WOMEN AND FEMININITY THEME

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Hi. You're a woman in a Steinbeck short story. Sucks to be you.

We're not kidding. Being a woman in the world of "The Chrysanthemums" is no picnic. You have to keep house and look pretty, all while spending much of the day alone and cut off from the excitement of the outside world. Womanhood translates into being trapped, and it doesn't look like anyone's about to stage a prison break.

Questions About Women and Femininity

Where in the text is Elisa most feminine? Where does she move away from traditional notions of womanhood? What standards do we use to evaluate her level of femininity?

What do you think Henry thinks a woman should be? How do you know? Is he, as her main squeeze, complicit in Elisa's loneliness and isolation?

If we agree with the common critical reading of the text as Steinbeck's stand against society's mistreatment of women, what exactly do you think that critique is? Where in the text is Steinbeck making his opinion clear? Or is he not being clear at all?

Is Elisa doomed to unhappiness because she's a woman? What in the story makes you think she is or isn't?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Despite what critics say, "The Chrysanthemums" only perpetuates society's stereotyping of women. Elisa is passive, weak, and takes no responsibility for her unfortunate circumstances.

What controls Elisa as a woman is not society, but fear. She's simply too afraid to break out of her role in the house, and lacks the bravery necessary to take responsibility for her life.

DISSATISFACTION THEME

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No character in the world of "The Chrysanthemums" seems perfectly content. In the story, a sense of dissatisfaction arises from two main sources: a failure to successfully express oneself, and a failure, on the part of others, to fulfill one's emotional needs. Of course this is connected to the theme of isolation, because the more dissatisfied the characters (to be honest, we're really talking mostly about Elisa) become with their circumstances, the more alone they feel.

Questions About Dissatisfaction

What is Elisa really dissatisfied with? Her place in the world as a woman? Henry's failure to understand her? Her ultimately fruitless encounter with the tinker? How do you know?

Can Elisa do something to relieve her dissatisfaction? What might that something be?

In the beginning of the story, we get the sense that the land is unfulfilled by the current weather. Can we make a connection between the land and Elisa? Is she, like the plowed earth, just waiting for some rain?

Elisa concludes that wine with dinner will be enough for her. What does she mean by that? Is she lying to her husband?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Elisa's dissatisfaction is her own fault. Come on, people – she just needs a hobby.

Henry is the root cause for Elisa's lack of fulfillment. In all their interactions, he fails to give her what she needs to be happy.

ISOLATION THEME  BACK

 

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From start to finish, Elisa is alone: physically, emotionally, sexually. Perhaps it's that loneliness that

leads to dissatisfaction with her life, or perhaps her dissatisfaction sparks her loneliness. It's also

important to note that part of what makes Elisa so lonely is the simple fact that she's a woman. While

the men do business and work the ranch, Elisa gardens and cleans. Everything changes when the

tinker disrupts her usual solitude. It is when her isolation is broken that the story truly begins to

unfold.

Questions About Isolation

1. Who do you think is lonelier? Elisa or the tinker?

2. Is there a difference in the way Elisa handles the chrysanthemums in the beginning, when

she's alone, and the way she handles them when she's with the tinker?      

3. Take a look at the two moments in the text when Elisa whispers to herself. Are these

instances of isolation? How are these moments similar and/or different?          

4. Is there a moment in the story when Elisa isn't truly alone (in an emotional sense)?

Chew on ThisTry on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Elisa is never alone when she's with her chrysanthemums. They provide her a comfort and

companionship she can't find with men. 

The tinker is the force that causes Elisa to become aware of and confront her isolation.

ISOLATION THEME

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From start to finish, Elisa is alone: physically, emotionally, sexually. Perhaps it's that loneliness that leads to dissatisfaction with her life, or perhaps her dissatisfaction sparks her loneliness. It's also important to note that part of what makes Elisa so lonely is the simple fact that she's a woman. While the men do business and work the ranch, Elisa gardens and cleans. Everything changes when the tinker disrupts her usual solitude. It is when her isolation is broken that the story truly begins to unfold.

Questions About Isolation

Who do you think is lonelier? Elisa or the tinker?

Is there a difference in the way Elisa handles the chrysanthemums in the beginning, when she's alone, and the way she handles them when she's with the tinker?

Take a look at the two moments in the text when Elisa whispers to herself. Are these instances of isolation? How are these moments similar and/or different?

Is there a moment in the story when Elisa isn't truly alone (in an emotional sense)?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Elisa is never alone when she's with her chrysanthemums. They provide her a comfort and companionship she can't find with men.

The tinker is the force that causes Elisa to become aware of and confront her isolation.

TRANSFORMATION THEME

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Transformations in "The Chrysanthemums" are small, subtle, at times barely even noticeable. This is not a caterpillar-to-butterfly situation. But if we pay attention, we see that Elisa goes through a number of these small changes throughout the course of this rather short story: shifts in tone, changes in mood, transformations in appearance. She's a hard lady to peg. Each of these changes helps illustrate a different layer to Elisa's complex inner life. Each tiny transformation peels back another layer of the Elisa onion, and we hungry readers are glad for it.

Questions About Transformation

Do you think Elisa undergoes a major transformation, or only minor ones (or none at all)? Is she a different person at the end of the story than at the beginning? Do any other characters undergo transformations, or are they only meant to facilitate Elisa's?

Take a look at the scene in which Elisa is getting ready for her night out. Why is she physically transforming herself so drastically? What might the narrator mean when he says the dress was "a symbol of her prettiness"?

Sometimes we can trace Elisa's change in tone or facial expression to its cause. But where in the story is the cause less clear, and what effect does that have on our reading? For example, why does she does she lose her "rigidity" (104) when Henry tells her she looks happy and strong?

Elisa is, let's face it, a bit moody. Should we take this as simply a character trait? Or are her moods shifted by bigger forces?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Elisa doesn't change at all. She begins the story an isolated, lonely woman, and ends it just the same.

Elisa's major transformation is from a woman who is unaware of her own lack of fulfillment, to one who is painfully conscious of what her life is missing. Her transformation is really an awakening.