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McCoy1Eden McCoyChristine RoseEnglish 13021 December 2009I. SummaryA. “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck is about a married woman namedElisa Allen who is unhappy in her marriage, and therefore puts forth all of her energy intotending to her chrysanthemums.I. Elisa is a 35 year-old childless woman living in the Salinas Valley in Californiawith her husband, Henry. While she is working in her fenced-off garden, Henry talks totwo businessmen about selling some steed for a good amount of money, which she findsout only after asking him. He then asks if she’d like to go out and celebrate this eveningwith dinner and a movie, and she reluctantly agrees.II. While Henry gallops off to wrangle up his cattle, an old, ratted wagon with anunkempt man pulls into their front yard. The man drives up and down the West Coast insearch for work, including sharpening scissors and mending pots.III. After finding out that there is no work for him to do there, he becomesinterested in Elisa’s flowers, claiming a customer of his would love to have some seeds to plant. Elisa then begins to passionately speak about her precious chrysanthemums,describing in care and detail what his customer should do to make sure they bloom right.The man seems somewhat startled by the sudden vivacity coming from the woman.IV. Elisa finds a few old aluminum pots for the man to mend, for after helping outa customer of his with her green thumb expertise, she feels obliged. She pays him fiftycents a piece, and he goes on his way with the pot of sand and sprouts sitting next to him.V. Henry and Elisa wash and dress up for their night out, leaving their home in afog that seems to grow thicker by the minute. As they round a corner and head towardtown, the couple passes the lone traveling man and his wagon. They also pass Elisa’sflowers in a mound on the road. She keeps her emotions hidden from her husband, andonly asks if they can have wine with their dinner.B. Thesis/Central Idea: Some women submit to the needs and desires of their husbands without ever tending to their own.I. The theme of this story is rustic, gloomy, and somewhat melancholy in thatElisa never seems to address what she wants to her husband.II. The fog surrounding the Salinas Valley goes hand in hand with Elisa’ssuppressed feelings about her marriage.III. Steinbeck suggests that some women put the needs and desires of their spouses before their own happiness.II. CharacterizationA. Elisa Allen is a strong, capable woman.

McCoy2I. She works a beautiful garden of chrysanthemums every year, and puts a lot of energy to making sure they bloom huge and bright.II. Steinbeck uses indirect characterization when her husband Henry he says,“You’ve got a gift with those things…Some of those yellow chrysanthemums you hadthis year were ten inches across” (705).III.. Elisa is also has pent-up passion and energy. She becomes passionatelyinvolved in her conversation with the traveling man when describing how to take care of chrysanthemums so they will bloom correctly, which seems to make the manuncomfortable.IV. The author uses direct characterization when he describes Elisa after she asksthe man if he understands her explanation about “planting hands”. Steinbeck says “Shewas kneeling on the ground looking up at him. Her breast swelled passionately. Theman’s eyes narrowed. He looked away self-consciously” (708).B. Elisa is a round and dynamic character. In the beginning of the story she is well put-together, doing her duties and staying out of her husband’s business.I. She seems okay with this arrangement due to her actions. “Elisa watched themfor a moment and then went back to her work” (704).II. She is also dynamic in that her strong, unemotional demeanor around her husband falters when she sees her plants dumped on the road as they drive by them in theend.III. “She tried not to look as they passed it, but her eyes would not obey. Shewhispered to herself sadly” (711).C. Elisa is a woman that puts her husband’s wants and needs before her own. Shefeels her emotions are not worth making waves, and hides them from Henry, especially inthe end when she becomes upset. She is a very strong woman, but perhaps too strong.III.ConflictA. The conflict in this story is Person vs. Self.I. This is an internal struggle throughout the story between Elisa Allen andherself. She puts aside the fact that she is unhappy and unfulfilled in her marriage to keepher husband happy.II. Elisa puts all of her energy into her gardening; energy that, in a healthy andhappy marriage, would be put forth into her relationship.B. The traveling, lone man challenges Elisa in a way.I. He decides to feign interest in her chrysanthemums and she grows excited andinstantly happy when he asks a question.II. “’What’s them plants, ma’am?’ The irritation and resistance melted fromElisa’s face” (707).III. The reader can notice the joy in Elisa’s descriptions as she helps the man toremember the directions for planting the flower stems. She seems possibly evenoverjoyed at the prospect that someone would actually have interest in something she wasdoing.IV. Elisa also has a struggle within herself about what she really wants to do withher life. She shows genuine interest in the life the traveling man has, and she knows thatshe can never live like that when she has a duty as a housewife.C. The conflict is not resolved in this story.

McCoy3I. In the end, Elisa suppresses her feelings of hurt and sadness when she realizesthe man did not want her flowers, only the pot for himself. She simply just asks Henry if they could have wine with their dinner.II. This reiterates the central idea of this story. Elisa will always put her husband’scontentedness before her own.IV.Point of ViewA. Steinbeck uses a dramatic point of view for this short story.I. The narrator briefly talks about Henry, the man, and the businessmen that Henryis with in the beginning, but they mostly concentrate on Elisa.II. This point of view is shown when Elisa and Henry are being introduced in the beginning of the story. “Elisa Allen, working in her flower garden, looked down acrossthe yard and saw Henry, her husband, talking to two men in business suits” (704).III. A dramatic point of view is also shown greatly at the very end of the story,when the reader sees that Elisa is upset, and Henry has no inkling. “’It will be enough if we can have wine. It will be plenty.’ She turned up her collar so he could not see that shewas crying weakly - like an old woman” (711).B. The dramatic point of view in this story can inhibit the reader from learning thetrue feelings of Elisa’s husband, Henry. One can wonder if he may really feel unhappy inhis marriage as well.I. But, this point of view helps the reader to look at both characters when theyspeak with each other. As stated in

The Explicator,

“The initial dialogue between Henryand Elisa sets the tone for subsequent encounters and reveals the couple's fundamental problem: they do not know how to fight.”II. The dramatic point of view helps convey the suggestion that some womensuppress their unhappiness and wanted desires in a marriage, and that the other spousemay never be fully aware of it.V. SettingA. “The Chrysanthemums” is set in the closed-off Salinas Valley in California.The month is December, and the fog is so heavy that it sweeps like a dense curtain over the terrain.I. The setting is specific, stated in the opening paragraph of the story. “The highgrey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the restof the world” (704).II. The setting does not change throughout the story.B. The setting has a function of explaining the relationship between Elisa andHenry Allen.I. In the second paragraph Steinbeck writes “A light wind blew up from thesouthwest so that the farmers were mildly hopeful of a good rain before long; but fog andrain do not go together” (704).II. This is best described in the article by Gregory Palmerino, where he states,“The natural elements of the foothills ranch seem as unwilling to confront each other asthe characters that inhabit its environs. Hence, fog and rain can be seen as the female andmale equivalents to Elisa and Henry, respectively: the former all too indistinct, and thelatter altogether absent.”