The Chrysanthemums

John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums explores the world of a 1930’s woman using symbolism and imagery that in its subtlety must be picked up on by the reader, otherwise lost.  This, I’m sure, has to do largely with women’s suppressed nature and lack of rights in the time period.  Women’s suffrage had only come about seventeen years prior to the date his story was published, and perhaps assisted in inspiring the story.  Women’s rights were at the forefront of social issues. 

The story is from a limited third-person point of view, as if it were from Elisa’s eyes.  We find ourselves feeling the emotions with her, seeing only what she sees, and knowing only what she knows.  In the beginning Steinbeck describes the landscape stating, “On every side it (the fog) sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the valley a closed pot.” He also describes that it is cool, December, and sunshine can be seen, but it isn’t near Elisa.   This specific description of her surroundings serves as a dual description of her life.   Her life is in a fog in a sense, and she doesn’t know what is going on. For instance when she sees her husband talking to the two business men she has no idea what it is about (and neither do we); the only information we get is what her husband tells her, and we also gather that the sunshine is a symbol of strength and happiness. Therefore it not being near her represents the lack there of.   

There is also a strong theme of hopes getting high, then being crushed.  The first time we see it is in the second paragraph where it is written, “A light wind blew up from the southwest so that the farmers were mildly hopeful of a good rain before long; but fog and rain do not go together.” The next time is when her husband makes a joke that she should put her gardening skills to use in the orchard; to which her eyes light up and she becomes hopeful of the possibility, which is then crushed by his remark, “Well it sure works with flowers,” as is flowers are what she as a woman should stick to.  After that, we see it when she is with the tinker, and speaks of the kind of life he lives with a longing tone, then begins to boast about her own skills that are similar to his, and how she could do what he does.  He responds by telling her, “It ain’t the right kind of a life for a woman,” and goes on to describe how it would be scary and lonely for a woman, as if it isn’t for a man.  Then it is seen is when she asks her husband about the fights.  She has read about them and is clearly curious, but crushes her own hopes after her husband offers to take her if she “really want(s) to go,” by saying, “Oh, no. No.  I don’t want to go.  I’m sure I don’t.”  The last time, she is proud of giving away the chrysanthemum sprouts and having been able to share her wealth of knowledge and passion with someone, but then is humiliated when she sees them dumped out on the side of the road.  She was merely used.

A peculiar trait of the story is its use of masculine terms.  The word strong is used twelve times throughout the story to describe Elisa or her chrysanthemums, but the very last sentence of the story describes her as weak.  She seems to become strong and impassioned as the story builds, until the breaking point where she sees the flowers dumped on the side of the road, after which she reverts to a weak persona.  The flowers on the side of the road also represent how she feels:  like she is convenient and nice to have, but disposable and cast aside.  In the beginning Steinbeck had described her as, “lean and strong… Her figure looked blocked and heavy…Her face was eager and mature and handsome.”  Had we not known he was describing a woman he just as well could have been describing a man.  I think he does this to draw attention to the role of gender in this story, especially first by heightening the reader’s awareness of it through an unordinary description for a woman.  Even when her husband is describing how she looks he uses the masculine term, “strong.”  The only point at which she is truly described as feminine is in the last sentence:  “She turned up her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly –like an old woman.”  This is also the only point at which she tries to hide.  Earlier, even when her face has a smudge of dirt and she is in her gardening clothes she still confidently talks to the tinker, as if her not caring about her looks shows more strength.  Yet when she shows what she believes to be a sign of weakness, (her tears) she hides.

By the end of the story the reader is feeling just as crushed as Elisa, and shares in the disappointment she does after having shared her journey.  Steinbeck speaks softly but strongly through this story about the struggles women had so strongly faced in the 1900s, and still sometimes face today.