Chrysanthemums are beautiful, delicate flowers, which often symbolize happiness. In the short story, “The Chrysanthemums,” John Steinbeck walks the readers through the lives of Elisa and Henry Allen. They live on a foothill ranch in Salinas Valley, California, where they spend most of their days living a simple lifestyle. The Allens focus their time on maintaining their ranch, but in the eyes of Elisa, this meant more time for her to tend to her beloved chrysanthemums. Steinbeck incorporates quizzical diction and repetition to characterize Elisa and to define happiness, to convey the message that it is more important to be happy than to try to please everybody else. Steinbeck conveys a message through quizzical diction, which allows the reader …show more content…
While she is at work, “her face [is] eager and mature and handsome” (Steinbeck 1). Elisa is often put down and stereotyped into an archetypal housewife of the 1930s, especially by her husband. Her character is depicted as “mature and handsome,” rather than young and pretty. Her “handsome” resemblance is a reflection of how Henry portrays her. In reality, “her face [is] lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water” (1) and a youthful thirty-five years old. Further supporting Henry’s expectations, the way Elisa dresses while she gardens, downplays her femininity. As Elisa is busy working in the fields, her hair gets in her way and she moves it to the side. In the process she “left a smudge of earth on her cheek” (1). Having dirt on her face did not concern her, and so she did not take time to remove it. In Elisa’s mind, tending her garden allows her to find inner happiness amongst her chrysanthemums. To Elisa concentrating on her work is a better use of time, compared to removing dirt from her face. Among her flowers, she freely shows her unfeminine side, and is only ashamed of it around Henry. In addition, handsome labels Elisa as not having a pretty face. In an analysis written by Gale Cengage, Cengage expounds, “Elisa’s personality mixes masculine
The rest of chapter 6 continues with the themes of fear and loss of youth and hope. The soldiers experiences a loss of innocence more extreme than anyone back at home. It was extreme, abrupt, and forever changed the lives of the men. They will never again be able to fit in back home because of the horrific events they went through. Paul believes that, “even if these scenes of our youth were given back to us we would hardly know what to do.”
#CATmageddon: A Rhetorical Analysis As Aristotle said: “Quitting smoking is rather a marathon than a sprint. It is not a one-time attempt, but a longer effort.” The Truth is a national campaign designed to inhibit the use of tobacco in American teens. The campaign is made by Truth Initiative formerly known as the American Legacy Foundation, a public health nonprofit group created in 1999 as a result of “the Master Settlement Agreement between U.S. tobacco companies, 46 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five territories. Truth produces television and online content to promote anti-tobacco messages” (Wikipedia).
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the nineteenth century, provides insight into the social stigma surrounding gender equality in his own community and era. Throughout the chapters, Hawthorne's uses Hester to provide a direct reflection to the lives of women in the nineteenth century. Hawthorne employs devices such as specified diction which pertains to each individual character, multiple shifts in the tone used in order to draw attention to shifts in judgment or beliefs of characters, and imagery in order to validate his overall personal belief that women deserve the autonomy and respect that men have possessed for centuries. Hawthorne uses the Scarlet Letter as a novel for social change by characterizing Hester as a woman
The Chrysanthemums Literary Analysis One of the themes of “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck is gender inequality. In this short story, the main character Elisa Allen was a strong, smart woman who was stuck being a common housewife. Elisa wishes she could go out and be like the tinker, sleeping under the stars and adventuring every day of her life. Elisa’s husband owns a ranch of some sorts, and when he tells Elisa of the business deal he’d just made he gave her an unspecific explanation, or a dumbed down one so he doesn’t “confuse her”.
Advertisements are means of marketing communication companies, especially larger companies use to persuade their audience to buy their product, or to promote their products, by using different rhetorical appeals. In this essay, I will talk about two different soap ads “Vivel luxury and Fiama Di Wills” that advertise similar products, and how each soap ad uses different rhetorical appeals to persuade its audience. Vivel luxury and Fiama Di Wills are two different Soap ads that advertize similar products, but do their advertisement differently. Although the two ads uses the effectiveness of their product as their ethos and logos; however, Fiama Di Wills Soap ad focuses more on what the soap provides for the body (proteins), while Vivel luxury soap ad focuses more on what the soap does to the body (nourish the body).
This concept is symbolized in the fact that though Elisa raises her chrysanthemums out of pride and genuine appreciation of their beauty, her husband merely praises their basic quality and automatically urges her to re-allocate her efforts to a productive purpose, saying “I wish you’d work out in the orchards and raise some apples that big.” (Steinbeck 2). His unwillingness to appreciate the application of her “feminine” talent of gardening to create beauty and his intimation that only a lucrative fertility would be valued from her debases her womanhood to a mere execution of duty, undermining her worth and attractiveness as an individual. This theme is echoed symbolically in the fact that Henry and the tinker only approach her garden domain out of necessity; Henry to inform her in the most basic way and to dictate what they will do that evening, the tinker in hopes of targeting her as a domestic consumer and thereby coaxing her to provide him with means of sustenance (2, 4). The result of this is that it is ingrained in Elisa that the extent of the worth of her womanhood in society and at home is confined to her usefulness as a producer of low-level domestic assets and
It surmises that women have much more control of their dreams and hopes than men do. Because the author began this novel with this gender difference the audience can assume that this will later become an important theme, especially with the main character Janie. The protagonist, Janie is characterized as looking very youthful effectively stating that the only way Janie was to be with a younger man was either for her money or looks. Yet, in reality this is not the case but it showcases the archaic mentality of the superiority of men especially in this society. Pearl states that “[her] husband ain’t fussy” but in reality women were considered property in this time period.
With a quick glance, Elisa saw her chrysanthemums she had given to the tinker lying weakly on the side of the road. The moment she saw the only thing she cared for thrown away so easily, she knew her attempt to be treated as an equal had failed. Elisa’s final sign of her abandonment of breaking free from the female stereotype are shown after she sees the chrysanthemum on the side of the road. Elisa asks Henry if women ever go to prize-fights. Henry responds saying, “Do you want to go?
Including, many years ago women were seen unfit to do a lot of things, but that didn’t stop them from trying. “The Chrysanthemums” described the setting as a place that didn’t have room for wise woman. Although, Henry supported Elisa and offered for her to do things, like going to the fight; he knew deep inside that it wasn’t for her. Henry did a lot of business with other men, by selling cattle and other things around the farm, as Elisa sat back and watched from afar while planting her chrysanthemums. The story compares Elisa to the chrysanthemums, because they’re strong and beautiful, but yet ignored and unnoticed.
In every story, characters experience challenges which change the outcome of a story. The plot of a story is determined by what decisions are made with each character and most of the time decisions are based on what is best for a relationship. There are different representations of marital relationships in the short stories of “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, and “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck. The characters are influenced by their partner 's decisions in each of these stories. This topic will be discussed and explained to give more insight on how the characters were affected based on their circumstances.
When I was young I heard red chrysanthemums symbolized love and deep passion. And Yellow chrysanthemums symbolized neglected love or sorrow. Thus, I picked the story" the chrysanthemums" which was written by John Steinbeck. The story is told from a third person, we are confident that we are dealing with a narrator, who is far away from the character's feelings and emotions. Also, the story focuses on Elisa.
By deploying the notion of the motherly figure as a source and inspiration for many of his everyday characters, Steinbeck furthers their relatability. Unlike Ma Joad as a source of generosity and determination, Juana acts a spring of wisdom and safety as she warns her husband that the “pearl is evil… [and that they should] destroy it… [because] it is evil” (Pearl
Georgiana’s representation of a woman in the role of a 19th century wife, is crucial to the functionality of the story. Mirrored in an imperialistic society, patriarchal powers often disregarded traditional norms in favor of their own, just as Aylmer disregarded Georgiana's initial desire to keep her birthmark. Under her husband’s influence Georgiana’s diminishing beliefs in her own beauty and self-worth makes this story relevant and as depressing today as it was in Hawthorne’s era. Oppressed both mentally and psychologically Georgiana has moved from a state of anger at her husband to a state of total identification and acceptance of her “flaw”. She acquiesces: “Let the attempt be made at whatever risk.
Disassociation with the world is very heavy on one’s mental stability. People tend to feel trapped in the security of their lifestyle, doubting all ability to grow and move on. In John Steinbeck’s, “Chrysanthemums”, and Susan Glaspell’s, “Trifles”, two domestic wives living on lonesome farmhouses, deal with their disappointment at life thru two outlets- Chrysanthemums and the canary. These passions are the children they never had, giving light to their bleak lives. Steinbeck and Glaspell explore the psychological consequences of limitations and isolation from Elisa Allen and Minnie Wrights viewpoints.
The symbolic value of the chrysanthemums in this story represents not only a symbol of death, both also the good and bad emotions Elizabeth has tied to them. I believe Lawrence gave this title to the story to place a strong emphasis on the significance the flower play’s in Elizabeth’s daily life. We see several incidents where Elizabeth portrays the flower as a symbol of negativity and connects them to several bad memories in her life. For example, Elizabeth told a story of her husband coming home intoxicated late at night with chrysanthemums stuffed in his pocket. However, we also see her portray them in a more positive light.