Symbolism In “The Chrysanthemums”

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Symbolism in “The Chrysanthemums”
    John Steinbeck is a very well known author. One of his many short stories includes “The Chrysanthemums.” This story is about a strong woman named Elisa Allen who is frustrated with her present life. Her frustration comes from not having a child and from her husband not admiring her as a woman. The only way she can let out her frustrations is through her flower garden with her beautiful chrysanthemums. Steinbeck uses the chrysanthemums as symbols of the inner-self of Elisa Allen.
    First, 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 there. “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.
    Second, the chrysanthemums symbolize Elisa’s femininity. The idea of Elisa caring for the flowers as though they are her children is clearly a feminine thing, but her masculine side shows in her “hard-swept and hard-polished” house (221). This idea is carried into her relationship with her husband. She does not feel as if her husband, Henry, appreciates her. Henry fa

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