“The Chrysanthemums” is a story about an unsatisfied strong woman who works in a flower garden. Elisa Allen, the women, is thirty five years old with no children, lives with her husband in a farmhouse in their farm. Henry Allen, her husband, is a solid farmer who can’t please his wife. The author described Elisa as an attractive clear eyed female hiding in a masculine gardening outfit with men’s shoes and a man’s hat. 

The story starts with Henry selling a good number of young steers to two business men. And regarding that, he chose to celebrate that with Elisa by having a movie night and a dinner. Before they head out and while both of them were getting some work done, a stranger ends up being at the farm where Elisa was taking care of some chrysanthemums. Elisa and the tinker, the stranger, end up having an excited challenging conversation. 

Throughout this story, Elisa is being underestimated and she is trying to prove herself with no futility. When she said that she could help with the orchard, when she said that she could be and live just like the tinker, and when Henry described her as a “strong happy woman.” 


The first evidence that shows a hince of underestimating of Elisa was when Henry said "Some of those yellow chrysanthemums you had this year were ten inches across. I wish you'd work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big." He said that after he saw couple of large chrysanthemums she planted herself. She responded with all excitements by saying that farming is in her blood, in a way that she could help. But he said: "Well, it sure works with flowers." The way he said it was like saying it works with flowers but nothing else, or that you can’t really help with anything else. 

Another scene where Elisa got disappointed was when she and the tinker were talking about his life. How would he keep following the good weather and how would he sleep on his wagon in the forests. She wished to be like him For example, as they were talking about the tinker’s life and how she would like to try the way he lives. The tinker responded with "It ain't the right kind of a life for a woman.” And she answered with "How do you know? How can you tell?" Her answer to him shows a bit of anger and defence. Later on, when she paid him and he was about to leave, she said "You might be surprised to have a rival some time. I can sharpen scissors, too. And I can beat the dents out of little pots. I could show you what a woman might do," which reinforce the thesis of her trying to prove herself. 

In the passage where Elisa took a bath, after she met the tinker, the author described her in a special way. The way she scrubbed herself and the way she looked at herself in the mirror; how she “tightened her stomach and threw out her chest” was referring to self-confidence. All that happening after the conversation she had with the tinker and after she told him that she would easily beat him at what he does for living, proves how confident she was. 

When Elisa got ready for the night and her husband just saw her, he stopped for a second to tell her that she looked nice. She asked what did he mean by that and he said that she looked “strong and happy.” A husband who has lived with his wife for quite a bit, saying something like that to his wife shows that there was something different about her that doesn’t happen usually. Which leads to another evidence of confidence. 


The main argument of this essay is that women could possibly do whatever men could do. Under hard circumstances, the human becomes something new to adapt the surrounding environment. For example, what makes Elisa competitive and professional in her life and in gardening flowers is that there’s nothing else to keep her busy. And plus that she is mostly surrounded by men. Also, what makes the tinker this passionate about traveling from Seattle to San Diego and back every year might be that he was not born rich or he didn’t get the education to get a better job. Let’s say that the tinker was to be rich, he would not likely be doing what’s he doing now. On the other hand, people in general always think that they’re the best of what they are doing. In facts it is not something bad, it creates more differences and developments in life. People would challenge each other and they would produce more.