Elisa Allen is at a point in her life where she has begun to realize that her energy and creative drive far exceed what life has offered her. Her husband, Henry Allen, is a well meaning and essentially good man and is quite pleased to be able to make a decent living. Her marriage is reasonably happy and there is an easy banter between the two of them. While they have settled into a fairly familiar and ordinary routine, they are still responsive to each other's sense of accomplishment and agree to celebrate with a night on the town.

Elisa is earthbound, rooted securely in her garden but also held down by her connection to it. Their house is described as "hard-swept" and "hard-polished," and is the only outlet for her talents. However, Elisa needs something more in her life than a neat house and a good garden. Their marriage is childless an

Elisa is shattered by the heartless manner in which he has drawn something from her secret self and then completely betrayed her gift by not even taking the trouble to hide the flowers. She attempts to override her disappointment, by maintaining a mood of gaiety, suggesting that they have wine at dinner. This is not sufficient to help her restore her feelings of confidence, so she asks her husband if they might go to a prizefight. This request so completely out of character that again her husband is totally baffled. She searches further for that special feeling she held briefly, and asks if men "hurt each other very much." This is part of an effort to focus her own violent and angry feelings, but it is completely hollow as an attempt to sustain her sense of self-control. In a few moments, she completely gives up and her whole body collapses into the seat in a display of defeat. As the story concludes, Elisa is struggling to hide her real feeling of pain from her husband. She is anticipating a dreadful future in which she pictures herself "crying weakly like an old woman."

Elisa is fascinated by his spontaneous way of life. When she tries to get him to discuss his travels, he steers back to the possibility of employment. When it is apparent that she has no work to give him, he cleverly praises her flowers. Elisa is desperately eager to share in the one thing she is actually proud of, and carefully gathers some shoots to share with another customer down the road. As she disciplines the stranger on the proper nurturing of the seedlings, her passionate involvement with the process of planting becomes an expression of all the suppressed romance in her life. The stranger senses this craving, and offers just enough encouragement to lead her into a full-scale declaration of her profound love of what planting means to her. Elisa would like this moment to continue, but the stranger reminds her that hunger overcomes inspiration. Elisa, somewhat ashamed by her openness, finds some useless old pots for him to mend. She believes that the man has given her something of value and she feels obliged to give him something in return. As the man leaves, Elisa looks away after him, whispering to herself, "That's a bright direction. There's a glowing there."

The purpose of the conversation between Elisa and the stranger is very dramatic. Elisa feels energized and appreciated, delighted by her moment to share her special skil

Some common words found in the essay are:
Henry Allen, Elisa Allen, River Valley, Elisa Allen's, California California, John Steinbeck, elisa allen, town elisa, husband henry,
Approximate Word count = 1647
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)