Use of Symbols and Symbolism in John Steinbecks The Chrysanthemums Ess

Use of Symbols and Symbolism in John Steinbecks The Chrysanthemums John Steinbecks short story The Chrysanthemums is about a proud, strong woman named enzyme-linked-immunosorbent serologic assay Allen who feels frustrated with her present life. Her frustration stems from not having a child and from her husbands failure to admire her romantically as a woman. The only outlet for her frustration is her kick garden where she cultivates beautiful chrysanthemums. Steinbeck uses chrysanthemums as symbols of the inner-self of Elisa and of every woman. 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 antifertility of her flowers and places a wire fence around them she makes sur... ...age, 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 bugger off to settl e 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.