Chrysanthemums By Steinbeck Evaluation Essay Research Paper

Chrysanthemums By Steinbeck Evaluation Essay, Research Paper

The Chrysanthemums, by John Steinbeck, is set in the beautiful valley of

Salinas, California, during a time when California was the land of plenty. A

place where dust storms and drought were unheard of, where water was plentiful

and the air sprinkled with the sweet smell of fruit blossoms. A time when simple

people farm the land and struggle to find a place for themselves in the world.

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 and

conventional and she has begun to sense that an important part of her is dying

and that her future will be predictable and mundane. Elisa is a barren woman who

has transferred her maternal impulses to her garden, a garden full of unborn

seedlings. On the other hand, Elisa would never consider a lurid affair, when a

dark mysterious stranger appears at their quiet farm dwelling looking for work.

A complete contrast from her husband, an adventurer who lives spontaneously, a

man of the road not bound by standard measures of time or place. Since mending

pots is a way of life, he has found it necessary to be able to charm potential

customers into giving him work, and is very skillful at calculating a person.s

emotional needs. The stranger is described as big, bearded, and graying man, who

knows something about life and people. A man with a captivating presence whose

eyes are dark and .full of brooding.. 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 skill and excited by

the chance to share, at least in her imagination, a totally different kind of

life. As she prepares for the evening, the effort she usually puts into

scrubbing the house is redirected into her transformation to make herself as

attractive as she now feels. Her husband is both surprised and pleased by her

appearance, and their conversation is mixed with pleasantries and unexpected

delight as they both enjoy the animating effect of Elisa.s encounter. Their

mood remains distinctly elevated as they head for town, but then Elisa sees a

small speck on the road in the distance. Instantly, she realizes that this is

the treasure she so tenderly prepared. The stranger has discarded the flowers on

the road to save the pot that contained them, the only object of value to him.

She weeps privately as they drive pass the stranger in the tiny covered wagon.

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. Thi

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