John Steinbeck's short story, "The Chrysanthemums," centers around a woman named Elisa, an avid gardner who is strong, "blocked and heavy" (Steinbeck). When the story begins, Elisa is working in her garden when her husband approaches her and and implies that she has obviously has a gift for planting and cultivating flowers. This acknowledgement from her husband pleases Elisa and makes her proud. .
When her husband leaves to tend to his cattle, a big, "stubble-bearded" (Steinbeck) man approaches on his wagon. He never gives his name, and Steinbeck only refers to him as "the man." She becomes fascinated by his lifestyle and starts dreaming about how her life would be like if she lived that way. The man showed her a new way of living and she comes to realize how routine her life has become. Elisa is a woman who wants to come out of her shell and live a "man's" life.
"It must be nice. It must be very nice. I wish women could do such things." This statement in the story is one powerful statement. The statement gives an example for how Elisa feels about the difference between women and men's lifestyle are. It's not that she doesn't believe that women couldn't live such a lifestyle, but that they aren't "allowed" to. Society believes that each gender has a certain job to do and if one gender, mainly women, did the other one's job, they would be looked down upon. Therefore, Elisa devotes all her time to maintain her house and garden. Even though it seems as if gardening comes naturally to her, it is because she is forced into gardening and that is all she has to think about. Elisa becomes frustrated with her life once she meets the man, a tinker, on the wagon. She looks for stimulation conversation and sex, two components lacking in her life. Although Elisa was blunt towards answering all of the tinker's questions, she admired having his company. A reader could tell by the way her breast swelled passionately and the way her voice grew husky.