The Chrysanthemums, by John Steinbeck, depicts an intriguing encounter between Elisa Allen, a seemingly dull woman with hidden passion, and a Traveling Man who fixes pots, pans, and scissors. Being introduced somewhat blandly, Elisa begins to display increasingly erratic behavior during and after her encounter with the Traveling man. My initial impression of this story left me confused as to why Elisa experienced sudden changes in character as described by her husband, however, Steinbeck's use of symbolism helped me shape conclusions and theories about the story.
The story uses contextual symbols to stimulate the readers understanding of the two main characters and the actions that they take. There are two symbols in this story that are referred to several times. The first is the Chrysanthemums and the second is Elisa's attire. Roberts and Zweig explains the relationship between Elisa and the Chrysanthemums as they, "symbolize her kindness, love, orderliness, femininity, and motherliness" (384). These traits display themselves throughout the story such as when the Narrator describes how careful and kind Elisa is these flowers. Her orderliness and motherliness is also shown when explaining to the Traveling man how to tend to the flowers. In the beginning of the story, Elisa trims her flowers almost out of contempt, symbolizing how she has to sever her own passion due to her current way of life. Later in the story, Elisa hands a few of her flowers to the Traveling man, which she later discovers tossed on the side of the road. This could symbolize Elisa exposing her passionate side to the man, who then rejected her by throwing the flowers out the side of the road.
Elisa's outfit begins with a gardening costume that hides most of her feminine features. This costume could represent the boring, non-exciting lifestyle that she lives and the emotions that she has. When the dialogue between her and the Traveling man ensues, she begins to remove specific parts of her outfit, such as her gloves and hat. When the conversations ends, Elisa runs inside the home, took off her, "soiled clothes and flung them into the corner" (421). She then took a thorough shower and spent much attention in getting dressed, "as a symbol of her prettiness" (421). The encounter with the man symbolizes how his arrival and inquisition about the flowers allowed her to release some of her emotion that the dress kept hidden. The shower incident suggest that she felt unclean about the situation and washed away her guilt. The new clothes allowed her to express her passionate self. This new change even startles her husband as his notion of her appearance and persona is altered.
The Chrysanthemums symbolic devices helps create a deeper understanding of this story and of the strife that Elisa keeps bottled up. They help put the emotions and feelings into perspective and gives the story substance and depth.
Shane, I really enjoyed reading your blog! After reading it, I realized that the shower scene can suggest that "she felt unclean." It was evident that it served a purpose, but I didn't quite pinpoint it. I picked up on the symbolism in the description of Elisa's surroundings. Her dismal life was symbolically represented by the Salinas Valley, described as a "closed pot" (416) presumably because her life was like a melting pot, about to boil over. I found it interesting that this description opened the story, before there was any mention of the chrysanthemums, a positive symbol of her strengths. This gives more importance to her inner struggles, and suggests that her struggles override the positive things in her life.
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