Symbols and Symbolism - Flowers as a Symbol in John Steinbecks The Chr

Flowers as a Symbol in The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck In romanticistic or sexual context, a woman is often said to be as beautiful as a flower. In John Steinbecks short recital The Chrysanthemums, Elisa Allen never receives this recognition. Although she is a strong woman, she is frustrated because her husband will not admire her romantically in any way. This frustration only deepens because she is childless and feels the need to be a mother. She discovers an outlet for her frustration in a flower garden where she cultivates beautiful chrysanthemums. Steinbeck uses these elegant flowers as a symbol to correspond the tender, inner-self of all women, including Elisa. First, the chrysanthemums symbolize Elisas children. She tends her garden and handles the chrysanthemums with love and care, just as she would handle her own children. Elisa is very protective of her flowers and places a wire fence more or less them she makes sure no aphids, no sowbugs or snails or cutworms are there. Her terrier fingers destroy such pests before they can get started (240). These pests rep... ...s and her emotional needs. The encounter with the tinker reawakens her sexuality and brings hope to Elisa for a more exciting and romantic marriage, but her realization that her life is not going to change is crystallized when she sees the flowers thrown on the road. It devastates her completely to have to site for such an unfulfilling life. Work Cited Steinbeck, John. The Chrysanthemums. Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th ed. New York Harper Collins, 1995. 239-47.