John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” is about a young women escaping reality through her fenced in garden. The young women, Elisa Allen, uses the fence as a barrier to define space and to protect her garden. Additionally, the fence protects Elisa from the men who enter into her life and only allow entry when Elisa grants it. Through these claims, one will understand that the fence creates a separate world inside of the story and symbolizes Elisa’s consent to others. 

The story begins on a cold December day in Salinas Valley. The sky is filled with fog, and there is no sunshine in sight. At the bottom of the valley is the Salinas River, where the Allen’s live off of on a ranch. Although it is the fall season and most plants are dying, Elisa is able to grow her chrysanthemums within her fence. The fence protects Elisa’s garden from Mother Nature and “from the cattle and dogs and chickens” (Steinbeck page 1). This separate world inside of the fence also protects Elisa from her husband, Henry, who is forced to lean “over the wire fence,” instead of going through it (page 1). Even though Henry has no intentions of harming Elisa, he cannot get through the fence. The fence symbolizes what the barrier represents by blocking Henry out of the garden.

Later in story Elisa is safely in her garden working, as an old caravan was passing by. Only the caravan did not pass Elisa’s house, instead it turned down her road. A rangy mongrel dog darted ahead of the van towards Elisa’s garden. This time Elisa’s fence was not need for protection, because her dogs were able to calm the mongrel down. The caravan was another story for her dogs would do little good against a vehicle. The old “caravan pulled up to Elisa’s wire fence” and was forced to stop (page 3). The fence once again acts as a barrier to the outside world protecting Elisa and her garden from the old caravan. A strange man exits the caravan claiming to be lost. The stranger like his caravan is stuck outside of the wire fence. Unable to go any farther he rest his calloused hands on the wire fence. Elisa and the man, the two still separated by the fence, begin to engage in conversation about the dogs. After Elisa gives out directions, the man is still reluctant to leave.

 The stranger attempts to move the fence by drawing “a big finger down the chicken wire,” and the fence taunts him by rattling in a tune that could be mistaken for singing (page 3). Realizing the fence will be hard to break through, the man states that he is not in any hurry. Once again attempting to get through the man leans “confidentially over the fence” only to not be able to proceed any farther (page 3). Finally, the man understands he will not be able to get to Elisa without her permission, so he begins to offer to fix her pots, knives, and scissors. Elisa quickly turns the stranger down and he resorts to lying. He pretends to know someone interested in chrysanthemums, and this quickly grabs Elisa’s attention. Meanwhile Elisa’s fence still holds strong when the man tries once more to “lean farther over” it (page 4). Elisa is blinded by the man’s fake interest in her plant, and offers to give the stranger a pot filled with the budding roots of a chrysanthemum. 

Elisa then make the mistake of inviting the man into her garden. The fence is no longer able to keep the stranger out, because Elisa gave him permission to enter. With no struggle what so ever the man is able to come “through the fence” (page 4). The act of Elisa telling the man to “come into the yard” is her giving consent (page 4). Elisa proceeds to give the man her harvest, which can be symbolized as the act of Elisa giving the stranger her body in a consenting sexual act. Elisa is an extremely fertile woman when it comes to her chrysanthemums. These plants are how Elisa gives life. Once Elisa invites the man in he is able to take what he wants. The protective barrier that was the fence is broken. Elisa’s world inside the world has been penetrated. 

Still not fully understanding the mistake she had made Elisa watches the man leave as if he was a light in her life. She stands in front “of her wire fence watching the slow progress of the caravan” as it drives away (page 6). Elisa whispers “good-bye—good-bye” to the only man who has been able to enter her sanctuary (page 6). She then rushes into her house to take a bath. When the bath is over Henry and Elisa go out for the night. Along the road Elisa notices a dark spec. The spec happens to be the Chrysanthemum that Elisa gave to the stranger. Unfortunately, Elisa is no longer protected from the real world by her fence, and she must face the sad reality that the man used her.

Steinbeck consistently brings up Elisa’s wire fence through ought the story. We know the fence is hers through the apostrophe that is placed after her name when the fence is mentioned on page three. Steinbeck mentioning only one man entering the fence within the story is no coincidence, but instead a cleaver way to symbolize Elisa’s consent. Multiple examples are presented throughout “The Chrysanthemums” to reinforce the meaning of the fence. The fence is a barrier that blocks foreign objects from entering. The fence symbolizes Elisa’s consent. The fence is a border that defines Elisa’s world, but it is not just a regular old chicken wire fence. John Steinbeck creatively makes a separate world inside of the story with symbolism and imagery through the use of the fence. 

 