Elisa In John Steinbeck's The Chrysanthemums '

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Steinback’s The Chrysanthemums Elisa is a lonely woman who fills the void in her life by spending her time growing and taking care of her chrysanthemums. Her husband is a working man who pays her very little attention. In this time period, women were looked upon as being the weaker sex while the men were the dominant ones. Elisa, stereotypically, is a housewife who tends to her house and husband as she is expected to. In this story Elisa, is a woman who so desperately wants to gain some sort of power in a man’s world. Elisa is described as “Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water. Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man’s black hat pulled low down over her eyes… Her face was…show more content…
She was very interested in the fact that he traveled and slept in his wagon at night. ““You sleep right in the wagon?” Elisa asked. “Right in the wagon, ma’am. Rain or shine I’m dry as a cow in there.” “It must be nice,” she said. “It must be very nice. I wish women could do such things.” “It ain’t the right kind of a life for a woman” (Steinbeck, 1938, para. 80). Elisa would love to be able to knock down the walls that keep women from doing the things that men can do. She wants to be free from the stereotypical woman role. If she could, she would engage in all sorts of manly…show more content…
She ran in the house to get cleaned up. “Elisa turned and ran hurriedly into the house. In the kitchen she reached behind the stove and felt the water tank. It was full of hot water from the noonday cooking. In the bathroom she tore off her soiled clothes and flung them into the corner. And then she scrubbed herself with a little block of pumice, legs and thighs, loins and chest and arms” (Steinbeck, 1938, para 90). She then dressed in her best clothes. “She put on her newest underclothing and her nicest stockings and the dress which was the symbol of her prettiness. She worked carefully on her hair, pencilled her eyebrows and rouged her lips” (Steinbeck, 1938, para 95). She wanted to be beautiful for her husband. She wanted him to compliment her and tell her how beautiful she was. He however did not do this. His reaction was ““Why—why, Elisa. You look so nice!” “Nice? You think I look nice? What do you mean by ‘nice’?” Henry blundered on. “I don’t know. I mean you look different, strong and happy.” “I am strong? Yes, strong. What do you mean ‘strong” (Steinbeck, 1938, para 100)? For her his reaction was not what she wanted. She wanted him to tell her how beautiful she
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