When Henry approaches Elisa's garden and comments on her impressive crop of chrysanthemums, his business sensibilities cause him to wish out loud that Elisa would raise a cash crop of apples equally impressive. Is Henry incapable of getting his own price because he lacks skills in the ways of complicated or unpleasant discourse? Nevertheless, to "Celebrate" his sale, Henry offers to take Elisa out for dinner and a movie .His wife replies, "No, I wouldn't like fights." Interestingly, Elisa does not say the fights, which, as it is revealed later in the story, Elisa has been reading about all along. Elisa wants to know what her husband means by "Nice."
Elisa perks up for a moment and makes a suggestion that she could accomplish working out in the orchards, only to have Henry shut her down by saying “well it sure works with the flowers”. I believe Steinbeck uses Henry’s rejection of her work in this conversation to illustrate the way society has rejected women as nothing more than mothers and housekeepers. Elisa’s garden is surrounded by a wire fence, which would suggest to the reader, Elisa’s isolation not only from her husband, but also from the rest of world. When the tinker enters the story, Elisa’s initial reaction towards him is non-engaging, almost irritated. The tinker being an opportunist sees the flowers as a way to make a sale.
Her family is the only Korean family in Plainfield, and she doesn’t want to stand out as being “weird and Asian.” She wants to do “a nice, normal, All-American, red-white-and-blue kind of project.” Patrick knows that Julia is upset, but he doesn’t know why. Instead of telling him, she is hopeful that it will be very difficult to raise silkworms where they live, and they won’t be able to do the project. Julia continues to argue with her brother. Chapter 3-B Julia complains to Ms. Park about all the terrible things that are happening to her. Ms. Park points out that the main character has to have a problem or two, or there wouldn’t be a story.
Beauty is a gender role pushed extremely hard toward women. To be the right size, and shape and have the “perfect hair” is a pressure most men don’t feel. I blame this completely on gender roles. Most men don’t care about the shade of red lipstick a women is wearing, or notice when she flips her hair a different way, yet it’s what makes a women feel beautiful? In the story a gift of the magi, one whole paragraph is dedicated to the main character- Della’s- worry about if her husband will still find her attractive, even though she cut off and sold her hair to buy him a Christmas gift.
Take Beryl for example, Carl never has enough confidence and motivation to stand up to her for the way she treats Harley. It is only towards the end of the book where he finally stands up for himself and also Harley. Justine played a big role in this, because as Carl started opening up to her, he became more and more confident and self-assured. Beryl never took responsibility for the kids. “If you just stayed with him, Kept an eye on him, loved him, he wouldn’t get into trouble.’ It’s because of Beryl Harley gets into strife.
No mother, no father, no husband” Becca’s editor Stan encourages her to seek out the truth about Gemma. He’s support is important because her family are not optimistic that she will uncover anything. There is a hint of romantic attachment between them but for now, Becca just needs to know Gemma’s history and nothing else. Stan helps Becca to find out her Grandmothers past. He suggested that they both go to Oswego which was five to six hours away, but he had a friend there called Samantha who they could stay with and she might be able to make connections that could help
It is in her garden that Elisa lights up with thought of possibly, just a little more from life. Just like the chrysanthemums Elisa blossoms, while she interacts with the Tinker, a wandering salesman. As he the Tinker Tries to get Elisa to give him some work, sharpening scissors or mending some pots, “her eyes hardened with resistance”(689). “Oh, no, she said quickly” (689). “Nothing like that” (689).
Elisa Allen: The Chrysanthemums Elisa Allen is a smart, attractive, and ambitious woman whose talent goes unnoticed and lives in a society that does not allow women to have professional careers in John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums. Elisa longed for her husband’s approval when it came to her talent with planting flowers. She desperately wanted to work in the business of the ranch and her offers of helping her husband were brushed off. Elisa’s husband is not as smart, but he makes all of the business decisions and runs the ranch while Elisa watches from afar. Elisa is unsatisfied with life and came in contact with a man who showed up on the ranch who she found appealing to talk to and quite flirtatious which is the kind of interaction she
Curley does not want her to talk to any of the guys working on the farm. When she was talking to Lenny before she died, all she wanted to do was talk to someone and be acknowledged Chapter 6 16. George at the end of the book tries to calm Lennie down by making him think of their dream of owning a farm and having animals and being able to live by themself and do things by themself. George is probably trying to make sure that Lennie last thought is a good one. 17.
“Elisa has no children and her maternal instincts are shown through growing her chrysanthemums as well as other flowers. Even with the flowers and plants it still does not fill the void she has from her husband not understanding her or showing much affection toward her. Elisa has her own soul and seems like a pretty simple person she allows what her husband says and his thoughts dominate her she use’s the chrysanthemums to fulfill what she does not get from her marriage.. Henry Allen your typical male with his thoughts and how he thinks things should be “And I thought,” he continued, “I thought how it’s Saturday afternoon, and we might go into