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 and lives with her husband in a farmhouse on their farm. Henry Allen, her husband, is a solid farmer who cannot please his wife. The author describes Elisa as an attractive clear-eyed female hiding in a masculine gardening outfit with men’s shoes and a man’s hat. The main claim of this essay is that women can accomplish whatever men can do.

The story starts with Henry selling a good number of young steers to two businessmen. To celebrate the sale he chooses to have a movie night and dinner with Elisa. Before they head out and while both of them are getting some work done, a stranger stops by the farm where Elisa is taking care of some chrysanthemums. Elisa and the "tinker," the stranger, end up having an animated, challenging conversation. She admires the way the tinker lives, and she challenges him that she could live the same way he does.

Throughout this story, Elisa is underestimated and she seeks to prove herself with no futility. Three main events that demonstrate Elisa's acting are her saying she can help with the orchard, saying she can live just like the tinker does, and Henry describing her as a “strong happy woman.”

The first evidence that shows the underestimation of Elisa is when Henry says "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" (2). He says that after he sees a couple of large chrysanthemums she planted herself. She responds excitedly, and in a helpful way, by saying that farming is in her blood. But he responds: "Well, it sure works with flowers." The way he says it is like saying Elisa works with flowers but nothing else, or that Elisa cannot really help with anything else. 

Another scene where Elisa is underestimated is when she and the tinker are talking about his life. He explains how he would keep chasing the good weather and how he would sleep on his wagon in the forests. She wishes to live like him. For example, they are talking about the tinker’s life and how she would like to try to live the way he lives. The Tinker responds with "It ain't the right kind of a life for a woman” (5). She answers with "How do you know? How can you tell?" Her response to him shows a bit of anger and defense. Later on, she pays him and when he is about to leave, she says, "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." This reinforces the thesis of her trying to prove herself. 

In the passage where Elisa takes a bath, after she meets the tinker, the author describes her in a special way. He describes the way she scrubs herself and the way she looks at herself in the mirror; how she “tightened her stomach and threw out her chest.” This refers to self-confidence. This happening after the conversation she has with the tinker and after she tells him that she would easily beat him at what he does for living proves how confident she is. 

When Elisa gets ready for the night and her husband sees her, he stops for a second to tell her that she looks nice. She asks what he meant by that, and he says that she looks “strong and happy” (6). A husband who has lived with his wife for quite a bit, saying something like that to his wife shows that there is something different about her that doe not usually happen. This leads to another example of confidence. 

The main argument of this essay is that women can do whatever men can do. Under hard circumstances, the human becomes something new to adapt to the surrounding environment. For example, what makes Elisa competitive and professional in her life and gardening flowers is that there is nothing else to keep her busy. Also, she is mostly surrounded by men. 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 did not get the education to get a better job. If the tinker were rich, he would most likely not be doing what he is doing now. On the other hand, people in general always think that they are the best at what they are doing. This is not something bad or wrong. It creates more differences and developments in life. People challenge each other and produce more.
