An awakening of feminism Comment on the Chrysanthemums

潘纯

【Abstract】Feminism has always been a hot theme for a large number of works of art. The famous short story The Chrysanthemums written by John Steinbeck also deals with the awakening of feminism.

【Key words】feminism； awakening of female characteristics

The Chrysanthemums is a famous short story written by John Steinbeck. It mainly deals with the awakening of feminism of a lady living in the rural area. The main character Elisa Allen and her husband Henry live peacefully on their farm in the Salinas Valley. While tending to her garden， Elisa encounters a tinker who asks for some seeds to take to another lady. Elisa is happy to give some seeds to him and feels uplifted. However， her mood is reversed when she sees the chrysanthemum shoots she'd given the tinker thrown carelessly on the road. She realizes that the tinker had lied to her just to flatter her into giving him some business， and also that he had kept the pot， throwing away only the plants. She is dismayed， cries， and is shaken and deeply disappointed. Eventually， Elisa again reels in her passion and sinks into her former repressed state.

To some degree， this short story concerns about feminism， especially Elisa's awakening of her female characteristic. On the one hand， Elisa's awakening of her female characteristics can be shown in the description of her appearance. At the every beginning， Elisa is described to have some masculine characteristic. Here is the description of her appearance： Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water. Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume…. Pay attention to the words used to describe Elisa， like the words “strong” and “heavy” which are often used to describe a man. What is the purpose？ Definitely， because the author wanted to show how the hard environment had turned a tender woman into a plain and hard woman； moreover， it forms a sharp contrast between the former masculine Elisa and the latter pretty Elisa， which also paves the way for her awakening of her female characteristics.

True as it is， Elisa is a female， and a female is supposed to be surrounded by sugars， flowers instead of those apple trees which can only be regarded as a way of making money but not creating romance. So she is eager to get recognition. However， her husband is a practical man， and he just indulges himself in making money without taking his wife's thoughts into consideration. Although he loves his wife， he doesn't know how to show his love to his wife， and he is even short of words to flatter his wife. At this point， Elisa began to realize the importance of being a female， and her awakening of female characteristics change her a lot. She began to attach great importance to her physical appearance， and she even made up before she went out for dinner with her husband. However， her husband is quite practical， and he lacked the kind of romance which is a necessity for a female. So Elisa's hope for a change of their relationship was again destroyed by her husband's words.

On the other hand， Elisa's awakening of her female characteristics can also be shown in the description of her actions. There is such a description： Elisa's voice grew husky. She broke in on him. Kneeling there， her hand went out toward his legs in the greasy black trousers. Her hesitant fingers almost touched the cloth. Pay attention to some key words， like her voice grew husky， and when her hand reach the tinker's legs， her finger is hesitant， and finally she gave up. So in her mentality， there is still a fence between male and female. All these movements revealed her female characteristic.

Unfortunately， Elisa's awakening for female characteristics didn't go far enough， for there are some social， historical as well as geographic limitations. The geographic setting plays a major role in the story. It reinforces Elisa's feelings of isolation from the world. The story is set in the beautiful valley of Salinas， California. But with all its beauty， this location takes on the role of some sort of prison in which one would feel trapped. Moreover， the atmosphere in Elisa's world is grim with no sunshine in the valley and the air is “cold and tender.” This shows that Elisa realized the limitation of this rural area， and she wanted to go out of the place， but it was in vain. Especially， in the last part of this short story， when Elisa sees the chrysanthemum shoots she'd given the tinker thrown carelessly on the road， she realizes how practical those men were. Therefore the social background she is in is also unfavorable for awakening of her female characteristic， for it is a vulgar society. It is at this moment that Elisa' dream of looking for her identity and freedom was destroyed， and she cried loudly.

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