PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
THE SYMBOLS AS THE REFLECTION OF THE MAJOR
CHARACTER’S LIFE IN JOHN STEINBECK’S
“THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS”
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SILVIA GALUH OKTAVIANI
Student Number: 084214037
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2013
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
THE SYMBOLS AS THE REFLECTION OF THE MAJOR
CHARACTER’S LIFE IN JOHN STEINBECK’S
“THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS”
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
SILVIA GALUH OKTAVIANI
Student Number: 084214037
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2013
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"YOU WERE GIVEN LIFE. IT IS YOUR DUTY TO FIND
SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL WITHIN LIFE, NO MATTER
HOW SLIGHT"
-Elizabeth Gilbert-
“LIFE IS ABOUT MAKING SOME THINGS HAPPEN, AND
NOT WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN”
-Anonymous -
"I MAY NOT BE SMART ENOUGH TO DO EVERYTHING,
BUT I AM DUMB ENOUGH TO TRY ANYTHING"
-Geoff Johns-
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THIS UNDERGRADUATE THESIS IS DEDICATED TO
My Almighty Lord, Jesus Christ
My Beloved Parents
My Little Sister
And My Dearest Amo
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would really like to express my greatest gratitude to my
lovely Jesus Christ, for all His blessings and strength for making this thesis, so I
can through it all well. I cannot do this all without Him.
I would like to thank my beloved parents and my little sister for their
supports that they give me. I would like to thank them; my father Henri Gunawan,
my mother Yohana Harmiati, my little sister Angelina Ganis, and my big family.
Thanks for a great supports and prays. It is a great thing that I have in my
imperfect life. I love them so much.
I would like to thank my advisor Mr. Hirmawan Wijanarka and my coadvisor Mrs. Elisa Dwi Wardani for his and her time, guidance, understanding and
patience in the process of making this undergraduate thesis, so I was able to finish
this well. I would also like to express my great gratitude to all of the lecturers who
have taught and given me useful knowledge during my study in Sanata Dharma
University, Yogyakarta.
Thanks to my best crazy friends: Lita, Astu, Dewi, Lany, and Yulita for
the best friendship ever. They are super best friends ever! Thanks for making my
life more colorful with our everlasting friendship in love and crazy. Thanks for
their support and prayers in finishing this undergraduate thesis. My super special
thank goes to my beloved amo, Andreas Bayu Wicaksono, for his love, patience,
time and support that always reminds me to finish my thesis and cheers me up
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whenever i feel give up with this thesis. Thanks for always support me in my ups
and downs, amo.
I would like to thank all people who I cannot mention one by one for all
of their supports in making this thesis. There are many people who has not
mentioned yet. I thank them so much. I love them so much. Thanks for being
beautiful things in my life.
Silvia Galuh Oktaviani
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................
APPROVAL PAGE .......................................................................................
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ..................................................................................
MOTTO PAGE ..............................................................................................
DEDICATION PAGE ....................................................................................
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ..........................
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...........................................................................
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .............................................................
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...............................................................................
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................
ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION..................................................................
A. Background of the Study ......................................................................
B. Problem Formulation............................................................................
C. Objectives of the Study ........................................................................
D. Definition of Terms ..............................................................................
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW.................................................
A. Review of Related Studies ...................................................................
B. Review of Related Theories .................................................................
1. Theory of Character and Characterization .....................................
2. Theory of Symbol ..........................................................................
C. Theoretical Framework ........................................................................
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY .............................................................
A. Object of the Study ...............................................................................
B. Approach of the Study..........................................................................
C. Method of the Study .............................................................................
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS...........................................................................
A. The Description of the Major Character...............................................
B. The Symbols Used in the Short Story ..................................................
C. The Symbols As the Reflection to the Major Character‟s Life ............
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION .....................................................................
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................
APPENDIX .....................................................................................................
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ABSTRACT
SILVIA GALUH OKTAVIANI (2012). The Symbols As the Reflection of the
Major Character’s Life in John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums”.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma
University.
“The Chrysanthemums” is a short story written by John Steinbeck which
was first published in 1937. The short story tells about a woman named Elisa
Allen who feels frustrated with her present life. Her frustration stems from not
having a child and from her husband's failure to treats her romantically as a
woman. She cares for the house and cares for her garden, but she has a desolate
life. The only outlet for her frustration is her flower garden where she cultivates
beautiful chrysanthemums. Elisa's flowers mean everything to her and she cares
for them as if they are her children.
This thesis writing has some purposes. First, to describe the major
character‟s characterization. Second, to explain the symbols used by the author to
give reflections about the major character‟s life. Third, to find out the reflections
which are shown by the usage of the symbols in describing the major character‟s
life.
To accomplish this study, the writer applies library research method and
formalistic approach. The writer takes the primary data from “The
Chrysanthemums”. The secondary data are taken from some theories related to the
topic of the study, such as theory of character and characterization, and also
theory of simbol.
The writer finds that the major character in this short story is described as
a frustated woman because of her unhappiness in her life, marital life. She is not
happy because her husband does not fulfill her needs as a woman. She has no
child even. She feels trapped with the situation at that time, male-dominated
society. The writer finds out that the flower she cares for and the place where she
lived are the things that symbolizes herself. From the that two things, the writer
finds out that the flower is symbolize her beauty, her careness and her needs of
having a child. And the place where she lived is symbolize her role as a woman
which is trapped by the role of male-dominated at that time.
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ABSTRAK
SILVIA GALUH OKTAVIANI (2012). The Symbols As the Reflection of the
Major Character’s Life in John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums”.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma
University.
“The Chrysanthemums” adalah cerita pendek yang ditulis oleh John
Steinbeck yang pertama kali diterbitkan pada tahun 1937. Cerita pendek ini
mengisahkan tentang wanita bernama Elisa, yang merasa putus asa dalam
hidupnya. Keputusasaannya disebabkan karena ia tidak memiliki anak dan
kegagalan suaminya dalam memperlakukannya sebagaimana layaknya seorang
wanita. Ia merawat kebun bunga dan rumahnya dengan baik, tetapi ia merasa
kesepian. Satu-satunya jalan keluar dari keputusasaannya adalah kebun bunga
yang ia miliki dimana ia bisa menanam bunga krisan kesayangannya.
Tujuan dari studi ini adalah, pertama untuk mendeskripsikan karakteristik
si karakter utama. Kedua, untuk menjelaskan simbol apa saja yang digunakan oleh
pengarang untuk memberikan cerminan tentang kehidupan karakter utama.
Ketiga, untuk menemukan cerminan dan gambaran yang dapat dilihat dari
penggunaan simbol dalam menggambarkan kehidupan karakter utama.
Untuk menyempurnakan studi ini, penulis melakukan studi pustaka dan
menggunakan pendekatan formalistik. Penulis mengambil data pokok dari cerita
pendek “ The Chrysanthemums” dan beberapa teori yang bersangkutan dgn topik
studi ini, seperti teori tokoh dan penokohan dari teori tentang simbol.
Penulis menemukan bahwa karakter utama dalam cerita pendek ini
digambarkan sebagai seorang wanita yang putus asa karena dia tidak bahagia
dalam kehidupan pernikahannya. Dia tidak memiliki anak dan suaminya tidak
mampu memenuhi kebutuhannya sebagai seorang wanita. Dia merasa terjebak
dalam situasi pada waktu itu, dimana peran laki-laki lebih mendominasi. Penulis
menemukan bahwa bunga yang ia rawat dan tempat ia tinggal adalah hal-hal yang
mencerminkan dirinya. Dari dua hal tersebut, penulis menemukan bahwa bunga
yang ia rawat itu merupakan simbol dari keindahan, kepedulian, dan
kebutuhannya akan hadirnya seorang anak. Dan tempat di mana ia tinggal
menyimbolkan perannya sebagai wanita yang terjebak oleh peran laki-laki yang
mendominasi saat itu.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Symbol has a certain power. Many things in this world symbolize
meanings. People can find any symbol in any circumstances, places, occasions,
religion, work of art, etc. Flag symbolizes freedom and is a symbolic of the
nation‟s ability to feed the countrymen and the ability to protect them against all
odds and crisis. As the example can be seen in “For a man to kiss a lady's hand is
very old-fashioned politeness in some societies; in other situations it may be a
discrete indication of affection. In Britain a new prime minister kisses the Queen's
hand on appointment: this is a formal token of appreciation of her trust in him.”
(http://wiki.answers.com/Q). It is also said that a hug is a universal symbol.
The cross is one of the earliest and most widely used Christian symbols. In
the broadest sense it symbolizes the religion of Christianity. There are numerous
variations of the cross as a Christian symbol, but the two main themes are crosses
with or without a depiction of Christ hanging on it. The reason for this is that
some focus on the fact that he died on a cross to pay for our sins as seen in “More
specifically, it represents and memorializes Christ's death. A great variety of
crosses has developed, some with specific symbolic meaning and others that have
simply
become
culturally
associated
with
certain
groups.”
(http://www.religionfacts.com). It is also said that red color symbolizes intense
passion, aggression and courage.
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It can also symbolize sexual impulses, danger and shame. Red is usually
not a favorite color for negotiations or meetings and is great for drawing attention
to things.
When looking at literary work, it is impossible to see it all in a literal
form. There is always some sort of symbolism that occurs within the body of the
text. It can be defined differently by many people. It is because symbolism is
created by the author. However, it can be contradicted or have a completely
obscure meaning to the reader. Symbolism can be used to describe any mode of
expression, which refers to something indirectly through the medium of
something else. Symbolism used to suggest ideas or thought directly. The writers
depicted reality through the symbols and they expressed atmosphere effects,
suggestions of feeling etc., the creation and use of symbols is a way of expressing
abstractions in a work of literature. Symbols have widely been used for different
purposes, in logic, semantics, theology, fine arts and letters. Symbol is applied
only to a word or set of words that signify an object or event which itself signifies
something else. Symbolism means what the author wants people to feel or know
as a reader by including a key phrase or something that represents something else.
Symbols are important element to get an easy understanding in discussing
literature. A symbol is something that stands for something else. It can represent
feeling, ideas, experience, object, etc. symbols are so powerful in discussing
literature.
Symbol has certain power in literary work. When people discussing the
work of literature or fiction, symbol is a good start to find out what the work is
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about. According to Alfred Koryzbski and S.I. Hayakawa in their book General
Semantics, use symbol for to designate what other writers call a sign. A symbol is
a sign which has further layers of meaning. In other words, a symbol means more
than it literally says. According to Evangelous Christos, in interpreting literature,
it is important to remember that a poem or a short story means more than the
writer consciously intended. Many images (signs) in a work of literature will have
personal, cultural, and universal association of both reader and writer.
(http://web.mst.edu/).
One of the well known literary works with a symbolic journey is Robert
Frost‟s “The Road Not Taken.” In the poem there is a man who has come to a
crossroad in his life. One path is traveled on frequently while the other path is
not. He has to make a decision as to what path he should take. No matter what,
he knows that he cannot turn back once he has made the choice, but it is
implied. He chooses the path less traveled and, in turn, it happens to be the best
choice he had ever made. Many people have analyzed this poem and they have
different interpretation and ideas what this poem means. Some people say it is
about suicide. Some people say it is about life changes. There is no something
wrong about what people say about the meaning of this poem. Therefore, the
interpretation of a literary work actually merges itself with the reader. To analyze
the literary work there needs to be a beginning. And the writer used „symbol‟ to
begin her research study.
In this study, the writer wants to share the topic, the use of symbolism in a
short story entitled “The Chrysanthemums” written by John Steinbeck. A red
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chrysanthemum means I love you. A white one stands for truth. And a yellow
chrysanthemum means love “is not returned”. This flower also symbolizes "hope
for the future”. The word chrysanthemum comes from the Greek words “chrysos”
(which means gold) and “anthos” (which means flower).
The writer wants to find out why the author uses the chrysanthemums as
the symbol rather than another flower and also to find out the power of using the
chrysanthemums as the symbol in the story related to what happened in the major
character‟s life. According to the writer, this sort story is appropriate in doing this
research study because in the short story there are so many symbols and their
power as symbols. In John Steinbeck‟s short story, “The Chrysanthemums,” he
uses the flower to symbolize his main character‟s thoughts and ideas. The
Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck is about a frustrated w oman Elisa
who feels a strong sense of feminism and loneliness in her life. She seems to be
oppressed by a male-driven society. The title itself depicts as a symbol of the
nature of Elisa. The author compares Elisa's character with the
Chrysanthemums who both have a strong and rough exterior but deep
inside have a compelling sense of beauty. The Chrysanthemums represent
her repressed feelings and desires.
B. Problem Formulation
After describing the background, the writer formulates the problems as
follows:
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1. How is the major character described in the story?
2. What are the symbols used in the short story?
3. How do the symbols reflect the major character‟s life in the short
story?
C. Objectives of the Study
The writer formulates three objectives here. The writer is going to
describe the major character‟s characteristic and personality to understand deeply
about the character itself. Then, the writer will find out the symbols that are used
in the story and how do the symbols reflect the major character‟s life in the story.
D. Definition of Terms
In this research study, the writer shares two specific terms that will be
the focus of the research; symbols and major character.
Symbol (sim-bol): a symbol is a word or object that stands for another
word or object. The object or word can be seen with the eye or not visible. For
example a dove stands for Peace. The dove can be seen and peace cannot. The
word is from the Greek word symbolom. All language is symbolizing one thing or
another. Symbol may sometimes remain within the work, as it were; but it is the
nature of symbols to have extensional possibilities to open out to the world
beyond the work and engage the world of value outside the work. (Guerin, 2004:
106)
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Major character is the most important character in the story; the one the
story is about; the protagonist - this character is often called the "main
character". There is usually one single major character, though it is possible for
there to be multiple major characters (for example, in the TV series Friends, the
six friends [Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Joey, Ross] are all major
characters). Minor character is a person of less importance than the major
character, but who is necessary for the story to develop. Dorie from Finding
Nemo is a minor character; she is important, but the story is not about her.
Major character is a presentation of the author of personality traits that a
complex rather than a simple character emerges. As a rule, the major character in
a fiction need such three dimensional treatment, while minor characters are often
handled two-dimensionally. To be fully convincing, a character ought to involve
some deep division and contradiction (Guerin, 2004: 82).
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
In this chapter the writer is going to discuss about three parts of
discussion. The first discussion is about related studies to the author and the short
story, John Steinbeck and “The Chrysanthemum”. The second discussion is about
what theories are used by the writer in analyzing the short story. Some theories
will be used for solving the problem. The writer is going to discuss about the main
character; Elisa Allen, and the chrysanthemum as a symbol of her life. The last
discussion will be about theoretical framework to give quick understanding to the
readers about what will the writer analyzed in the next chapter.
A. Review of Related Studies
1). “The Chrysanthemums: A Study of Woman’s Sexuality” by E Elizabeth
McMahan-Universal Journal the Association of Young Journalists and
Writers.
In finding the topic related to this research, the symbols in John Steinbeck‟s
“The Chrysanthemum”, the writer has found the related studies by Elizabeth
McMahan. Her study entitled “John Steinbeck‟s “The Chrysanthemum: A Study
of Woman‟s Sexuality”.
In her study, she tries to analyze the description that Steinbeck used in
describing the major character; Elisa Allen. She starts analyze the charactes of the
story, major and minor characters;
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Elisa Allen and Henri Allen. She said that Elisa is a frustated woman whose
desire as a woman does not fulfilled well by her husband. According to
McMahan, “The Chrysanthemums” is a form of woman‟s frustation from her
unfulfilled needs. Because of her husband treatments towards her, she feels like
she did not get what she really needed as a woman and as a wife.
As Elizabeth E. McMahan asserts in her essay “„The Chrysanthemums‟:
Study of a Woman‟s Sexuality,” Elisa is prompted to contain this energy
because of a “distinct lack of rapport” between the couple, a rapport that
should go beyond the “mutual respect” they have for each other in their
business of maintaining a farm. Sexual tension is especially evident as
Henry struggles to compliment his wife on her appearance. He stammers
as if he is unsure of how to react to Elisa‟s efforts to enhance her
femininity, for she takes time to methodically apply her make-up and
select the dress that is “the symbol of her prettiness”. Unfortunately, the
only word Henry can muster is “nice,” a comment he defines in terms of
Elisa‟s apparent “strength” and “happiness”—not her beauty: “You look
strong enough to break a calf over your knee, happy enough to eat it like
a watermelon” (Steinbeck 11). Most women would not consider this
statement flattering; and, according McMahan, it isn‟t surprising that
Elisa yearns for romance and has a profound hunger to be admired as a
woman. (McMahan, 1968: 453-458)
2).
“The Chrysanthemums: A Woman Bound by Society” by Stanley
Renner (1985).
The other related studies that the writer find is the article written by
Stanley Renner entitled John Steinbeck's “The Chrysanthemums: A Woman
Bound by Society” which is published by Harper‟s Magazine, October 1937.
In his article, Stanley Renner begins with the meaning of the short story‟s
title; “The Chrysanthemum”. He said that “The Chrysanthemum” is a struggle for
equality is portrayed through Steinbeck's character Elisa Allen.
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"The Chrysanthemums" shows "a strong, capable woman kept from
personal, social, and sexual fulfillment by the prevailing conception of a
woman's role in a world dominated by men". Elisa's appearance, actions,
and speech depict the frustration women felt in Steinbeck's masculine
world of the 1930's. (Renner, 1985: 306-307)
Elisa figure is described as "blocked and heavy" because she is wearing
heavy gloves, heavy shoes, a "man's black hat," and a big apron that hides her
printed dress. Elisa is bored with her husband and with her life. Elisa is unhappy
with the traditional female role. When her husband, Henry, comments about her
"strong" chrysanthemum crop, Elisa is pleased by the manliness the word implies,
but her husband reminds her of her femininity by offering her an evening on the
town. After this conversation with her husband, she goes back to her masculine
role of transplanting the flowers.
3). “The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck” by Jonathan Schoonmaker
(2011).
The next related study is more related to the role of major and minor
character; Elisa Allen and Henry Allen. This study was written by Jonathan
Schoonmaker entitled “The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck”. In his study,
Schoonmaker tries to analyze and described the relationship between Elisa and her
husband, Henry Allen. The writer begins with the conflicts of major character and
minor character.
In the short story Elisa has a few conflicts. There is a conflict with herself
and her husband. Her husband is a normal man in that time period, hard works,
and rough. As Elisa was working in her garden of her garden of Chrysanthemums,
her husband comes to the fence of her flower garden. That shows that he won‟t
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enter area because she is inside the fence. Instead of greeting him she just
straightens her back, pulls her glove back on and continues back to work. I think
that she‟s trying to show that can work as diligently as a man but she is a woman.
He then says to her, I wish you work out in the orchard and raise some apples. She
replies, Maybe I could do that too. I believe that she doesn‟t want to work out in
his orchards. She says that line because she doesn‟t want to say no but she doesn‟t
want to work in them. She wants to work in her own area. Where her own
creations are that no man has helped her with. (schoolsucks.com, 2011)
4). “Symbolism in John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums” by Vanna
Kazarian (2011).
The last related studies entitled “Symbolism in John Steinbeck‟s The
Chrysanthemums” written by Vanna Kazarian. In this study, she focuses on the
symbol which is described in the story. She begins her study by analyzing the
meaning of the symbol, and then she relates it with the title of the story; “The
Chrysanthemum”. The next explanation of her study is about the major character;
Elisa Allen. She analyzed the relation between the title and the character. She
analyzed what the symbol reflects to the major character. “The Chrysanthemums”
gives the reader acumen into the main character Elisa Allen. The story opens in
the Salinas valley, which is described as “the high grey flannel fog of winter
closed off Salinas‟s valley from the rest of the world.” The valley is also described
as a “closed pot”. This description can be used to symbolize Elisa‟s lonely and
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isolated feelings. She is 35, married without children and the “closed pot” can be
interpreted as unhappiness.
Elisa is not given much of a chance to be taken seriously. An example of
this is during a conversation she has with her husband Henry about her
flowers, where Henry tells her “I wish you would work out in the orchards
and raise some apples”. Elisa perks up for a moment and makes a
suggestion that she could accomplish working out in the orchards, only to
have Henry shut her down by saying “well it sure works with the flowers”. I
believe Steinbeck uses Henry‟s rejection of her work in this conversation to
illustrate the way society has rejected women as nothing more than mothers
and housekeepers. Elisa‟s garden is surrounded by a wire fence, which
would suggest to the reader, Elisa‟s isolation not only from her husband, but
also from the rest of world. (antiessay.com, 2011)
(conclusion)
B. Review of Related Theories
In this study, the writer is going to used some theories that are connected
to each other in order to solve and gives answer from the problem formulation that
are formulated in previous chapter. The writer is going to used theory of character
and characterization, and theory of symbol.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
In a work of literature, character is a person or creature that interacts with
others within a story. Character is an important element that is used by the author
to help the readers understand his/ her work. And also, H.L. Yelland, S.C. Jones
and K.S.W. Easton in their book A Handbook of Literary Terms, explained that a
character is a person who is getting involves in literary work; novel, short story,
play, etc.
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There are two types of characters; major character and minor character.
Major character is the most important character in the story; the one the story is
about; the protagonist. This character is often called the "main character". There
is usually one single major character. While minor character is a person of less
importance than the major character, but who is necessary for the story to
develop.
It is said that character is a person who is responsible for the thoughts and
actions within a story, poem, or other literature. Characters are extremely
important because they are the medium through which a reader interacts
with a piece of literature. Every character has his or her own personality,
which a creative author uses to assist in forming the plot of a story or
creating a mood. The different attitudes, mannerisms, and even
appearances of characters can greatly influence the other major elements in
a literary work, such as theme, setting and tone. With this understanding of
the character, a reader can become more aware of other aspects of
literature, such as symbolism, giving the reader a more complete
understanding of the work. The character is one of the most important
tools available to the author.
Another important element is called characterization. An author use
characterization to create the characters. Characterization refers to a character‟s
personality or the method by which the writer reveals this personality.
Characterization is the creation of the image of imaginary persons in drama,
narrative poetry, the novel, and the short story. Characterization generates plot
and is revealed by actions, speech, thoughts, physical appearance, and the other
characters' thoughts or words about him. Characterization provides a distinct
description and depiction of each character‟s appearance, personality, and impact
within the story. There are some ways in which the author develops
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13
characterization, including the physical description of the character, the words or
the dialogue, the character‟s actions.
Karen Bernardo wrote at storybites.com:
What does characterization do for a story? In a nutshell, it allows us to
empathize with the protagonist and secondary characters, and thus feel that
what is happening to these people in the story is vicariously happening to
us; and it also gives us a sense of verisimilitude, or the semblance of living
reality. An important part of characterization is dialogue for it is both
spoken and inward dialogue that affords us to the opportunity to see into
the characters' hearts and examines their motivation. In the best of stories,
it is actually characterization that moves the story along, because a
compelling character in a difficult situation creates his own plot.
Characterization is one of the most difficult aspects of creative writing to
master, because authors tend to naturally fall into the fatal trap of creating
two-dimensional, cardboard characters. (storybites.com, 2011)
2. Theory of Symbol
A word, place, character, or object that means something beyond what it is
on a literal level called as a symbol. An object, a setting, or even a character can
represent another more general idea.
Deeper still, people form a great part of how they talk to themselves, that is,
how they think, process and summarize their ideas and experiences. Symbol
means what the author wants the people to feel or know as a reader by including a
key phrase. A symbol is the use of a concrete object to represent an abstract idea.
A symbol may appear in a work of literature in a number of different ways to
suggest a number of different things. Most commonly, a symbol will present itself
in the form of a word, a figure of speech, an event, the total action, or a character.
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14
H.L. Yelland, S.C. Jones and K.S.W. Easton in their book A Handbook of
Literary Terms, explained that symbol is a thing that represents something else. It
can be in form of object, idea, etc. Symbolism in literature is the use of
expressions which represent or recall certain ideas. A concrete symbol is found to
be a convenient substitute for ideas, particularly abstraction.
In general terms, symbol is anything that stands for something else. For
examples; flags, which symbolize a nation; the cross is a symbol for Christianity;
Uncle Sam a symbol for the United States. In literature, a symbol is expected to
have significance. Keats starts his ode with a real nightingale, but quickly it
becomes a symbol, standing for a life of pure, unmixed joy; then before the end of
the poem it becomes only a bird again. (academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu, 2012)
Symbol is a person, object, image, word, or event that evokes a range of
additional meaning beyond and usually more abstract than its literal significance.
Symbols are educational devices for evoking complex ideas without having to
resort to painstaking explanations that would make a story more like an essay than
an experience. Conventional symbols have meanings that are widely recognized
by a society or culture. Some conventional symbols are the Christian cross, the
Star of David, a swastika, or a nation‟s flag. Writers use conventional symbols to
reinforce meanings. Kate Chopin, for example, emphasizes the spring setting in
"The Story of an Hour" as a way of suggesting the renewed sense of life that Mrs.
Mallard feels when she thinks herself free from her husband. A literary or
contextual symbol can be a setting, character, action, object, name, or anything
else in a work that maintains its literal significance while suggesting other
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15
meanings. Such symbols go beyond conventional symbols; they gain their
symbolic meaning within the context of a specific story. For example, the white
whale in Melville‟s Moby-Dick takes on multiple symbolic meanings in the work,
but these meanings do not automatically carry over into other stories about
whales. The meanings suggested by Melville‟s whale are specific to that text;
therefore, it becomes a contextual symbol.
Alfred North Whitehead, mathematician turned philosopher put forth this
thought in his lecture, Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect, and who can disagree.
Symbolism has seeped into the arts in such a way that it has become an integral
part of most literary works and even general communication. A mere sight of a
skull and crossbones figure and you know that there is something that you are
being warned against. Roses and images of hearts have become synonymous with
love. Different colors have come to symbolize different emotions, for example
purple for royalty, green for envy and red for jealousy. But before symbolism
penetrated everyday language the way it has, it became a mainstay in the literary
world. Symbolism has been a writing method of choice for many authors and
writers due to the allowance of subtlety that this literary device enables you with.
According to etymology, symbol literally means something that has been
put together. The source of the word is the Greek word sumballein, which refers
to the idea of putting things together to contrast them and ultimately became a
word that was used for compare. From the word symbol came the concept of
symbolism where one object is used to refer to something else. So, when an
author or a poet uses one object to refer to a completely different idea, then he or
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16
she is employing symbolism. Symbolism is used in literature to give to the literary
work meaning that goes beyond what is evident to the reader. Symbolism helps in
giving the piece of writing feeling and mood without the writer having to actually
spell out the same. By giving certain things human like characteristics and also
defining them with certain qualities, the writer can manage to give the novel
another level that may refer to things that are completely alien from what is
mentioned in the piece of writing.
In literature, symbolism is an important device for writers. Literary
symbols extend meaning beyond the prosaic representation of realities afforded by
literal description or extracted through analysis and exposition. According to
Barton and Hudson, a literary symbol designates an object or a process that not
only serves as an image itself but also refers to a concept or abstract idea that is
important to the theme of a work. Harmon notes that there are two broad types of
symbol. First, there are symbols that carry a universal meaning. In this case, a
sunrise may represent a new beginning or a stream the passage of time. With the
second type, an object or process is invested with a particular meaning by an
author (Barton and Hudson, 1997: 491-493).
Frye, Baker, and Perkins also distinguish between different kinds of
symbols, but they identify three types. First, there are natural symbols that present
things not for themselves, but for the ideas people commonly associate with them.
Examples are a star to represent hope, a mountain to represent a barrier, or a sun
set to represent an ending.
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Second, there are conventional symbols. These present things for the
meanings people within a particular group have agreed to give them. For example,
a national flag may represent patriotism and a badge civil authority. The third kind
are literary and are sometimes built upon natural or conventional symbols, adding
meanings appropriate primarily with the work at hand, and like the symbols with
invested meaning which Harmon identifies, these symbols may sometimes create
meanings within a work for things that have no natural or conventional meaning
outside it”. (Frye, Baker, and Perkins, 1985: 452-453).
There are several ways to recognize symbolism in literature. One is the
frequency an object or character is mentioned in a piece of literature--if it is
mentioned often, it is probably important. Another way to find a symbol is to look
at how much detail is used in describing an object. These two methods give clues
that the writer wants the readers to infer something about a particular object.
According to most definitions, a symbol is an object/person/idea that represents
another idea through association or resemblance. When reading, the reader should
pay attention to any items, locations, or people that are described with extended
details. The author is using these descriptions as a sign. If the author repeats the
object or idea, then there is significance to it.
C. Theoretical Framework
After mentioning those theories which related one another, the writer
decided to use those theories because they are needed in analyzing the meaning of
symbol related to the major character in “The Chrysanthemums” short story. It is
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18
needed the theory of characterization which is the way how major character‟s
looks like and her characteristics described in the story.
Characterization is also the way to identify the characters through
physical description of the character, the dialogue, the character‟s actions, the
character‟s thoughts, and the ways in which he or she get in touch with other
characters in the story. Theory of character is also needed because to understand a
story, character is the first thing to know; characters are the engine which drive a
short story. The character who is going to be characterized here is Elisa Allen, the
major character.
Theory of symbol is needed because symbolism is also a key part of
poetry with many poets using symbols to express emotions like love, grief, death,
anger, jealousy, etc. Understanding symbolism can be difficult because while
some writers use very simple imagery to put forward their views, there are
authors, playwrights and poets who believe in using multiple symbols and several
contexts to play on the symbols they have used. And also, symbolism is what
makes
literary
works
more
enchanting
to
read.
By seeing that theory we can identify easily what the symbol that represents
something valuable in the story.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
First published in the October, 1937 issue of Harper's, ''The
Chrysanthemums'' was included in John Steinbeck's 1938 short story collection,
The Long Valley. In several significant ways, this story of an unhappy marriage is
typical of Steinbeck's fiction. It takes place in the Salinas Valley of California, the
''Long Valley'' named in the title of his first short story collection. It concerns a
married couple and examines the psychology of the unhappiness their marriage
causes. Finally, it contains many vivid images of the seasons, weather, plants, and
animals, all of which fascinated the writer his entire life. One of Steinbeck's most
accomplished short stories, “The Chrysanthemums” is about an intelligent,
creative woman coerced into a stifling existence on her husband's ranch. The story
appeared in Harper's Magazine in 1937; a revised version, which contained less
sexual imagery, was published in the 1938 collection The Long Valley. Many
critics believe the story reflected Steinbeck's own sense of frustration, rejection,
and loneliness at the time the story was written. Some scholars also have
speculated that the female protagonist of “The Chrysanthemums,” Elisa Allen,
was inspired by Steinbeck's first wife, Carol Henning.
The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck is about a frustrated
woman Elisa who feels a strong sense of feminism and loneliness in her life.
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She seems to be oppressed by a male-driven society. The title itself depicts as a
symbol of the nature of Elisa. It is a story about a marriage which has its
limitations. This story gained popularity among the critics and
different opinions and views were commented on it.
In his short story "The Chrysanthemums," John Steinbeck presents a
narrative rich in symbolism, focusing on the yearnings of a frustrated farm wife.
However, it is not simply the tale of an individual woman's oppression, but a
commentary on the limitations that faced all women in early twentieth century
America. Steinbeck uses both symbolism and setting to create a mood of isolation
and longing. The reader is able to understand how a woman comes to feel trapped
within her own life, and begins to resist the constraints that are forced upon her. In
the end, Steinbeck conveys a sense of hopeless about his main character's plight,
and though she may try to rise beyond her position, reality will always intrude and
keep her entrenched in a suppressed role. (lotsofessays.com, 2012)
The story tells about a proud, strong woman named Elisa Allen who feels
frustrated with her present life. Her frustration stems from not having a child and
from her husband's failure to admire her romantically as a woman. The only outlet
for her frustration is her flower garden where she cultivates beautiful
chrysanthemums. Steinbeck uses chrysanthemums as symbols of the inner-self of
Elisa and of every woman. In the second part of the story, the chrysanthemums
come to symbolize Elisa's femininity and sexuality. The portrait of Elisa caring
for the flowers as though they are her children is clearly a feminine image, but her
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21
masculine image is also observed in her "hard-swept and hard-polished" home.
This image is carried over into her relationship with her husband. Elisa feels that
Henry doesn't recognize or appreciate her femininity, and this feeling causes her
to be antagonistic towards him.
There is an undercurrent of resentment towards her husband. Throughout
the story Elisa has built up the idea that she has worth as a woman to society
because someone has taken interest in her gardening. At the end of the story,
however, Elisa comes to a realization about her current life and situation. When
she sees the chrysanthemum tossed on the side of the road she has an epiphany
about the events of that day and her life as a whole. Elisa comes to realize that the
fix-it man was just using her. She realizes that the man actually had no interest in
her, but only for his business. Seeing the chrysanthemum on the side of the road
also brings Elisa back into reality.
B. Approach of the Study
This study is deal with symbols revealed through the major character of
“The Chrysanthemum”. Symbol is one of intrinsic elements in literary work.
Since the analysis of this study is about symbol, the writer decides to use
Formalistic approach. Formalistic approach is an approach regards literature as "a
unique form of human knowledge that needs to be examined on its own terms."
All the elements necessary for understanding the work are contained within the
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22
work itself. Of particular interest to the formalist critic are the elements of form—
style, structure, tone, imagery, etc.—that are found within the text. (Kennedy and
Gioia, 1995: 1790-1818)
A primary goal for formalist critics is to determine how such elements
work together with the text's content to shape its effects upon reader.
C. Method of the study
The writer used library research method to support this study. The primary
data were taken from the short story entitled “The Chrysanthemum” by John
Steinbeck. Then the other data were taken from books and internet sources that
consist of some theories to analyze the topic that will be shared by the writer from
this short story.
First, the writer needed to do the close reading to the main source to get
the deepest understanding of the story, especially the parts which became the topic
of the research; the major character and the symbol used in it. The writer needs to
understand deeper about the character and the symbols in analyzing the short
story. Knowing and understanding the details of the story is really important.
Second, the writer read the secondary sources, to collect all of the
information which was needed for the process of the research; the short story, the
references book, and internet sources. Then the writer will formulate the problem
formulations according to the topic that is going to discuss in her research study.
The writer had three problem formulations to analyze. First, explaining how the
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23
major character was described in the story, how the symbols are used in the short
story, and explaining how the symbols reflect the major character‟s life.
The writer needed to understand well about the main character to get to
know the characteristic of the main character itself. Then, the writer will identify
the symbols used in the story, analyzed the symbols and proved that the symbol
reflects the major character‟s life in the story. The last step, the writer draws a
conclusion from her study.
In terms of getting the data about the theory of character and
characterization, the writer used the book A Handbook of Literary Terms. While
to find theory of symbol, the writer compiles some sources from books and
internet.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, there are three problem formulations will be analyzed by
the writer. The first problem is about the description of the major character; Elisa
Allen. The second problem is about the symbols are used in the short story, and
the third problem is about the reflection of the symbols toward the major
character‟s life.
A. The Description of the Major Character: Elisa Allen.
Elisa Allen is a rancher's wife, an awesome gardener, and a pretty strong
lady. But still, she doesn't quite seem happy with her day-to-day life, so when
the tinker approaches and the pair strike up their mysterious and revealing
conversation, her life changes, maybe forever. When Elisa is first introduced,
she's wearing a gender-bending outfit that conceals her body, making "her figure
looked blocked and heavy" (p.5). The fact that she's wearing men's clothes might
mean that Elisa's the kind of lady who isn't afraid to go against what's expected
of a woman. But on the other hand, the clothes, which are manly, could also be
seen as oppressing her womanliness by hiding it from the world.
“The Chrysanthemums” is a story about a strong woman; Elisa Allen.
Elisa Allen is the story‟s protagonist, a thirty-five-year-old woman who lives on
a ranch in the Salinas Valley with her husband Henry. She is lean and strong,
and wears shapeless, functional clothes. The couple has no children, no pets, no
near neighbors, and Henry is busy doing chores on the ranch throughout the day.
24
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25
Elisa fills her hours by vigorously cleaning the “hard-swept looking little house,
with hard-polished windows,” and by tending her flower garden. Her life is full
of loneliness and frustration. Elisa‟s inner frustration can be seen from her
dressing. She is frustrating about her relation with her husband; Henry Allen.
But here, she tries to define her role as a woman through gardening and her
efforts to show off woman‟s power in male-dominated society. Her husband
does not pay attention to her. She feels lonely and unhappy with her life,
especially her marital life. Her husband is a rancher. He is always working the
cattle in their farm; because of her husband job she never has enough attention
from her husband. She also does not have children in her marital life with her
husband. Because of that, the solution of her frustration is taking care of her
flower garden where there is a beautiful chrysanthemum. She loves her
chrysanthemum a lot. Like her children, she gives her love, care and attention to
her lovely flower. Elisa feels more enjoy in gardening than her relationship with
her husband.
It is written in the short story,
“…Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water. Her
figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man‟s black
hat pulled down over her eyes, clod-hopper shoes, a figured print dress
almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron with four big pockets
to hold the snips, the trowel and scratcher, the seeds and the knife she
worked with. She wore heavy leather gloves to protect her hands while she
worked...” (p.5)
She is ignored by her husband. This ignorance causes her to take care of
her beautiful chrysanthemum than her husband who does not care about her. The
other saying shown that her husband does not really interest for Elisa‟s
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26
chrysanthemum, “… I wish you‟d work out in the orchard and raise some apples
that big…” (p.10). Henry Allen is Elisa‟s husband, a hard-working and successful
small-scale rancher. As the story opens, he has completed the sale of thirty steer,
and he wants to celebrate with Elisa. He suggests an evening in town, with dinner
and a movie, and compliments her on her gardening skills. But there is no
intimacy in his talk; the two are serious and formal with each other, and when
Henry attempts a bit of humor Elisa does not understand it. As the couple prepares
to leave for town, Henry can see that something is bothering his wife, but he
cannot guess what it is and everything he says is wrong. In the face of her strange
mood he blunders, he is bewildered and speaks helplessly. He is a good man, and
he wants to make her happy, but he does not know what she needs. Knowing that
her husband does not show his interest in Elisa‟s chrysanthemum, Elisa feels that
her husband does not really appreciate her and does not have interest in her too.
She feels that Henry does not recognize her femininity and her beauty. Henry does
not able to understand Elisa‟s needs as a woman.
One of the major weaknesses of Elisa Allen is her misconception that
changing her physical appearances and mannerisms, to become more masculine,
makes her appear stronger; when in actuality it emphasizes her true feelings of
weakness. For example, when Elisa is gardening she wears a costume, which
includes: a man's hat, clodhopper shoes, a print dress that is covered by a large
corduroy apron, and heavy leather gloves-all of which make her figure look
blocked and heavy. Although Elisa feels that by dressing in this manly fashion she
will be considered equal to men in a man's world, she is still seen by the men as
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27
just an average house wife. Another example of her attempts to hide her feminine
qualities is while she is tending to her garden. Steinbeck describes Elisa as "overeager" and "over-powerful" when she had control of the short and powerful
scissors, and when she is seen destroying the aphids, sow bugs, snails, and
cutworms of her garden with her terrier fingers. Clearly, Elisa is overcompensating, using more power than needed (or used by a female) to kill the
pests living in her garden.
In this story, the author also mentioned another character who
makes Elisa changed her looks for a while; the tinker. The man is a tinker who
travels up and down the coast every year with a horse-drawn wagon bearing the
legend “Pots, pans, knives, scissors, lawn mores, Fixed.” He is large, with
careworn face and hands and a dirty suit. Because he depends on his salesmanship
to earn his living, he is skillful at bantering small talk, but his friendly laughter is
only superficial. Elisa has no work for him and is about to send him away when
he notices the chrysanthemums and gets her to talk about them. Instantly her tone
changed. She becomes enthusiastic, and she finds some work for him to do. When
she finds her discarded chrysanthemums on the road that evening, Elisa realizes
that his interest in the flowers was insincere, simply a way to win her over. When
the traveling tinker comes along and talks about his wandering habits, she begins
to think about how limited her life is, and she longs for adventure. The idea that
her chrysanthemums will be shared with a stranger who will appreciate them
gratifies her, makes her think that in a small way she is part of a larger world.
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28
When the man betrays her by throwing away the chrysanthemums, he makes it
clear that her world extends only as far as the boundaries of the ranch.
When the tinker approaches her, Elisa feels interested in him. Elisa feels
that way because the tinker shows her that he is interested in her flower. The
tinker says, “…Kind of a long-stemmed flower? Looks like a quick puff of
colored smoke… That‟s it. What a nice way to describe them…” (p.50).When the
tinker says that, Elisa feels appreciated and attractive to him.
After the tinker leaves, she feels confident about herself,
“… and then she scrubbed herself with a little block of pumice, leg and
thighs, loins and chest and arms, until her skin was scratched and red…
after a while she began to dress, slowly. She put on her newest
underclothing and her nicest stockings…she worked carefully on her hair,
penciled her eyebrows and rouged her lips…” (p.93-94)
She applies her make up slowly. She hopes that her husband will pay
attention to her and recognize her needs as a woman and wife; love, care, attention
and romance. But, Elisa‟s hope is quickly shattered when she heard Henry‟s
comments on her change, “… you look strong enough to break a calf over your
knee, happy enough to eat it like a watermelon…” (p.103), and also her hope is
really shattered when she sees her chrysanthemum that he gave to the tinker is on
the road. She feels frustrated and devastated by the way of the tinker towards her
chrysanthemum. In the end, she is as she was; back to who is she at the first. Elisa
Allen struggles to characterize her position as a woman in a very close society.
Her environment portrays the social depression, while the garden shows her
power and masculine. Elisa has trouble extending this power outside the fence that
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29
surrounds her garden. She finally learns but not acknowledges that she possesses a
fragile feminine power, not the masculine one she had attempted to attain.
B.
The Symbols Used in “The Chrysanthemums”
As the writer mentioned before, there are two main symbols in this
short story that reflected the major character‟s life. In this part, the writer is
going to identifies what the symbols are used by the author as a reflection of the
major character‟s life. By seeing and analyzing the descripstion about the major
character, the setting and some other parts in the short story, the writer finds that
there are two symbols that used by the author in describing major character‟s
life. This story, “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck depicts multiple
ideas that embodies the reader with symbols or ideas that could be identified in
multiple aspects.
There are the two significant symbols in this short story, they are the
title itself, “The Chrysanthemums” and the setting that the author used, Salinas
Valley. As the writer mentioned before in previous chapter, there are several
ways to recognize symbolism in literary works. The first characteristic is that an
object or character is mentioned often, because it is probably important. The
other way to find a symbol is to look at how much detail is used in describing an
object. These two methods give clues that the writer wants the readers notice
something about a particular object, which are the symbols. A symbol is an
object/person/idea that represents another idea through association or
resemblance. When reading, the reader should pay attention to any items,
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30
locations, or people that are described with extended details. The author is using
these descriptions as a sign. If the author repeats the object or idea, then there is
significance to it.
In Steinbeck‟s The Chrysanthemums, it is found that Elisa Allen of
the Salinas Valley was quite an interesting character. The story starts with Elisa,
a thirty-five year old woman, in her garden cutting down the old year‟s
chrysanthemum stalks with a short pair of scissors. Steinbeck described her as a
seemingly strong woman. “Her face was eager and mature and handsome; even
her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful.” (p.6). After a brief
encounter with her husband, Elisa‟s character seemed to be underrated or
disrespected by her husband. In a way she seemed lonely and starving for
attention but she didn‟t show it.
The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck is a story that is set in the
Salinas Valley. Most of the setting is described on the first page of the story. It is
winter in the Salinas Valley, which is described as being all black grey and
cracked; it is also mid-December. The surrounding areas are mostly pastoral.
Later in the story though, signs of the time period, the great depression, John
Steinbeck‟s use of these settings are a part of the overall plot and circumstances
his characters are in. They are meant to show desperation and to add emphasis to
the hard times that were felt around them. With the introduction of the story the
narrator paints a picture of the landscape.
“The high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley
from the sky and from the rest of the world” (p.1), though this may only have
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31
been used to set the atmosphere, it shows the reader to see how trapped Elisa is
without her own knowledge. As Henry, Elisa‟s husband, talks about her
chrysanthemums she suggests working in the orchard, her request is immediately
ignored as if the idea of a woman in the orchard were completely out of the
question.
The way of she cares about her flower shows her escapement from her
unhappy marital life with her husband, her childlessness, her unfulfilled desires,
and her role as a woman. The most intense would be the appreciation or lack of
for females as well as the dominance of females in this time period and region.
Though as a woman she is expected to have feminine qualities, Elisa is separate
from that stereotype.
C.
The Symbols As the Reflection Of the Major Character’s Life
In general terms, symbol is anything that stands for something else.
Obvious examples are flags, which symbolize a nation; the cross is a symbol for
Christianity; Uncle Sam a symbol for the United States. In literature, a symbol is
expected to have significance. An action, person, place, word, or object can all
have a symbolic meaning. When an author wants to suggest a certain mood or
emotion, he can also use symbolism to hint at it.
Symbolism is often used by writers to enhance their writing. Symbolism
can give a literary work more richness and color and can make the meaning of
the work deeper. In literature, symbolism can take many forms including a
figure of speech where an object, person, or situation has another meaning other
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32
than its literal meaning and the actions of a character, word, action, or event that
have a deeper meaning in the context of the whole story. A metaphor is a figure
of speech that uses symbolism. It compares two things that are not similar and
shows that they actually do have something in common. In a metaphor, there is
an additional meaning to a word. This makes it an example of symbolism. Our
language contains an immense number of symbols whose intended meaning or
significance is well-known and accepted by the majority. Of course, many of
these do wind up in books, magazines, stories, and other written works. Even
flowers can have a symbolism; roses stand for romance, lilies stand for beauty
and temptation, and chrysanthemums represent perfection. Symbolism, as people
can see, can be found almost anywhere. Any time there is something that
represents more than its literal meaning, this can be an example of symbolism.
In the short story, “The Chrysanthemum,” John Steinbeck effectively uses
symbols to help the reader understand the story‟s plot and obtain insight into the
characters‟ thoughts and feeling, especially the major character, Elisa Allen. As
the major character of the story, Elisa Allen is thirty-five-year-old woman, who
serves as the channel in which most of these symbols are used. In this story, Elisa
Allen feels neglected and ignored by her husband, Henry Allen, who is working as
a rancher. Henry shows Elisa that he doesn‟t care about her. He shows his little
affection and attention to his wife.
After describing the characteristics of the major character, Elisa Allen in
the short story entitled “The Chrysanthemum”, in this part the writer is going to
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33
discuss about the symbols that are used in the short story in order to find what the
symbols reflects to the major character, Elisa Allen. There are two main symbols
that the writer is going to analyzed, the title itself “The Chrysanthemums”, and the
setting, Salinas Valley.
1.
Chrysanthemums and Elisa
The first symbol is the title of the story, “The Chrysanthemums”. Elisa
herself is symbolized by the chrysanthemums; she explicitly associates herself
with her lovely flowers. Like Elisa, the chrysanthemums are lovely, strong, and
thriving. Elisa is main character of the story being told, along with her prized
flowers; the chrysanthemums. Steinbeck introduced Elisa to the reader as a
thirty-five year old woman who possesed a face that was “lean and strong”, “her
figure looked blocked and heavy...” (p.5). The first introduction to Elisa Allen is
a harsh one, being that she seems so crude and unattractive. While tending to her
garden, she gets some dirt on herself and does not take notice of it and nor does
it bother her. Through those simple factors, Elisa can be depicted as manly and
not concerned with much except for her garden. John Steinbeck brings
symbolism into play to represent Elisa Allen‟s frustations and hidden passions.
Isolation is another representation through symbolism found in “The
Chrysanthemums”.
Elisa is a country housewife. She is semi-distant from her husband and
greatly distant from the world around her. She is a homebody, meaning that she
rarely leaves the boundaries of her home and she has a lot of time and energy
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
34
being built up. She uses some of this energy to clean up her house, but most of it
is spent on her flower garden. Her garden is a place of solitude. It‟s her own
little world where she can let herself go and be the person that she wants to be.
Her feminine side is brought out in her garden, the nurturer for the
chrysanthemums, and a mother almost to them. When the tinkerer comes to her
home and into her garden he shows interest in her chrysanthemums. She takes
this also as an interest in her as well. The garden in other words is a symbol for
her femininity and womanhood. The limitations and tidy confinement of both
her home and the chrysanthemum‟s flower are symbolized by her care of the
flowers. The chrysanthemum flowers symbolize Elisa Allen‟s feminine side. As
she maintains and cares for her chrysanthemums, it represents her attempts to
maintain her feminine aspects. If she was to let the chrysanthemums die, it
represents the death of her sense of self and make her into an empty woman. The
chrysanthemum represents her giving up a part of herself.
Firstly, the flower represents Elisa‟s unfulfilled needs. The story makes us
understand that Elisa has no social life. She has no friends to visit and she rarely
has people come over. The only people she sees are the cattle buyers who come
occasionally. Her life is limited to the valley, more precisely her home which she
shares with her husband, Henry Allen. Elisa‟s feeling of social isolation changes
when she comes into contact with the pot mender who expresses some interest in
her chrysanthemum garden and when she hears that some other person down the
roads has been looking for some as well. Both Henry and Elisa give the
impression of a compatible couple, despite the fact that their way of
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
35
communicating is really strict and serious. Elisa and Henry Allen seem to share
a conventional, benign, and therefore unsatisfying marriage. Their ranchland
home is neatly divided into masculine (the orchard/farm) and feminine spheres
(the garden/house) and it seems when the two cross, as when Henry leans over
Elisa's garden fence, there is a sense of awkwardness, not passion or
understanding. The chrysanthemums are also seen as a symbol for her heart.
Her existence seemed drab, dull and inevitable. She wanted to travel the world
but she knew that she should not leave her husband. She felt that her husband
was not taken enough care of her personally, so she took care of herself in the
form of her chrysanthemums. She meticulously trimmed them and transplated
them with intense care. The type of care that she felt was missing from her
marriage with her husband. Elisa‟s marriage neither fills her time nor fulfills her
desires.
The flower represented any of Elisa Allen‟s dreams of having some worth
to society as a woman. Elisa explicitly identifies herself with the flowers, even
saying that she becomes one with the plants when she tends to them. When the
tinker notices the chrysanthemums, Elisa visibly brightens, just as if he had
noticed her instead. She offers the chrysanthemums to him at the same time she
offers herself, both of which he ignores and tosses aside. His rejection of the
flowers also mimics the way society has rejected women as nothing more than
mothers and housekeepers. Just like her, the flowers are unobjectionable and also
unimportant: both are merely decorative and add little value to the world. When
she sees the flowers lying on the road, these dreams are shattered and ruined as is
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
36
the flower. This kind of action leaves Elisa feels rejected and emotionally
depressed. The flowers have been used to symbolize Elisa's soft and delicate
character.
The
author
compares
Elisa's
character
with
the
Chrysanthemums who both have a strong and rough exterior but deep
inside have a compelling sense of beauty. The Chrysanthemums
represent her repressed feelings and desires. Not much is worse than feeling all
alone in the world, feeling like no one cares or understands. The complete
emptiness of being solitary for long periods of time is enough to drive someone
crazy; enough to make up imaginary people living within the confines of a room.
It is enough to force an older woman to put complete confidence in a stranger that
probably doesn't care at all. Lack of attention from a husband can be one of the
worst forms of loneliness for a woman to endure. She feels deeply concerned
about her flowers and symbolically speaking, she needs her internal beauty to
blossom. “The Chrysanthemums” describes the inner longings of Elisa Allen, the
wife of a rancher, who feels an unconscious need to display her usefulness in a
way more meaningful than the simple farming life she leads will allow. The
flowers become an important symbol of the deep and intimate interaction with
nature and life that her ordinary life and relationships seem to lack. Steinbeck uses
chrysanthemums as symbols of the inner-self of Elisa and of every woman.
Initially, Elisa is shown working diligently in her flower garden. Her figure is
described as blocked and heavy because she is wearing heavy gloves, heavy
shoes, a man's black hat, and a big apron that hides her printed dress. Her home
has the masculine qualities of being hard-swept and hard-polished. Elisa is bored
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
37
with her husband and with her life. Yet unfortunately her husband, Henry Allen
does not understand her mind; his interest is focused not on the point that she likes
to grow it but on the possibility of making money with the help of her great inborn
skill. Henry describes Elisa's talents with her garden as a gift. Elisa describes this
innate ability as planting hands in her attempt to explain her connection to her
garden to the traveling handyman.
Elisa Allen is a woman who is unhappy and lonely in her marriage. Her
husband is regularly attending to the cattle and the farm, Elisa is left alone with
her chrysanthemums. Elisa is described as not caring too much about her
appearance because she feels no one will pay attention anyway. , “Her face lean
and strong…Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a
man‟s black hat pulled down over her eyes.” (p.5). Henry is the root cause for
Elisa's lack of fulfillment. In all their interactions, he fails to give her what she
needs to be happy.
The other representation of the flower is that the chrysanthemums
symbolize Elisa's children. She is childlesness woman. She tends her garden and
handles the chrysanthemums with love and care, just as she would handle her
own children. The way of Elisa treats her flowers shows the childlessness side in
her marital life with her husband. The way she cares for her flowers, is the way
she would take care of her children, since they replace her non-existent kids. She
sees the chrysanthemums as a replacement for not only children, but also for her
womanhood. Elisa‟s desire to grow and nurture the flowers is both inspiring and
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
38
disturbing, as her unstable nature has much to do with her husband‟s lack of
understanding his wife. The way she nurtures her flowers also portrays how her
children will be handled. The fact that Elisa is childless suggests that she needs
more fulfillments in her life. She wishes to take care of someone, and since she
has no one other than Henry, who does not seem much of help for her, she
transfers these maternal instincts to her flowers. She spends a great amount of
time tending to her chrysanthemums, which could represent the time that she
could be spending on taking care of her family, or potential children.
Elisa is very protective of her flowers and places a wire fence around
them; she makes sure no aphids, no sow bugs or snails or cutworms are there.
Just as any good mother, she removes them before they can harm her children.
The chrysanthemums are symbolic of her children, and she is very proud of
them. The portrait of Elisa caring for the flowers as though they are her children
is clearly a feminine image, but her masculine image is also observed in her
hard-swept and hard-polished home. Elisa, who is 35, is nearly beyond child
bearing age and it is apparent that she has no children, which may be symbolic
of sexual dissatisfaction in the marriage. Instead, Elisa seems to have channeled
her creative desires into the raising of her chrysanthemums. Elisa, repressed and
unfulfilled, whether through her husband's doing or her own, is primed to be
taken advantage of by the handyman who expresses what appears to her to be a
genuine interest in her talents. Elisa exposes her vulnerabilities to this man and
though she is temporarily empowered, ends up feeling weak and old once she
realizes she has been dumped.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
39
This image is carried over into her relationship with her husband. Elisa
feels that Henry doesn't recognize or appreciate her femininity, and this feeling
causes her to be antagonistic towards him. The chrysanthemums symbolize her
sexuality, and she tears off the battered hat and shakes out her dark pretty hair.
With a few well-placed words from the tinker, her masculine image has been
replaced with a feminine one. By giving him the red flower pot with the
chrysanthemums, she gives him the symbol of her inner-self. She begins to feel
hope for herself and her marriage as the tinker leaves. In the lavish care and
attention she gives to her chrysanthemums, John Steinbeck is symbolizing her
desire for a child or her inability to have one. Elisa‟s flowers themselves are
symbols for what Elisa doesn‟t have in her life. Elisa is childless and lacks the
boldness and color which the flowers have. Her frustration stems from not
having a child and from her husband's failure to admire her romantically as a
woman.
Through symbolism in "The Chrysanthemums," John Steinbeck creates a
sexually repressed and discouraged Elisa Allen who is isolated from society
however still retaining their values and is also trapped in a fruitless marriage.
Their marriage is childless and conventional and she has begun to sense that an
important part of her is dying and that her future will be predictable and
mundane. Elisa is a barren woman who has transferred her maternal impulses to
her garden, a garden full of unborn seedlings. She is very devoted to her
chrysanthemums, which could be used as an attempt to fill the void of her
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
40
loveless, childless marriage. There is no indication that she has a bad or abusive
marriage, but it is undoubtedly an unhappy one.
2.
Salinas Valley
As the writer mentioned before, one of the way to recognize something as
a symbol is by seeing and paying attention to to any items, locations, or people
that are described with extended details. The other symbol is found through the
setting used in this story, Salinas Valley. John Steinbeck choose the seetting of
the story to take place in Salina‟s Valley, being the same that he was born. Even
at the very beginning of the story, symbolism is represented through the location
of the story taking place.
Women have always been viewed to be inferior in everyday society.
Because of this stereotyping, women have been given limits and boundaries to
what they are able to do. Married women especially have these issues to which
they are confined within the gender roles they must play. This, however, has not
prevented women from attempting to step past and overcome these boundaries
and stereotypes. John Steinbeck uses symbolism, characterization, and conflict in
his work “The Chrysanthemums” to support the controlling idea of the limitations
of a married woman.
The other symbol that the writer found is the setting of the story, Salinas
Valley. The description of Salinas Valley in this story gives an idea of women‟s
role. The Chrysanthemums, by John Steinbeck, is set in the beautiful valley of
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
41
Salinas, California, during a time when California was the land of plenty. A place
where dust storms and drought were unheard of, where water was plentiful and
the air sprinkled with the sweet smell of fruit blossoms. It‟s a time when simple
people farm the land and struggle to find a place for themselves in the world. Elisa
Allen is at a point in her life where she has begun to realize that her energy and
creative drive far exceed what life has offered her. The story takes place in the
Salinas Valley in December at Henry Allen's ranch in the foothills. Immediately,
we're placed in a rural setting, where women are isolated and men are manly. The
story begins by introducing the setting: “The high grey-flannel fog of winter
closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and the rest of the world...of the great
valley a closed pot.” (p.1), this quote about how the Salinas valley is closed off
from the world is a symbol of the struggle that Elisa is soon to face. This vivid
illustration unconsciously gives the reader a look into the dominating theme,
Elisa‟s loneliness.
Salinas Valley symbolizes the life in which Elisa trapped. The description
of the location is one of confinement and entrapment, which symbolizes Elisa
Allen‟s inability to break out of her social role or location. The Salinas Valley
symbolizes Elisa‟s emotional life. The story opens with a lengthy description of
the valley, which Steinbeck likens to a pot topped with a lid made of fog. The
metaphor of the valley as a closed pot suggests that Elisa is trapped inside an
airless world and that her existence has reached a boiling point. The high grayflannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the
rest of the world. On every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
42
great valley a closed pot. The closed lid to the pot represents Elisa‟s limits of her
life in great valley where she lives, unable to exceed past the farm‟s boundaries.
We also learn that although there is sunshine nearby, no light penetrates
the valley. Sunshine is often associated with happiness, and the implication is that
while people near her are happy, Elisa is not. It is December, and the prevailing
atmosphere in the valley is chilly and watchful but not yet devoid of hope. This
description of the weather and the general spirits of the inhabitants of the valley
applies equally well to Elisa, who is like a fallow field: quiet but not beaten down
or unable to grow. What first seems to be a lyrical description of a valley in
California is revealed to be a rich symbol of Elisa‟s claustrophobic, unhappy, yet
hopeful inner life.
The story takes place in the Salinas Valley in December at Henry Allen's
ranch in the foothills. Immediately, the story took placed in a rural setting, where
women are isolated and men are manly. While her husband rides the range, Elisa
is confined to her house and her flower garden. Because it's December, it was a
time of quiet and waiting, which means there is probably even less for Elisa to do
than usual. This is a small world, after all, and it's closed up like a pot. One thing
that should be noticed here is the contrast between Elisa's closed-off Salinas
Valley and the world of the tinker. While Elisa is confined to her garden and
house, the tinker's home is the highway. Although the story never travels with
him, we might imagine the highway as a place of freedom. Elisa makes it clear
she envies the tinker's lifestyle, saying she wishes women could do such things.
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43
So there are three settings at work here. We have the larger context of a changing
world, where women's rights are central, but still few and far between.
Her husband, Henry Allen, is a well meaning and essentially good man
and is quite pleased to be able to make a decent living. Her marriage is reasonably
happy and there is an easy banter between the two of them. While they have
settled into a fairly familiar and ordinary routine, they are still responsive to each
other‟s sense of accomplishment and agree to celebrate with a night on the town.
Elisa is earthbound, rooted securely in her garden but also held down by her
connection to it. Their house is described as hard-swept and hard-polished, and is
the only outlet for her talents. However, Elisa needs something more in her life
than a neat house and a good garden. Although Henry doesn't seem unloving, and
he does notice and compliment her flowers, he also doesn't appear entirely in tune
with how his wife feels. While Henry is off rounding up the cattle he's just sold, a
tinker passes by in his slightly ramshackle caravan. He's appearance is somewhat
unkempt though not overly displeasing. He takes great interest in Elisa's garden
and tries to talk her into having some of her pots repaired or scissors
sharpened. When she turns him down he asks for some of her chrysanthemum
seeds that another customer asked him for but he wasn't able to provide. Elisa is
flattered and takes great care to give him not just seeds, but tiny new shoots that
she plants in a pot for him. In the end she gives in and offers the tinker a pot to be
repaired so he will have some money to buy dinner with. Elisa's encounter with
the tinker has a strange effect on her. As a way of celebrating the sale of the
cattle, Henry and Elisa decide to eat away from home. Elisa chooses her nicest
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
44
clothes and pays great attention to her face and hair in anticipation. Henry
compliments her again on how nice she looks though is bewildered by her actions
and responses. She seems almost like a different woman. Her happy contentment
will be dashed when she spots the tiny chrysanthemum shots lying on the
road. The tinker dumped them out but kept the pot. His attention to her and her
flowers was false. He only wanted to flatter her into giving him some business.
The meeting with the tinker renews Elisa's feelings of femininity and sexuality as
a woman. Her resistance to his mundane matters disappears after the tinker
romantically describes the chrysanthemums as a quick puff of colored smoke. By
admiring the chrysanthemums, he figuratively admires her. With a few wellplaced words from the tinker, her masculine image has been replaced with a
feminine one. By giving him the red flower pot with the chrysanthemums, she
gives him the symbol of her inner-self. The social image of women is symbolized
by the tinker‟s rejection of Elisa Allen‟s offer of chrysanthemums and herself:
both of the flowers and women are perceived as something worthless, to be
discarded or ignored. She's stuck in a relationship or situation that isn't fully
loving and fulfilling as well.
Also at play is the smaller world of the Salinas Valley, where growing
things is of the utmost importance, and the cosmopolitan world of city-life is far
out of reach. And finally, all this is contrasted with the tinker's world of the road,
where freedom and movement rule. What controls Elisa as a woman is not
society, but fear. She's simply too afraid to break out of her role in the house, and
lacks the bravery necessary to take responsibility for her life.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
This story contains some very powerful contextual symbols. Reflective of
the title, the most important symbol are the chrysanthemums, representative of
Elisa‟s true personality. In the conclusion the writer would like to summarize that
the main problem of Elisa is that she was not knowing exactly was she was
looking for. She was feeling dissatisfaction with her life, but was not looking for
the roots of that dissatisfaction. And even though tinker made her feel sexually
attractive and gave her the possibility to feel that her flowers are needed and could
impact to the society, in the long run, when she got disillusioned, it hurt her even
more, as she was left again face to face with herself.
Elisa‟s energetic character appears to be incompatible with the
environment she was living in, but she accepts it along with her future. Thus, the
chrysanthemums symbolize Elisa's role as a woman. First they symbolize her
children; later they represent her femininity and sexuality. Elisa feels frustrated
with her life because children and romance are missing in her marriage with
Henry. Men have been known to be superior to women. Women try hard to get
passed this irrelevant stereotype. It is unfair to say that women cannot be
independent and take control. Further, her husband fails to appreciate her
womanly qualities and her emotional needs.
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46
The setting of the story is at the valley of Salinas, California.
Even
though it seems like such beautiful scenery, the location seems so isolated. This
can give the reader an idea of why she feels so isolated from the rest of the world.
The fence around her garden also keeps her trapped by dividing her garden from
her husband. And also, when an itinerant tinker happens by, Elisa's latent
yearnings are awakened for the larger life that men enjoy of significant work,
adventure, and sexual expression; and when she entrusts the tinker with cuttings
from her chrysanthemums, she, in effect, reaches out to the wider world. But the
tinker dumps her flowers in the public thoroughfare, thus rejecting her gesture
toward a larger life, and she remains a pitiable victim of male domination and
female disadvantage.
Elisa is clearly painted as a weak character. She is a lonely and detached
woman. The chrysanthemums created a distraction from her loneliness, her
isolation
because
of
the
fence
around
her,
and
the
feelings
of
inadequacy. Towards the end she questions whether or not she is strong. John
Steinbeck
provides
a
clear
insight
into
Elisa
and
her
garden
of
chrysanthemums. Henry places a protective hold on Elisa, just as she is
possessive over her chrysanthemums. Elisa started out as strong, but ended up as
weak and somewhat resentful to the fact.
She comes back to reality and turned up her coat collar so he could not see
that she was crying weakly-like an old woman. Elisa's inner feelings are most
apparent with the portrayal of her working in the garden, the conversation she has
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
47
with the tinker, and finally, when she and her husband are going out to dinner. She
is a strong woman on the inside although she seems to struggle in showing it
throughout the story. Because of the tinker she is able to act, although for a short
time, like that strong woman. Then back to where she started, she notices on the
way to dinner her chrysanthemum sprouts at the roadside.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams, M.H. A Glossary to Literary Terms. New York: Holt, Reinhart &
Winston, Inc., 1981.
Bernardo, Karen. Characterization in Literature. 28 November 2011.
Storybites.com, 2001-2011.
Barton, Edwin J., and Glenda A. Hudson. A Contemporary Guide to Literary
Terms: With Strategies for Writing Essays about Literature. California:
Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011.
Frye, Northrop., Sheridan Baker, George Perkins. The Harper Handbook to
Literature. New York: Harpercollins College, 1985.
Guerin, W.L. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York:
Harper and Row Publisher, 2004.
Holman, C.H. and William H. A Handbook to Literature. New York: Macmillan
Publishing Company, 1986.
Hudson, William H. An Introduction to the Study of Literature. London: George
G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1958.
Kennedy, X.J. and Dana Gioia Drama and Writing. New York: Longman, 1995.
McMahan, Elizabeth E. The Chrysanthemums: A Study of Woman's Sexuality.
Modern Fiction Studies 14. New York: Macmillan, 1968.
Mitchell, Marilyn L., and Harold Bloom. Steinbeck's Strong Women: Feminine
Identity in the Short Stories. Bloom's Modern Critical Views: John
Steinbeck (1987): 91-101. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 20
Jan. 2010.
Renner, Stanley. The Real Woman Inside The Fence In The Chrysanthemums.
Modern FictionStudies 31. New York: Macmillan, 1985.
Steinbeck, John. The Chrysanthemums. Michigan University: Perfection Form
Co., 1979.
Urdang, Laurence. Literary, Rhetorical, and Linguistics Terms. Farmington Hills,
Michigan: Gale Research Company, 1983.
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Online Sources:
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<http://www.academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/> (August 7, 2012)
<www.lotsofessays.com/The Chrysanthemums> (October 21, 2012)
"Symbolism in The Chrysanthemums". Anti Essays. 24 Oct. 2012
<http://www.antiessays.com>
<http://www.religionfacts.com/> (April 14, 2010)
<http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_a_hand_kiss_symbolize>
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
APPENDIX
Appendix: Summary of John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums”.
The story opens peacefully. Elisa Allen is alone, tending her garden. Not
only is she alone but the farm itself, even the Salinas Valley, seems to be isolated.
High dark fog rises all around the valley walls, its flannel-like texture shutting this
small world off and isolating it so that we are forced to peer closely into it for
small signs of life. There is no sun in the valley, and the cold December sky seems
to have dropped like a lid onto the top of the valley. The earth is colored
unnaturally dark, like metal; the fields hold no crops, only stiff stubble, and there
is only thick scrub along the riverbanks.
Elisa is a middle-aged married woman, who lives on her husband‟s, Henry,
ranch. She is a very simple woman who takes great pleasure in caring for her
flowers. Henry is often away at work and Elisa is left alone, which is why her
flowers mean so much to her. Elisa Allen's hands move eagerly, almost too
eagerly and too powerfully for the small chrysanthemum stems. At work is a
woman who seems trapped beneath her heavy work clothes. She lives alone with
her husband; she has no children, and has transplanted her energies into creating
substitutes for her lack of children raising immense chrysanthemums. Elisa feels
neglected by her husband, Henry, who is always working cattle on their foothill
ranch. He shows her little affection and attention, which causes her to become a
very strong and determined looking woman: "Her face was lean and strong and
her eyes were as clear as water. Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her
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51
gardening costume, a man's black hat pulled low down over her eyes". This strong
look serves as a barrier to her inner feelings of insecurity. Elisa turns to cherish
and nurture the chrysanthemums, a symbol of her true beauty, as a result of her
strained marriage.
While Elisa was working in the garden, she saw a man go by. On the side
of his wagon it read “Pots, Pans, Knives, Scissors, Lawn mores. Fixed”. As the
wagon turned down the drive, Elisa was very apprehensive about talking to the
man. He asked if she had anything he could fix and she declined. He noticed her
flowers and began to comment on them. She thought he sounded interested in her
chrysanthemums and she let her guard down. As they were talking, the man
brought up the topic of a lady down the way that had wanted chrysanthemums in
her garden. Elisa decided to give him a pot with the stalks in it and he would
deliver it to her. She went into great detail as to how to care for them. She also
prides herself on the fact that she has gardener‟s hands which was something her
mother had. She decides to find some pots for him to fix so he could eat that
night. He fixes her pots and then heads off down the road to deliver the flowers.
After the man left, Elisa realized the man had conned her into thinking he really
cared by talking about her flowers. She was disappointed for not sticking to her
word and letting herself become so open to a stranger.
Elisa then goes inside to get ready for dinner in town. As she showers, she
scrubbed herself with a little stone of pumice, legs and thighs, loins and chest and
arms, until her skin was scratched and red. This description illustrates how Elisa
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
52
was trying to wash away her feminine flaws of opening up and giving in. When
her husband arrives, he comments on how beautiful she looks; only this was not
what she wanted to hear. She had just scrubbed away her womanly beauty and she
did not want to be thought of as beautiful. On their way to dinner, Elisa notices a
speck ahead on the side of the road. As they passed she realized it was her
chrysanthemums that the man had thrown off the wagon. She then knew that the
man did not care for her offering or the effort she put into it, but only the money
he received.
At the end of the story, Elisa breaks down and begins to cry. She turned up
her collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly-like an old woman. This
leads us to believe that Elisa is afraid to show emotion to her husband because this
might make him think less of her and she wants to be treated equal. By showing
this emotion, it makes her feel like she will never escape the title that society has
put on her, merely for being a woman.