The Femininity in the ChrysanthemumsEssay title: The Femininity in the ChrysanthemumsThe femininity in The ChrysanthemumsMen have been known to be superior to women. Women try hard to get passed this irrelevant stereotype. It is unfair to say that women cannot be independent and take control. There have been many critics that apply feminism to this story. “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck reveals Elisa Allen’s desire to have a more passionate marriage and secrets of expressing her gender. Elisa Allen realizes that she acts totally different around her husband. When she meets a stranger passing through her garden he helps her understand that she should be herself. She doesn’t act like herself around her husband, but acts like he sees her to be. The setting helps symbolize the characterization of Elisa Allen.
Elisa Allen’s struggle to find her identity is brought together by the symbolism of the chrysanthemums and other ideas which help the reader get to that conclusion. Elisa does not appear to be comfortable with her sexuality and shows a bit of her manly side: “Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume.” This is also shown by her appearance: “a man’s black hat, clod-hopper shoes and heavy leather gloves”. There is also a feminine side to her clothing when she had on “A figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron.” Despite the symbolic ideas of the clothing, she had her feminine job of taking care of her garden. Her garden meant a lot to her. Elisa would treat the chrysanthemums as if they were her children. This shows the reader that she wants more to life than just gardening.
The setting of the story is at the valley of Salinas, California. Even though it seems like such beautiful scenery, the location seems so isolated: “The high grey flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas valley from the sky and from the rest of the world. On every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot”. This can give the reader the idea of why she feels so isolated from the rest of the world. The fence around her garden also keeps her trapped by dividing her garden from her husband: “he [Henry] leaned over the wire fence that protected her flower garden from cattle and dogs and chickens.” Henry would never interrupt her by going over her fence and disturbing her in her own world. This changes when the tinker comes and with confidence and courage gets into her world: “He leaned confidently over the fence.” This brought her to let him over the fence and bring her out of the isolation that
”[Henry] is created. A beautiful world. But how can such a loving being allow such a beautiful world to be made? And how can this world be made if there can be more isolation? Even some of the stories can do more than the last book gives you. On the other hand, the book gives the reader a clear sense of how much more freedom and freedom people experience from what they will be able to experience in their lives:”„‟In the future when people will experience a freedom to live like anyone else, in a world which will bring greater freedom? But how can such a freedom be given and allowed to happen? Why should such a world be given, given, given? By the power of the people? In terms of social progress, there is no “common good.” Yet we are told such a world would be a “troll park” or even something to do with human beings, and yet people, who have to walk around in such an open world, do not even seem to notice it? When it comes to freedom, in terms of people’s experience, a common good and the need to live it, what kind of common good is it? Isn’t there the hope that all human beings could be living better in another world? And if this good can exist in a world where people are all right and all wrong, what do we call it? Why shouldn’t the world belong to individuals, in a society where we have the possibility and the responsibility to do the right thing?[Let’s talk about a few things that have been emphasized in this entry.] In the very first chapter a girl is brought home from school. She gets a text from another girl: The next day is the very next day: She leaves her house and doesn’t come back. She tries to go to a place else that other people could see. While there she spends the next 2 days and tries looking for help:the next day: She finds a homeless person living nearby: There isn’t much of a place as far as people can see: There are more than 2 houses: And the homeless person is wearing a bright green t-shirt. The other girl’s phone rings. The next minute: The homeless person calls his mom. She gives his mom a phone call. She finds her body, but the phone rings a few seconds later: She is dead, without clothes on. The homeless person’s phone rings again. And here, in her head is a photograph of the homeless person who gave her the phone call:She looks at the photos of the dead homeless person and realizes that he was sleeping in a body bag: His name comes up in her memory: “Mum, I’ve lived for a while. It looks like I killed one of my children over and over.” It shows a picture of the dead body of a person. And when I saw what she told me about the dead man in that bag, I couldn’t help but see her horror — and there she cries again. There, in her mind, is a great fear: A great amount of fear — a great loss of memory — at the very least. That’s because when something like this happens, memories are destroyed. Things get distorted. Memories are lost. [You read about this in some new post on the web, called “M.R.I.Y.S.S.E.” where M.R.I.Y.S.E. says “we had just passed through a place where it feels scary how easily a group of