her lovely flowers, lying on the side of the road. Just when she thought she could take it all, she broke. During this event in Steinbeck’s story, she and her husband were driving and “She turned up her collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly—like an old woman” (211). She was beaten down simply by a sight, not only was she crying but as if she was an old woman. This showed she was not as strong as she made it out to be, and she was terrified to let her husband see her in this condition. She lost all of her dignity when she saw those flowers and could not help but sit there and let the tears

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The writer keeps the reader hooked by using vivid imagery within the writing set up with eye-catching pictures of the beautiful flower arrangements aside it. The sources of the article are simple, as they are interviews of the florist Lewis Miller alongside references to pictures taken by people witnessing these Flower Flashes. The only agenda that could be feasibly present within the article is the idea to spread happiness and beauty, which is something that many articles that one may find on the internet would usually not do. Due to the kindness of what Miller is doing, the author heavily appreciates the aesthetic beauty of it, but those who may be against these Flower Flashes may say that it causes obstruction to normal commutes or that it causes a mess. In contrast to this potential argument, Miller and his team makes an effort to recycle all the flowers used in these arrangements as to not be a nuisance to the already raucous New York City.

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The Chrysanthemums Literary Analysis One of the themes of “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck is gender inequality. In this short story, the main character Elisa Allen was a strong, smart woman who was stuck being a common housewife. Elisa wishes she could go out and be like the tinker, sleeping under the stars and adventuring every day of her life. Elisa’s husband owns a ranch of some sorts, and when he tells Elisa of the business deal he’d just made he gave her an unspecific explanation, or a dumbed down one so he doesn’t “confuse her”.

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In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the word sorrow is used to develop the complex personality of Lennie Small. The story is centered around two migrant farmers; Lennie, who has a mental disability, and George, who watches over and protects Lennie from getting into any trouble. With his illness, Lennie feels the constant need to feel soft things, so when he accidentally killed his puppy by petting him to rough, we became nothing short form an emotional wreck. After Lennie realized the horrible mistake he had made, he came to the shocking realization that George may not let him tend to the rabbits that they hope to own in the future. After a failed attempt to bury his puppy, Lennie “rocked himself back and forth in his sorrow” (Steinbeck 85).

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“Whenever the memory of those Marigolds flashes across my mind, a strange nostalgia comes with it and remains long after the picture has faded. I feel again the chaotic emotions of adolescence,illusions as smoke, yet as real as the potted geranium before me now. Joy and rage and wild animal gladness and shame become tangled together in a multicolored skein of 14-going-on-15 as I recall that devastating moment when I was suddenly more women than child, years ago in Miss.Lottie’s yard.” Both of these examples go to show that little things can have much more meaning than what materialistic things seen, but that they can have strong emotional ties to a person who views them in a different way. When Lizabeth comprehends this topic it leads towards her gain in

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This imagery succinctly encapsulates how women are perceived in the narrative, portrayed as delicate, soft and attractive, adding to the theme of commodification of the female characters. This can be seen in the quote  “Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete”. Daisy represents the optimism and superficiality of Gatsby’s dream, yet is portrayed as nothing more than a flower, to feed Gatsby’s desire.

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Throughout the book the narrator draws many comparisons between women and flowers. Often, flowers are considered as a symbol of fertility and beauty. In the book, flowers are highlighted as objects that can bloom and grow at a time when few women can. From a technical standpoint, flowers are also the part of a plant that holds the reproductive organs. They're constant reminders of the fertility that most women lack.

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The symbolic value of the chrysanthemums in this story represents not only a symbol of death, both also the good and bad emotions Elizabeth has tied to them. I believe Lawrence gave this title to the story to place a strong emphasis on the significance the flower play’s in Elizabeth’s daily life. We see several incidents where Elizabeth portrays the flower as a symbol of negativity and connects them to several bad memories in her life. For example, Elizabeth told a story of her husband coming home intoxicated late at night with chrysanthemums stuffed in his pocket. However, we also see her portray them in a more positive light.

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The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck demonstrates many feminist examples, it both agrees and goes against the Cult of Domesticity. Elisa Allen is one of the main characters in this story, demonstrating the domestic role of Cult of Domesticity. She works on the garden which is a common womanly duty. But within her working on the garden, she does not just plant the flowers she does the hard labor towards gardening along with her husband, Henry Allen, as well. We see examples of Elisa doing hard labor on the first page, while she is checking to see what her husband is doing with the three business men, Elisa is cutting down the old year 's chrysanthemum stalks with a pair of short and powerful scissors.

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In her short story “Marigolds”, Eugenia Collier, tells the story of a young woman named Lizabeth growing up in rural Maryland during the Depression. Lizabeth is on the verge of becoming an adult, but one moment suddenly makes her feel more woman than child and has an impact on the rest of her life. Through her use of diction, point of view, and symbolism, Eugenia Collier develops the theme that people can create beauty in their lives even in the poorest of situations. Through her use of the stylistic device diction, Eugenia Collier is able to describe to the reader the beauty of the marigolds compared to the drab and dusty town the story is set in.

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