Character Analysis of Elisa “The Chrysanthemums”
...repairman begins to seek work from Elisa, she is steady and firm that she has nothing for him to do. Later in the story Henry tells Elisa that she looks nice and she gets upset and questions him on the matter. Henry then changes his story and tells Elisa that she looks strong and happy. Elisa replies with, “I am strong? Yes, strong” (260). In the beginning of the story while in the garden, Elisa is approached by her husband, Henry, who comments on her gardening abilities. Elisa is proud and quick to boast that she has the gift of “planter’s hands” (255). Henry then proclaims that she may need to work in the orchard to raise some apples the size of her Chrysanthemums. Elisa quickly responds, by claiming that she could to it. Elisa is also proud that she was able to give the repairman proper instruction on how to care for the Chrysanthemums. Elisa takes the time to give the repairman a list of instruction for the repairman to give to the other lady, “You remember so you can tell the lady” (258). After talking to Henry, he leaves her in the garden to continue on with the Chrysanthemums. Elisa appears to be disheartened that she not allowed outside her realm of the garden. Elisa makes the statement that she will have time to “transplant some of these sets, I guess.” Henry leaves Elisa in the garden and goes to continue with his work. It seems that Elisa wants to venture outside the safe fenced world of her garden and experience her husband’s life. Steinbeck may have been showing how women of this time were manipulated and taken advantage of when Elisa is duped into an emotional attachment by the repairman. This emotional attachment comes after he shows a perceived interest into her world, the garden. Elisa is again disheartened by the comments of the repairman when he says that his job is “not the right kind of life for a woman” (83). It is obvious that Elisa wants more out of life then she is currently receiving. Elisa is saddened when she finds that the repairman has tossed the stems on the roadside, and only keeps the pots that she had placed them in. This makes Elisa feel used and rejected, but again she rebounds, and begins to speak with her husband about the “prize fights.” Henry is taken back by her comments and the fact that she was even reading...