РефератыИностранный языкChChrysanthemums By Steinbeck Evaluation Essay Research Paper

Chrysanthemums By Steinbeck Evaluation Essay Research Paper

Chrysanthemums By Steinbeck Evaluation Essay, Research Paper


The Chrysanthemums, by John Steinbeck, is set in the beautiful valley of


Salinas, California, during a time when California was the land of plenty. A


place where dust storms and drought were unheard of, where water was plentiful


and the air sprinkled with the sweet smell of fruit blossoms. A time when simple


people farm the land and struggle to find a place for themselves in the world.


Elisa Allen is at a point in her life where she has begun to realize that her


energy and creative drive far exceed what life has offered her. Her husband,


Henry Allen, is a well meaning and essentially good man and is quite pleased to


be able to make a decent living. Her marriage is reasonably happy and there is


an easy banter between the two of them. While they have settled into a fairly


familiar and ordinary routine, they are still responsive to each other?s sense


of accomplishment and agree to celebrate with a night on the town. Elisa is


earthbound, rooted securely in her garden but also held down by her connection


to it. Their house is described as ?hard-swept? and ?hard-polished,? and


is the only outlet for her talents. However, Elisa needs something more in her


life than a neat house and a good garden. Their marriage is childless and


conventional and she has begun to sense that an important part of her is dying


and that her future will be predictable and mundane. Elisa is a barren woman who


has transferred her maternal impulses to her garden, a garden full of unborn


seedlings. On the other hand, Elisa would never consider a lurid affair, when a


dark mysterious stranger appears at their quiet farm dwelling looking for work.


A complete contrast from her husband, an adventurer who lives spontaneously, a


man of the road not bound by standard measures of time or place. Since mending


pots is a way of life, he has found it necessary to be able to charm potential


customers into giving him work, and is very skillful at calculating a person?s


emotional needs. The stranger is described as big, bearded, and graying man, who


knows something about life and people. A man with a captivating presence whose


eyes are dark and ?full of brooding.? Elisa is fascinated by his spontaneous


way of life. When she tries to get him to discuss his travels, he steers back to


the possibility of employment. When it is apparent that she has no work to give


him, he cleverly praises her flowers. Elisa is desperately eager to share in the


one thing she is actually proud of, and carefully gathers some shoots to share


with another customer down the road. As she disciplines the stranger on the


proper nurturing of the seedlings, her passionate involvement with the process


of planting becomes an expression of all the suppressed romance in her life. The


stranger senses this craving, and offers just enough encouragement to lead her


into a full-scale declaration of her profound love of what planting means to


her. Elisa would like this moment to continue, but the stranger reminds her that


hunger overcomes inspiration. Elisa, somewhat ashamed by her openness, finds


some useless old pots for him to mend. She believes that the man has given her


something of value and she feels obliged to give him something in return. As the


man leaves, Elisa looks away after him, whispering to herself, ?That?s a


bright direction. There?s a glowing there.? The purpose of the conversation


between Elisa and the stranger is very dramatic. Elisa feels energized and


appreciated, delighted by her moment to share her special skill and excited by


the chance to share, at least in her imagination, a totally different kind of


life. As she prepares for the evening, the effort she usually puts into


scrubbing the house is redirected into her transformation to make herself as


attractive as she now feels. Her husband is both surprised and pleased by her


appearance, and their conversation is mixed with pleasantries and unexpected


delight as they both enjoy the animating effect of Elisa?s encounter. Their


mood remains distinctly elevated as they head for town, but then Elisa sees a


small speck on the road in the distance. Instantly, she realizes that this is


the treasure she so tenderly prepared. The stranger has discarded the flowers on


the road to save the pot that contained them, the only object of value to him.


She weeps privately as they drive pass the stranger in the tiny covered wagon.


Elisa is shattered by the heartless manner in which he has drawn something from


her secret self and then completely betrayed her gift by not even taking the


trouble to hide the flowers. She attempts to override her disappointment, by


maintaining a mood of gaiety, suggesting that they have wine at dinner. This is


not

sufficient to help her restore her feelings of confidence, so she asks her


husband if they might go to a prizefight. This request so completely out of


character that again her husband is totally baffled. She searches further for


that special feeling she held briefly, and asks if men ?hurt each other very


much.? This is part of an effort to focus her own violent and angry feelings,


but it is completely hollow as an attempt to sustain her sense of self-control.


In a few moments, she completely gives up and her whole body collapses into the


seat in a display of defeat. As the story concludes, Elisa is struggling to hide


her real feeling of pain from her husband. She is anticipating a dreadful future


in which she pictures herself ?crying weakly like an old woman.? Clearly


Steinbeck?s is particularly sensitive to the effect of landscape on a


person?s life. Because Elisa Allen?s sense of her own self-worth is so


closely tied to the land, Steinbeck has chosen to connect her psychical


existence to the season, the climate, and the terrain she inhibits. The mood of


the story is set by his description of a winter fog bordered valley, a


description that is also pertinent to Elisa?s mood. She is entering middle


age, and when the valley is compared to a ?closed pot? with ?no sunshine


in December.? There is a close parallel to the condition of her life, a sealed


vessel with little light available. Steinbeck referred to it as ?a time of


quiet and waiting,? and the land, Elisa?s only field of action, is dormant,


with ?little work to be done.? Elisa Allen is beginning to sense that not


everybody can be satisfied by bread alone. Henry?s concentration on his role


as provider and decision-maker have blinded him from Elisa?s need for someone


to understand the essential nature of her yearning. The question Steinbeck poses


is whether one should settle for security and comfort, or risk one?s dreams in


an attempt to live more completely and intensely. The retreat from action at the


conclusion suggests that the risks are great, but there is a possibility that


Elisa might not be permanently beaten by her pain. In this story Steinbeck


focuses more closely on character than on surroundings, though that is not to


say that the naturalistic setting has a non-existing role in the story. The


story develops from a dramatic point of view, as Steinbeck first describes the


entire valley in a panoramic view, then moves closer to focus Elisa working in


her garden. Throughout the story, the perspective shifts from Elisa?s narrow


and cramped domain, to the entire ranch, and to the world beyond. In a final


transformation, Elisa?s shock is thrown back by an image of multiple


confinement, as she is enclosed by a wagon, surrounded by her seat and hidden


within a coat that covers her face. It is not an image designed to create


confidence in Elisa?s prospects. Elisa is also seen alternately as a part of a


larger landscape and as a small figure in an enclosed area. Her warm,


three-dimensional character serves to show the human beauty beneath her rough


and somewhat masculine exterior. Elisa has certain needs of the spirit, the


abstract nature of which keeps happiness forever elusive. She feels trapped


between society?s definition of the masculine and the feminine. Elisa


generally wears bland, baggy clothes that tend to de-gender her. Her husband


Henry is more practical, with greater involvement in physical concern; but is


confronted by a woman whose depression is partially due to a confusion of sexual


identity. Henry withdraws from the masculine role of leadership, leaving Elisa


to flounder between aggression and submission. Here Steinbeck offers no solution


for the psychological conflicts that plague human interactions. He does not want


the readers to see Elisa change; he wants to leave it open, to make us wonder


about her character. Steinbeck?s short story focuses on the details of the


simple lives and hardships of men and women in the Salinas River Valley,


bringing the reader into the characters? most private lives and intimate


moments. In this story, something as simple and uneventful as a visit by a


traveling repairman reveals the tedious and monotonous lifestyle led by a


farmer?s wife. The reader is drawn into the tale and vicariously experiences


the suffering and longing of the lonely housewife. This story reflects the


unfulfilled longings of a country housewife, who compensates for her


disappointments in her life through her garden. Steinbeck’s use of simple themes


and his concern for common human values, stir the reader’s thoughts and


emotions, and leave them with an awareness of life. "This story has one


rare, creative thing: a directness of impression that makes it glow with


life."

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