Steinbeck’s story

Steinbeck’s story

During the 1930s, the civil rights movement that led to more gender equality in America had not yet started. The society was intensely patriarchal, whereby women were subordinated to men in society. Steinbeck’s story follows Elisa Allen, an ambitious woman living in such a society. Elisa grows chrysanthemum flowers in her garden. As she works on her flowers, a vagrant tinker comes around and asks if she has any pots or pans that the tinker could mend. The tinker is seemingly interested in Elisa’s blooming and beautiful chrysanthemums and asks her if she can give him a number so that he could take them to an interested farmer down the road. Elisa is proud to give the tinker the chrysanthemums and even puts them in a new pot. While Elisa and her husband are on the way to the town later, she notices her chrysanthemums on the roadside. Steinbeck uses various literary elements to highlight major themes in the poem. One of the most prominent elements is symbolism. Symbolism is whereby an author uses an object or action to infer ideas, concepts, and themes to the reader. Steinbeck uses the symbolism of the weather, the clothes, and the flowers to show the oppressive nature of gender roles.

The weather symbolizes the restrictive nature of the female gender roles in a patriarchal society that oppressed women like Elisa. As a woman in a patriarchal society, Elisa is restricted by a role which does not allow her to ascend the social ladder. Steinbeck describes the weather as a “high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from the rest of the world” (Steinbeck 358). The season is winter, which is associated with dormancy, and there is not much activity going on. The entire Salinas Valley was closed off from both the sky and the world. This is symbolic of Elisa’s stage in her life. Elisa feels as if the role that her role in society was fixed, and she felt dormant without a chance of social mobility. All she does is wait for an opportunity to see beyond the confines of her place in society.

But the society dictates that she remains a housewife and, at best, a gardener of flowers even though her husband owned her entire ranch. Elisa’s vertical and horizontal social mobility is limited. This is oppressive because it limits a woman’s ability to explore the world beyond her scope and to live her life to the best of her abilities. This leads to resentment and a certain hatred of a person’s life. The society has also limited Elisa from having these dreams. When the tinker leaves, she whispers to herself that the tinker is moving in a “bright direction” (Steinbeck 362). The tinker is leaving the Salinas Valley, and Elisa associates it with brightness, which is synonymous with hope and better prospects. Elisa, however, is left to her role and, as such, remains resentful and frustrated by her gender role even though she had more dreams and ambitions than what society expected from her. Elisa obviously hates this predicament, but she has no option but to conform to the societal norms and expectations. In this way, the weather shows the restrictive nature of gender roles, which limited women to stagnant roles in society.

The clothes also symbolize how a patriarchal society restrained and oppressed women through gender roles. Elisa is on her garden, and she is described to be “lean and strong….and her figure blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, and a man’s black hat pulled down over her eyes” (Steinbeck 358). In describing her as lean and strong, Steinbeck shows that Elisa was a strong and capable woman. Indeed, Elisa’s flowers are the best in the entire Salina valley, and this attests to her prowess in growing flowers and, most probably, much more. Elisa is wearing a “figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron” (Steinbeck 358). In essence, Elisa’s feminine clothes are obscured by the apparel which is what she wears when she is performing her societal task of being a housewife and a gardener This is symbolism for the way in which the patriarchal society, symbolized by the farmer’s overall obscured women’s femininity which is symbolized by the floral dress. This dynamic where society and masculine authority restricts a woman’s expression of herself is exemplified by the man’s hat, which is said to be “pulled down low over Elisa’s eyes” (Steinbeck 358). The man’s hat is a symbol of male authority and how this male authority limited Elisa’s vision and ambition. Through the clothes, Steinbeck shows Elisa’s strength as a woman and, at the same time, shows how the patriarchal society limited Elisa as a woman.

The chrysanthemum flowers symbolize how women were oppressed by a patriarchal society that used and discarded them and saw no value in their efforts. Elisa’s flowers are said to be the best flowers in the valley. Elisa is naturally proud of them and sees them as an exemplification of her farming talents. As a woman who has ambitions beyond her roles as a housewife and a small-scale gardener, she is eager to talk about the chrysanthemums to the tinker. Elisa glows when she talks about the chrysanthemums, which shows that she is proud of them. When the tinker asks about the chrysanthemums, Elisa becomes “alert and eager” (Steinbeck 351). This indicates that Elisa really values her prowess in cultivating chrysanthemums, and she is willing to share this with others. The chrysanthemums are Elisa’s gift, and she wants them to go beyond the closed pot that was Salina’s valley. Elisa sees the chrysanthemums as a way of breaking out of the confines of her role and influencing society beyond what society expected of her. The tinker sees this joy and asks Elisa to give him some flowers so that he can take them to another planter down the road. Elisa, eager to for her talents to go beyond her small garden, obliges and even gives him a new pot. Later, Elisa learns that the tinker had tossed away the flowers but kept the pot. The tinker had manipulated Elisa, and once he had gotten the brand new pot, he cast away the chrysanthemums which were dear to Elisa. In this way, the chrysanthemums symbolize how the patriarchal society manipulated women and discarded them after getting what they wanted. The chrysanthemums symbolize women’s abilities and how men ignored them for selfish interest. Elisa cries when she sees the flowers because she knows that her flowers, which symbolized her talents, would never go beyond her garden because of the oppressive nature of society. She was restricted to a role where she was not relevant and to be subordinate to the needs of men.

Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums’ employs symbolism to show the oppressive nature of gender roles in the society featured in the narrative. Steinbeck uses the weather of the Salinas valley to symbolize the dormancy in Elisa’s life and how enclosed she felt in her role as a woman in a patriarchal society. Elisa’s clothes in the garden shows how the femininity of women was obscured in the society. The clothes also show that women were just as capable as men, but the gender roles subordinated them to men. The symbolism of the chrysanthemums further exemplifies this subordination and the disregard for women at the behest of men. The chrysanthemums are a symbol of Elisa’s talents. When the vagrant tinker manipulates her to get a pot, it shows how society disregarded the progress of women for the sake of the needs of men. “The chrysanthemums” is a reminder of the abilities of women, many of whom are restricted and barred from making a difference in society because of oppressive and suppressive gender roles. The story is a reminder of the perils of gender inequality.