FREE ESSAY ON SYMBOLISM IN THE CRYSANTHEMUMS

SYMBOLISM IN THE CRYSANTHEMUMS

Symbolism in The Chrysanthemums
At first glance John Steinback's The Chrysanthemums' seems to be a story 
of a woman whose niche is in the garden. Upon deeper inspection, the story 
reveals strong symbolisms of children, vulnerability, and connection--being 
the most important, of the main character. Elisa Allen is the main character who is 
at her strongest and most proud in the garden and weakened when she becomes 
vulnerable and loses her connection to the outer world. Elisa shows a new aura of 
confidence when she makes this connection to a peddler, who also is the cause of 
her realization of reality and her crying.
The chrysanthemums symbolize Elisa's children. She tends her garden 
and handles the chrysanthemums with love and care, just as she would handle 
her own children. Elisa is protective of her flowers and places a fence around 
them; she makes sure that no aphids, no sowbugs or snails or cutworms are t
here. Her terrier fingers destroyed such pests before they could get started (
221). These pests represent something that harms the flowers, and she 
removes them before they can harm her children. The chrysanthemums are 
symbolic of her children, and she is very proud of them. She is happy and 
pleased by her ability to nurture the chrysanthemums as she would her children. 
Elisa's vulnerability is shown through her experience with the peddler 
shows an interest in the chrysanthemums when he describes them as a 
quick puff of colored smoke (223). By admiring the chrysanthemums, he 
figuratively admires Elisa Allen. The peddler gives Elisa a connection that she 
can't do with anyone else. By giving him the pot to put the chrysanthemum seedlings 
in, she gives him the symbol of her inner-self. She begins to feel hope as the 
peddler leaves. She dresses up nice and prepares for her night out with her 
husband. This preparation process symbolizes that she is preparing for a change in 
her life. 
Her washing and dressing is symbolic of her transition. Tearing off her 
soiled clothes and flinging them into the corner, she scrubbed herself with a 
little block of pumice, legs and thighs, loins and chest and arms, until her skin 
was scratched and red. This is symbolic of Elisa coming out of her old being, 
releasing a newness she had become to know. She tightened her stomach 
and threw out her chest…She put on her newest under-clothing and her nicest 
stocking and the dress which was the symbol of her prettiness. She worked 
carefully on her hair, penciled her eyebrows and rouged her lips. All of this is 
brought about because one man took interest in her private pleasure-the 
chrysanthemums. Her connection with the peddler has made her come out of 
the fence that she is so used to being inside of. She is free and she likes it. 
Elisa has seemed to undergo a complete metamorphosis from being an 
unsocial housewife to a confident woman when she makes this connection. She 
boasts, I am strong. I never knew before how strong. Unfortunately, at the 
conclusion of Steinbeck's short story, Steinbeck has her fall right back into the 
rut she so despised. When she realized that the peddler had dumped out the 
seeds and soil, and she comes back to reality and turned up her coat collar so 
her husband could not see that she was crying weakly-like an old woman. 
She is crushed and all that she had gained that day was taken away. This story 
expresses how easy it is for someone's hopes and confidence can be crushed 
if it is given into the wrong person's hands.
The title The Chrysanthemums is used to point out that Elisa's 
chrysanthemums are an image of her. The image reflects how she feels 
towards children through her flowers, what her vulnerabilities are, and how she 
uses them to make connections. Elisa accomplished what she always wanted, 
but in the end a careless peddler took that away. She returned to being her old 
self, the self that lived within her own garden and fence.
Bibliography
Works Cited
Steinback, John. The Chrysanthemums. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and
Drama. Eds. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 8th ed. New York: Longman, 2002. 245-253.