
In John Steinbeck’s storythe story, “The Chrysanthemums,” by John Steinbeck, the main character, Elisa, identifies herself through her chrysanthemum flowers[EF1] [WRF2] . Elisa struggles with gender roles and uses her flowers to symbolize her feminism. She is a hard working woman [EF3] [WRF4] whoworks hard, but ultimately wishes she could do a man’s work, while still being a woman. Throughout the story, the flowers represent Elisa’s femininity. Chrysanthemums depict how she thinks men notice her and how men disrespect women[EF5] .

Elisa is one with nature. Her plants act as her children.  Her green thumb is a sign of her fertility. Steinbeck writes,

“‘Well, I can only tell you what it feels like. It's when you're picking off the buds you don't want. Everything goes right down into your fingertips. You watch your fingers work. They do it themselves. You can feel how it is. They pick and pick the buds. They never make a mistake. They're with the plant. Do you see? Your fingers and the plant. You can feel that, right up your arm. They know. They never make a mistake. You can feel it. When you're like that you can't do anything wrong’[EF6] ” (5).         [EF7] 

This quote shows how Elisa connects with the flowers.  Since Elisa wants to be manly, she does not wish to bare children.

A chrysanthemum is a beautiful, colorful, and full looking flower. This flowerIt exposeportrays how society views femininityElisa is supposed to look according to society[EF8] . She is describedSteinbeck describes Elisa early [EF9] on‘s experience in dressing like a man. Steinbeck states,

“She was thirty-five. Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water. Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man's black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clod- hopper shoes, a figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron with four big pockets to hold the snips, the trowel and scratcher, the seeds and the knife she worked with. She wore heavy leather gloves to protect her hands while she worked[EF10] ” (1).

Living through the flowers allows Elisa to feel like a normal woman. She values her flowers because they are feminine in ways she is not.

Towards the beginning of the story, a tinker in a wagon shows up to Elisa’s farm. He is off his normal route and begging for work. Elisa gets very annoyed by this because she has nothing to for him to fix. The man sees her irritation and takes a notice in Elisa’s chrysanthemums. Elisa immediately stops acting annoyed because she feels as if he is paying attention to her. Steinbeck writes, “‘What's them plants, ma'am?’ The irritation and resistance melted from Elisa's face. ‘Oh, those are chrysanthemums, giant whites and yellows. I raise them every year, bigger than anybody around here’” (4). Elisa is so connected to the chrysanthemums that she feels as if the man is noticing her instead. She starts to like the attention[EF11] .

In 1938, women were only thought of as housewives and mothers. Elisa is portrayed [EF12] as a powerful woman who is determined to do things without a man’s approval. Elisa willingly gives the tinker some of her flowers. After the tinker leaves, he tosses the flowers out of his wagon. Steinbeck says, “Far ahead on the road Elisa saw a dark speck. She knew. She tried not to look as they passed it, but her eyes would not obey. She whispered to herself sadly, ‘He might have thrown them off the road. That wouldn't have been much trouble, not very much. But he kept the pot,’ she explained. ‘He had to keep the pot. That's why he couldn't get them off the road’” (7). The tinker throwing out her flowers represents how men disapprove of women in this time period. Flowers, just like women, were not highly valued.

There are many ways to interpret this short story. It could be thought that the tinker really was seeking Elisa and wanted to interact with her through her interests. The symbol of him throwing out the flowers could be a sign for how men use women and leave them. Throughout the story, Elisa never ends up finding her real self. She ends up still being self-conscious and insecure. The chrysanthemums represent femininity throughout the story.
