John Steinbeck wrote The Chrysanthemums in 1938. Steinbeck, as in many of his novels and short stories, depicts the life of poor, hard working people. In The Chrysanthemums, Steinbeck writes about a farmer's wife living in California. The couple lives on a farm, as many individuals did in that time. Steinbeck describes the physical and mental hardships of families living off the land. In the short story, The Chrysanthemums, Elisa is constantly with held from life because she is a woman.

"On every side it (the valley) sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot." Under the lid was Salinas Valley, the home of Henry and Elisa Allen. Henry was a farmer who made a fair amount of money from his crops and stock. Elisa was Henry's wife; she had the hobby of taking care of her Chrysanthemums and the chore of being Henry's wife. In Elisa's garden, the Chrysanthemums grew with the work of her hands and the care of her heart. She seems to enjoy her garden immensely, but actually was trapped in it. She was trapped, because she felt that the only thing she could do was tend her garden.

Henry tells Elisa that her flowers were very

Elisa was a woman who had many conflicts. She was living in her flower garden. Everything that Elisa does not have is put into her garden. Her husband would not let her do any "man's" work on the farm. The fix-all man did not even acknowledge her want of being out on the road. He said it was a "man's" job. Elisa was repressed and had no way of expressing her feelings, except through the flowers in her garden. She wanted something new to make her feel like a woman. She scrubbed herself so deeply in the shower in hope of cleaning herself anything that was not lady like. Elisa had no where to turn. At the end of The Chrysanthemums, Elisa excepts herself as an old woman. Elisa gave up. She did not care anymore. Elisa will probably be living her life through the Chrysanthemums, until the day she dies.

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Approximate Word count = 1053
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)