In his short story "The Chrysanthemums," John Steinbeck uses images of strength and capability to evoke the inner feelings of his main character and to contrast her feelings with those of other characters. This contrast takes place largely along gender lines and toys with and depends on the gender-role expectations of the reader as well as of the characters themselves. In this way Steinbeck explores the mind-set of this particular woman and the nature of gender roles in society. An examination of the story and of specific passages which may seem ambiguous but which are essential in conveying a specific underlying meaning will illustrate how Steinbeck achieves his purpose.
The narrative itself is simple in terms of story--Elisa Allen is left alone to tend her flowers while her husband takes some men to the fields to sell them some cattle. An itinerant household repairman in a wagon comes by and compliments her flowers to get her to give him a job to do. She later learns of his deception as she and her husband are on their way to town for dinner. What is important in this story is not the bald facts of the story but the emotional content in the interaction of the characters with one another and in the interaction of Elisa with her world.
The key element in her world is her bed of chrysanthemums, representing her strength, that which she does best and about which she is the most proud. She reacts with pride when her husband refers to her flowers:
You've got a gift with things. . . Some of those yellow chrysanthemums you had this year were ten inches across. I wish you'd work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big (247).
She agrees that she could do that and be successful. When she describes her flowers, she describes them as "strong": "They'll be strong coming this year" (247). The strength of the flowers is a representation of her own sense of inner strength, and the fact that she can make the flower...