analyzing Elisa in The Chrysanthemums
...arden of chrysanthemum flowers. She cares very deeply for the flowers as a mother would for her kids. She even has a gate up around them protecting them from any danger. This would be like a mother having a fence up around the yard protecting their child from running out in the street and getting hurt. She has a lot of passion when she’s working in the garden. Steinbeck describes this with her face was eager and mature and handsome; even her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful. The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy. (220-221) Alisa likes when someone inquires about her chrysanthemums. She could talk about chrysanthemums for hours. This especially shows when the scissors-sharpening man arrives at her place. She tries to blow him off at first. Then he mentions to her that her neighbor was interested in some chrysanthemums. That was when her total attitude changed. All of a sudden she was a whole new person. She was excited that someone was interested in chrysanthemums as she was. Steinbeck mentions her emotions when she was talking about they chrysanthemums by saying that when she was kneeling on the ground looking up at him. Her breast swelled passionately. (224) This very much shows how important and passionate those chrysanthemums were to her. Elisa lacks emotional support. Besides the passion for her chrysanthemums, she really doesn’t have much outside of that. She is somewhat just settled with the relationship that she has with her husband. There is no passion or spunk in the relationship there at all. She is more in love with her Chrysanthemums that she is with her husband. Her husband doesn’t give her much of that support. This shows when she was standing 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 lo...