“The
Chrysanthemums:” A Feminist View
In “The
Chrysanthemums,” John Steinbeck (2011) illustrates the story of a rancher and
his wife. Henry Allen is a hard working
cattle rancher. He is married to Elisa
who is struggling to live within the cultural boundaries of the typical 1930’s marriage. She is a strong and nurturing wife with a
husband who acknowledges her struggles. A
critical perspective from the feminist viewpoint argues that “the forms and
conventions of traditional literature allow only a certain type of female
character to be portrayed, and that women as well as men are conditioned to
respond in certain ways to those characters” (Pike &Acosta 2011, p. APP A-7). This story shows that although Elisa is strong
and harbors a desire to be more vital to her marriage, she is bound by the
restrictions placed by society on women and wives in this era.[SL2]
As Steinbeck (2011) paints the canvas of this
story, the rigid boundaries of marriage are clearly laid out. [SL3] The ranch where Henry and Elisa reside together
is referred to as “Henry Allen’s foothill ranch” (Steinbeck 2011, para 1). Steinbeck (2011) goes on to place Elisa
“working in her flower garden” (Steinbeck 2011, para 1). When Henry approaches Elisa in her garden,
“he leaned over a wire fence that protected her garden” (Steinbeck 2011, para
1). This portrays that these territories
are not mutual property between a married couple, but separate spaces with gender
specific ownership. Elisa is fenced into a small piece of her husband’s ranch.
In contrast[SL4] , Steinbeck (2011) portrays men as physically
superior workers who are solely responsible for business matters. Even
when a man is married to a physically and mentally strong woman, he is still the
ruler and provider. Steinbeck (2011) reveals the strengths of Elisa Allen
as he describes her in her garden, “even her work with the scissors was
over-eager, over-powerful. The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy
for her energy” (Steinbeck 2011, para 5). Henry acknowledges his wife’s
ability to work hard and be productive, yet he only asks her to do tasks that
are suited for a woman, “You’ve got a gift with things, I wish you’d work out
in the orchard and raise some apples that big” (Steinbeck 2011, para 10).
However, he does not invite Elisa to join in a typically male task such as
herding cattle, “I’m going to take Scotty and bring down those steers from the
hill” (Steinbeck 2011, para 20).
Women are capable of nurturing a garden or orchard to produce stellar
flower and fruit; yet it is a man’s work to herd cattle and tend to business
matters. All of
these examples show that women, however strong of body and minds are thought to
only be suited for tasks deemed appropriate of the weaker[SL5] feminine gender.
Henry is aware of
Elisa’s inner struggle with conforming to tradition, even if he is uncertain of
why, “Now you’re changed again,” Henry complained. He took one hand from the
wheel and patted her knee. “I ought to take you in to dinner oftener. It would
be good for both of us. We get so heavy out on the ranch” (Steinbeck 2011, para
110). He takes this awareness and tries
to help Elisa by offering to step outside of the known gender
restrictions. When Elisa inquires if
women attend the fights, Henry’s response is serious and he attempts to
understand, “Oh, sure, some. What’s the matter, Elisa? Do you want to go? I
don’t think you’d like it, but I’ll take you if you really want to go”
(Steinbeck 2011 para 120). Henry is
willing to throw caution to the wind in order to please his wife. Even though he does not appear to understand
why his wife would be interested in such things, he does not care what will be
thought of them if they step outside of traditions.
Elisa is conflicted between her longing to be a
vital partner in her marriage and the strong influence of societal restrictions
placed on women. Even though Henry is
willing to cross cultural lines to please his wife Elisa does accept his offer,
“Oh, no. I don’t want to go. I’m sure I don’t…she turned up her coat
collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly-like an old woman” (Steinbeck
2011, para 120). Elisa had the strength
to be a vital partner in her marriage, but lacked the courage to stand up to
the binding restrictions placed by
society on women and wives in this era.
[SL5]“weaker”
Chellie- Your paper is
excellent and is certainly within the criteria of the assignment. Keep using
this same format for your subsequent weekly papers.
Assignment 3 Grading Criteria
|
Maximum
Points
|
Paper
provides an introduction that explains the topic and draws the reader in.
|
4
|
Paper
addresses critical questions using the feminist perspective.
|
4
|
Essay
identifies and expands upon a thesis that explores a character, the audience,
the author, or symbol through a feminist lens.
|
4
|
Paper
provides supporting details that offer reasons, examples, and quotations from
the story.
|
4
|
Ideas
in paper are ordered logically with appropriate connections within and
between paragraphs.
|
4
|
Paper
has an ending that adequately concludes the piece.
|
4
|
Paper
is free or virtually free of grammatical, mechanical,
and spelling errors. |
4
|
Paper
meets minimum length requirement.
|
4
|
Paper
is formatted in APA style.
|
4
|
Total:
|
36
|
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