John Steinbeck, "The Chrysanthemums" 2/13

Steinbeck’s story, “The Chrysanthemums” is a story full of symbolism and deeper meaning. It is hard to find just one main point within the story but overall the story seems to be about sexuality, gender, and self-discovery. The main character in the story is Elisa Allen, wife of Henry Allen. The Allen’s live in Salinas sometime around the 1930’s. They live on an isolated ranch, where they both also work. Elisa Allen is a thirty-five year old woman who is described to have strong and manly features. Elisa seems to spend a lot of time on the ranch, in the garden, planting and taking care of her chrysanthemums. The chrysanthemums are a very important of the story, as they seem to symbolize her sexuality and inner-self.
When the man passing on his carriage begins to show interest in the flowers, all of the sudden Elisa seems to become a new woman. It’s almost as if she is finally liberated and is finally able to discover her sexuality. The second he asks about the chrysanthemums Elisa is described as, “kneeling on the ground look up at him. Her breast swelled passionately” (152). As soon as this happens, the man self-consciously looks away. Later she is still kneeling bellow him and Steinbeck writes, “Her hand went out towards his legs in the greasy black trousers. Her hesitant fingers almost touched the cloth. Then her hand dropped to the ground. She crouched low like a fawning dog” (152). Just these few sentences alone, show how much sexuality is all of the sudden arising inside of her-as if no man before had paid attention to her, or her chrysanthemums. Once the man has left she goes to the bathroom, tears of her “soiled clothes” (154) and looks at herself in the mirrors, like she all of the sudden just noticed she was a woman, and a strong woman at that.
I like this story because it has so many different elements within it. I also found that the most important symbols where one’s of sexuality and discovering of ones own sexuality; which also seem to be the least obvious. This made me a lot more interested in reading the story because it’s something that everyone goes through, especially since I feel that most females don’t discover their own sexuality until somebody else notices it or someone else brings it out in them. It is sad that it usually takes a man’s notice to make a woman find her own sexuality but from my experience, this is quite often the case. I felt like I could relate to certain aspects of this story, yet also understand that there are many things within it that I also do not relate to nor really understand the perspective that Steinbeck is coming from; it kept me intrigued and interested to know more.