"A sense of fun, a probing curiosity, and a capacity for wonder-all of these are qualities that we associate with childhood, and there was a good deal of the child in Steinbeck throughout his life" (Benson, 3).

Steinbeck was also interested in "defining the nature of reality" (Benson, 246).

Elisa Allen in "The Chrysanthemums" has passion, creativity, and potential which are suppressed by her life on an isolated ranch. The yellow chrysanthemums are symbolic of Elisa. They, like her, keep surviving every time they are cut down. They also bloom into a much more beautiful object. She's strong, close to nature, and a beautiful person, like the

Elisa Allen's life was suppressed by her circumstances of living where she did and also the time that she lived. This day, life would probably be different for her, but when this story was written, she was destined to live a lonely, suppressed life as a sad housewife.

Elisa is described at the beginning of the story as, "...blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man's black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clod-hopper shoes, a fig four big pockets..." (Henderson, 350).

When she sees the flowers dumped in the road, she says, "He might have thrown the off the road, that wouldn't have been much trouble, not very much. But he kept the pot" (Henderson, 356). He used the flowers to get her and did not even try to hide the fact. He killed her flowers, which are a symbol of her passion for life and freedom.

Elisa felt it was unfair that she could not grow, unable to express herself a

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 607
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)