Chrysanthemums: A Symbol of One Woman’s Desire
...en to protect them from any harm that may have come their way, as any good mother would. She also uses her “terrier fingers” to make sure “no aphids, no snow bugs or snails or cutworms” are there. She makes sure that she destroys such creatures before they even have a chance to get at her beloved chrysanthemums. The different types of insects that pose harm to the flowers seem to represent the natural harm to any child as he or she is growing up. And as part of mother hood, Elisa’s responsibility would be to try and stop any harm to her children before it even has a chance to start. The most obvious symbol Steinbeck uses in this short story is the pride Elisa had in her flowers. When a parent is able to see the fruit he or she bares, and is also able to see that it is good, pride inevitable follows. When Elisa’s husband recognizes and complements the flowers in his own way, Elisa agrees with him and says “Yes, they’ll be strong this year.” She goes on to say, “I’ve a gift with things, all right. My mother had it. She could stick anything in the ground and make it grow.” Although Elisa has an incredible ability to grow such beautiful flowers, her husband Henry is unable to appreciate this ability. As he notices the flowers he simply says, “I wish you’d work out in the orchards and raise some apples that big.” Elisa’s pride in her ability to grow such beautiful flowers strongly suggests that her flowers were somehow a replacement or substitute for the children she never had. Elisa is finally able to share this pride as a lone tinker makes his way down the dirt road onto her front yard. It seems that because Elisa had an inability to make her husband understand her needs, she is quite vulnerable in her encounter with this tinker. As Elisa is working in her garden she looks up to see a “curious vehicle, curiously drawn.” It was an old springwangon, with a round canvas at the top on it like a cover of a prairie schooner. It was drawn by an old bay horse and a little grey-white burro. The wagon was driven by a man that was bearded, large in statute and young looking. In meeting with this lone tinker that travels across the country, she feels a sort of excitement as he describes his year round, cross country voyage. In a way this renews feelings of sexuality for her as she thinks of the dangers the tinker must encounter. Elisa knows that “it is no place for a woman” but the danger undoubtedly exited her. After getting to know the tinker, he begins to compliment Elisa’s flowers; by admiring the chrysanthemums, he is symbolically admiring her. Steinbeck shows that she is aroused by this when he writes, “She tears off the battered hat and shakes out her dark pretty hair.” When the tinker is done with the work Elisa finds for him, he leaves. As he drives away she sees a “bright direction” and new beginning for her marriage. After talking to the tinker she begins to feel she has new hope and it causes her to prepare for a more fulfilling life. Elisa begins to get ready for a dinner her husband promised her earlier in the story before the tinker made his appearance. She feels she is ready to become the new woman she has always wanted to be. So while getting ready for the dinner Elisa scrubs away her old life in the bath tub and brings in new life and change. She admired herself as a woman when Steinbeck writes, “When she had dried herself she stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom and looked at her body. She tightened her stomach and threw out her chest. She turned and looked over her shoulder and at her back.” This is obviously a sign of the renewed confidence she had gained after talking with the tinker. She even ...