Blog #4

Symbolism

"The Chrysathemums" by: John Steinbeck is a short story full of symbolism. He is an author famous for using symbols in his writings. I found this story very good and thought provoking. I really liked the way he set up the whole story line. This story takes place in Salinas Valley where he also grew up. The first thing I want to point out is the way he describes this place in the very beginning, "The high grey-flanneled fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world. On every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot." (Steinbeck, 416) As the reader discovers later in the story this description of the town is symbolic of Elisa Allen's life, confined to her home and her beloved garden; she is bottled up in this little area like a pot. I also found it very interesting the way Steinbeck describes her wardrobe in this story and the way it changes with the character. In the begging when the author first sees Elisa she is busy at work in her garden. "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 print dress almost compleltly covered by a big corduroy apron..." (Steinbeck, 416) This description of her symbolizes how she does not feel like an attractive woman, she has all the strong desires but her husband and her do not have that relationship as the reader learns in the story. As Elisa continues working in her flower garden a man drives up in a beat up covered wagon looking for directions and work. The way Steinbeck describes this encounter I perecieved it that Elisa had some kind of attraction to this man and her desires were getting out of her control. This man that comes to her farm not only symbolizes a sexual desire but also her deep personal desire that as a woman she cannont fulfill during this time period which is to be free and to travel around as she pleases the way this man does.

The next change Elisa goes through is when she goes inside to clean up before her husband returns for their night out. "When she had dried herself she stood in front of a mirror in her bedroom and looked at her body. She tightened her stomach and threw out her chest. She turned and looked over her shoulder at her back." (Steinbeck, 421) This quote symbolizes Elisa's strong desire to be sexually attractive to men, she takes her time getting ready and takes notice to her physical appearance, from this I got the understanding that her and her husband did not have this kind of attraction towards eachother. Her husband finds her attractive but she is longing for something different. This is a very strong contrast between her previous outfit that consisted of mens clothing that hid her features. The final thing that I thought was a very important symbol in this story was when she gave the man that visited her farm a Chrysanthemum to give to a woman down the street; as Elisa and her husband are driving in the car she noticed a dark speck in the road. The man had discarded her precious chrysanthemums onto the worn street. This symbolizes the way men diregard her and don't find her attractive, she offered him these flowers hoping for acceptance only to find them thrown in the street carelessly. She also reached out to this man while in the garden on page 420 and he completly disregarded her. I really like the way John Steinbeck wrote this story, these are only a few of the symbols in the story and the way I percieved them, I do beleive that there are many more and can be open for interpretation.