A Woman Bound By Society

A Woman Bound by Society

John Steinbeck, in his short story "The Chrysanthemums" depicts the trials of a woman attempting to gain power in a man's world. Elisa Allen tries to define the boundaries of her role as a woman in a closed society. While her environment is portrayed as a tool for social repression, it is through her love of nature and her garden where Elisa gains and shows off her power. As the story progresses, Elisa has trouble extending this power outside of the fence that surrounds her garden. In the end, Elisa learns but does not readily accept, that she possesses a feminine power, that is weak, not the masculine one she had tried so hard to achieve through its imitation.

The short story begins with a look at the setting. "The Chrysanthemums" was written in 1938, and the story takes place roughly around the same time. It is winter in Salinas Valley, California. The most prominent feature is the "gray-flannel fog" which hid the valley "from the rest of the world" (221). The grey fog that covers the valley is like that of the man's world covering Elisa and pushing her down. The mountains, valleys, sky, and fog sum everything up inside as a "closed pot" (221). This reference to a closed pot can be related to Elisa's feelings of being secluded from the man's world. Inside this shut-off habitat the environment is trying to change. Just as the farmers are waiting for an unlikely rain, Elisa is waiting for a change in their enclosed lives. Gregory Palmerino sums up the overarching meaning implied by the setting, "the natural elements of the foothills ranch seem as unable to confront each other as each of the characters that inhabit it's environment" (1). Palmerino's quote shows how Elisa feels unable to confront her situation of repression.

"There is a tension created and maintained from the opening scene that is unique in Steinbeck's work" (Wyatt 1).The action of the story opens with Elisa Allen working in her garden. She is surrounded by a wire fence, which physically is there to protect her flowers from the farm animals. This barrier symbolizes her life; she is fenced in from the real world, from a man's world. It is a smaller, physical version of the environment in which she lives. This man's world is dominated by commerce. As Elisa works on her garden, she looks through the fence out to where her husband, Henry, is talking with two men in business suits. It seems as if the men surround the women, just as the fences surround the animals and plants. With this repression, Elisa feels a sense of hopelessness and almost that of fear for the unknown in the man's world.

As she looks out to these men, we get to see Elisa. Although she is doing the "feminine" work of gardening, she is dressed like a man. She wore a black hat low on her forehead to cover her hair; thick leather gloves covered her hands, and huge shoes which covered her small woman's feet. A big apron covered the feminine dress making "her figure look blocked and heavy" (222). Unconsciously, as she looks through her fence at the men talking business, she is trying to cover up her feminine qualities. Elisa is covering up her feminine qualities, because she wants to be seen as a "businessman". She longs to be in their position and possess their characteristics and power due to her wishing to be appreciated and loved. Through all of Elisa's inner struggles and desires, she is seemingly unsure about which side of herself to show to her husband and the world. While she wants to seem strong, it seems to violate her role of being the pretty wife. When her husband suddenly comes up behind her, she immediately pulls on her gloves again. This could be to cover her dirty hands, but it also covers them, hiding her femininity. This event plays in with the traditional role of a woman during the times of the Great Depression. Women were suppose to stand silently behind their husbands (Hinton 2). Nevertheless, she is proud of her gardening for "in her tone and on her face there was a little smugness" with her husband's compliment (222). When Henry even suggests she could use her talents in the apple orchard "her eyes sharpened" (222). Elisa shows off her power saying, "'I've a gift with things, all right'" (222). According to Gregory Palmerino, Henry only tells Elisa the comment because his business sensibilities cause him to wish out loud that Elisa would raise a cash crop of apples equally impressive. This encounter shows her longing for the outside world, but it also shows how she truly wishes to be appreciated and loved for what she can and has done (2).

We soon meet the man who will change Elisa's feelings on female power and relationships with men. The stranger pulls up in his spring-wagon to sell his services, which is fixing household, metallic items. As he talks with her, the man tells of his hard-working travels up and down the West Coast and asks for directions back to the main road. Elisa notices the "calloused hands he rested on the wire fence were cracked, and every crack was a black line" (224). Elisa sees that this man also worked with his hands in nature; it seems that now she is attempting to show her feminine side, "she stood up and shoved the thick scissors in her apron pocket" (224). Yet, also with this action Elisa also may have recognized she was about to enter into a normal male business conversation involving bargaining and denying services. The traveler gets right down to business. Elisa seems to understand and then she takes on the role of a hardened businessman. With the man's first inquiry, she refuses and "her eyes hardened with resistance" (224). Even after a third time she refuses him saying, "'I tell you I have nothing like that for you to do'" (224). In this role as businessman, Elisa has succeeded, but only for the moment.

Elisa's source of power is also her point of weakness. After failing for a fourth time, to gain Elisa's attention he asks about her flowers. This attracts Elisa's interest; suddenly her face undergoes a noticeable change: "the irritation and resistance melted from Elisa's face" (222). She is able to talk to a man about something, inform him of something she knows more about than he does. Elisa's innocence in the business world does not allow her to understand the tricks men play to get what they want. To the reader it seems fairly obvious that the stranger has only asked about these flowers to get on Elisa's good side, but she is unaware to the fact. It becomes apparent that the