Lit: “The Chrysanthemums:” A Feminist View

“The Chrysanthemums:” A Feminist View

            In “The Chrysanthemums,” John Steinbeck (2011) illustrates the story of a rancher and his wife.  Henry Allen is a hard working cattle rancher.  He is married to Elisa who is struggling to live within the cultural boundaries of the typical 1930’s marriage.  She is a strong and nurturing wife with a husband who acknowledges her struggles.  A critical perspective from the feminist viewpoint argues that “the forms and conventions of traditional literature allow only a certain type of female character to be portrayed, and that women as well as men are conditioned to respond in certain ways to those characters” (Pike &Acosta 2011, p. APP A-7).  This story shows that although Elisa is strong and harbors a desire to be more vital to her marriage, she is bound by the restrictions placed by society on women and wives in this era.[SL2] 

            As Steinbeck (2011) paints the canvas of this story, the rigid boundaries of marriage are clearly laid out. [SL3]  The ranch where Henry and Elisa reside together is referred to as “Henry Allen’s foothill ranch” (Steinbeck 2011, para 1).  Steinbeck (2011) goes on to place Elisa “working in her flower garden” (Steinbeck 2011, para 1).  When Henry approaches Elisa in her garden, “he leaned over a wire fence that protected her garden” (Steinbeck 2011, para 1).  This portrays that these territories are not mutual property between a married couple, but separate spaces with gender specific ownership. Elisa is fenced into a small piece of her husband’s ranch.

             In contrast[SL4] , Steinbeck (2011) portrays men as physically superior workers who are solely responsible for business matters.  Even when a man is married to a physically and mentally strong woman, he is still the ruler and provider.  Steinbeck (2011) reveals the strengths of Elisa Allen as he describes her in her garden, “even her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful. The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy” (Steinbeck 2011, para 5).  Henry acknowledges his wife’s ability to work hard and be productive, yet he only asks her to do tasks that are suited for a woman, “You’ve got a gift with things, I wish you’d work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big” (Steinbeck 2011, para 10).  However, he does not invite Elisa to join in a typically male task such as herding cattle, “I’m going to take Scotty and bring down those steers from the hill” (Steinbeck 2011, para 20).   Women are capable of nurturing a garden or orchard to produce stellar flower and fruit; yet it is a man’s work to herd cattle and tend to business matters.    All of these examples show that women, however strong of body and minds are thought to only be suited for tasks deemed appropriate of the weaker[SL5]  feminine gender.

            Henry is aware of Elisa’s inner struggle with conforming to tradition, even if he is uncertain of why, “Now you’re changed again,” Henry complained. He took one hand from the wheel and patted her knee. “I ought to take you in to dinner oftener. It would be good for both of us. We get so heavy out on the ranch” (Steinbeck 2011, para 110).  He takes this awareness and tries to help Elisa by offering to step outside of the known gender restrictions.  When Elisa inquires if women attend the fights, Henry’s response is serious and he attempts to understand, “Oh, sure, some. What’s the matter, Elisa? Do you want to go? I don’t think you’d like it, but I’ll take you if you really want to go” (Steinbeck 2011 para 120).  Henry is willing to throw caution to the wind in order to please his wife.  Even though he does not appear to understand why his wife would be interested in such things, he does not care what will be thought of them if they step outside of traditions.  

Elisa is conflicted between her longing to be a vital partner in her marriage and the strong influence of societal restrictions placed on women.  Even though Henry is willing to cross cultural lines to please his wife Elisa does accept his offer, “Oh, no.  I don’t want to go.  I’m sure I don’t…she turned up her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly-like an old woman” (Steinbeck 2011, para 120).  Elisa had the strength to be a vital partner in her marriage, but lacked the courage to stand up to the binding restrictions placed by society on women and wives in this era.

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 [SL2]Good thesis.

 [SL3]Love it

 [SL4]Nice transition from one point to the other.

 [SL5]“weaker”

Chellie- Your paper is excellent and is certainly within the criteria of the assignment. Keep using this same format for your subsequent weekly papers. 

Assignment 3 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Paper provides an introduction that explains the topic and draws the reader in.	4
Paper addresses critical questions using the feminist perspective.	4
Essay identifies and expands upon a thesis that explores a character, the audience, the author, or symbol through a feminist lens.	4
Paper provides supporting details that offer reasons, examples, and quotations from the story.	4
Ideas in paper are ordered logically with appropriate connections within and between paragraphs.	4
Paper has an ending that adequately concludes the piece.	4
Paper is free or virtually free of grammatical, mechanical, and spelling errors.	4
Paper meets minimum length requirement.	4
Paper is formatted in APA style.	4
Total:	36