In the "Sound of a Voice", Hwang uses the flowers to show the need for love and affection, where in Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" he uses the flowers to symbolize his main characters thoughts and ideas. The authors in both stories use flowers to symbolize the love, beauty and affection longed for in any woman.
In "The Sound of a Voice", Hwang creates a timeless, placeless scene in which two characters Man and Woman act out a story reminiscent of a folk legend ( 2003). It first starts with a dull room and flowers creating an atmosphere of loneliness and passionate as stated in Sunny's class discussion notes. The flowers are the only thing beautiful in the room. This creates a scene showing the reader how beautiful the flowers are. When the Man takes the flower from the vase this symbolizes how he longs to love her and cherish her. This action indicates that he needs a woman to love and give him affection as well. When Man peeks inside to Woman's room all he sees is the Woman making love to the flowers that she carefully cultivates. The Woman's love for the flowers is what gave them life and beauty itself. .
In Steinbeck's short story, "The Chrysanthemums" he uses the flower to symbolize his main characters thoughts and ideas. Elisa is a lonely woman who enjoys growing and nourishing her chrysanthemums. Since her husband is always working the cattle, she never has enough attention or affection. The neglect from Elisa husband forces her to turn to her chrysanthemums which she is very proud of. Her husband remarks "I wish you"d work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big (Steinbeck 247). This shows how little interest he has for her chrysanthemums. Elisa does not feel appreciated by her husband so she takes good care of her chrysanthemums, which symbolizes her beauty. Knowing her husband does not have interest in her chrysanthemums gives her thought that he does not have interest in her.