Manolache Patricia

27.03.2013

The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck Characterization of Elisa Allen

Elisa Allen, the protagonist of this short story is a 35 years old woman with a lean and strong face, with eyes as clean as water. Even though she has a husband, she is a lonely woman. She feels so because she doesnt have any children and her husband seems too busy to look at her as a woman. He actually says in the end of the short story that they should eat more often at the restaurant. Her husband sees her as a strong woman, but fails to see her more like a wife. Giving the situation, Elisas only joy is her garden of chrysanthemums that she takes great care of. She might even mistake the chrysanthemums for the children she doesnt have. Elisa is very passionate about the flowers and very proud of them especially when her husband and the tinker praise them: In her tone and on her face there was a little smugness. She was irritated when the tinker insisted on mending something for her, but the irritation and resistance immediately melted when it came about her chrysanthemums. She is also very protective, taking care of the chrysanthemums as she would of her own children, getting rid of the pests that might threaten them. She has a gift with things, like her husband said and this seems to be the only comforting thing for her. All in all, Elisa seems a mysterious woman, because we cannot find out too much about her throughout the story. There is even some contradiction: if the narrator calls her strong, her husband calls her strong, and towards the end of the story, she even declares herself, "I'm strong [] I never knew before how strong"), then why does the story end with her "crying weakly like an old woman"?