First page

first page The Chrysanthemums The Chrysanthemums is a wonderful short story written by John Steinback. Steinback won the noble prize on literature in 1968 and is also known as a modern day feminst. In his story he tried to explain the emotion of woman in that era. The story was written during 1938 and at that time, ‘ freedom’ was not the same for woman as it was for man. Man used to work outside and was the sole bread provider for the family and woman used to keep themselve busy with their household chores. In the story we came across Miss Elisa Alan, a big strong woman who was fond of growing beautiful chrysanthemums in her garden. The fact that she had no children make us beleive that she treated those flowers as her child and was obsessed with them. Mr. Henry Alan, Elisa’s husband appears to be a man who makes a decent living and earns enough to support his family. His Character depicts that he is a cheerful and loving husband. He wants to take his wife out for dinner and later on plan to go to the movies with her. Despite the fact that his wife could not provide him with children but he seemed gentle enough not to accuse her for it. Although reader’s may find a lack of intimacy between the husband and wife but i think he is a perfect husband based on the time they were living. As the story progressed, we were introduce to a tinker who is a vital character for the story. He showed up with his wagon and asked Elisa for items that needed mending. Elisa denied once and twice but later on gave up. She brings him two saucepan for mending She shows a lot of interest in the life of tinker, who wanders from place to place fixing pots and pan e. t. c. It showed that she is not content with her life and wants to lead a more adventurous life, like the one of the tinker. The tinker made up stories about a gardener who wanted to plant some Chrysanthemums and Elisa was delighted to provide him with few chrysanthemums shoots which she gave him on a pot. Later the day, as she prepare herself for the dinner we could see some of her femine nature. She keenly obseves her body and dresses neatly. she drove out with her husband and found that the tinker kept the pot but threw out the lovely chrysanthemums which were on the road. They meant no value to him. She was angry and disappointed. She asked her husband wether they can have wine during dinner, giving us the indication of drinking away her pain. She even asked wether woman are allowed to witness prize fight as she thinks watching such brutality and violence will draft away her sadness. Her husband was generous enough to take her there but later she refused. She hid herself under the coat collar and cry silently. The writter compared the “ Chrysanthemums” with the woman race at that period. The way they were thrown out showed that woman did not had the value or respect she deserved from the society. –