Elisa's Emotions in Steinbeck's "Chrysanthemums".
The short story, "Chrysanthemums", written by John Steinbeck, is a story that uses plenty of symbolic objects and symbolic personal attributes to the characters. Some examples of what Steinbeck uses in the story that have symbolic meaning to the story are the chrysanthemums, the wired fence surrounding Elisa's garden, and the gray fog that blankets the Salinas Valley. The author also repeats the word "strong" throughout the story in different forms, such as describing Elisa's facial features, her fingers as they dig through the dirt, and how strong her crops are. Although the author emphasizes and builds Elisa's character throughout the story that she is such a strong woman, he ends the story with Elisa breaking down and weeping. Symbols are important in the story because they are responsible for unfolding and revealing the meaning of the story, and Elisa's character, as well. In this short story, Steinbeck uses Elisa's character to portray how a woman's emotions are affected by what she values and how her character develops from those feelings.
In the beginning of the story, Elisa is found with her chrysanthemums while her husband is talking to two businessmen out by the tractor shed. Elisa stays within her fenced garden while her husband walks up to converse with her afterward (Steinbeck 247). In their conversation, the author leads the reader to understand that Elisa is a mellow, passive housewife who has much of her attention diverted away from her husband and toward her chrysanthemums. Elisa is a type of woman who probably does not have a voice in their relationship and just goes along with the flow of what her husband has to say to her. When her husband talks to her about her chrysanthemums she puts the glove back on her hand and continues to work while she converses with her husband. This image in the beginning of the story illustrates two things: The status of the relationship between Elisa and Henry, and the relationship between Elisa and her chrysanthemums.
