The Chrysanthemum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Chrysanthemum - Essay Example What is revealed in most of the religious texts, and what is practiced by the society are mostly contradictory. A female child suffers victimization at every stage of life. When she grows, marries, begets children, her responsibilities multiply. Her private ambitions stand curtailed. Circumstances compel her to suppress her many fond feelings for the growth of her innate desires and latent personality. How can a woman be the legal and spiritual equal of man in the true sense? John Steinbeck in his story The Chrysanthemum highlights the limitations under which a married woman lives. He writes not to sympathize with women, not condemn the society—he just mentions the facts, for which there are no tangible solutions. Her plight is a sort of inevitable confinement. Elisa is one such woman. She is as if imprisoned in a fort, being attacked by the enemy from outside. The nature seems to move in tandem with her moods. The story opens: "The high gray-flannel 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 great valley a closed pot." Every description by the author related to the life of Elisa is chiseled within the details of confinement. Her garden of flowers is surrounded by a wire fence. Flower and wire fence, create a picture, how her tender emotions are imprisoned. Through such enclosures, she watches the activities that are taking place in t he society. She has no conflict with her husband, everything apparently seems to go on well. Her dissatisfaction with her life has nothing to do with the attitudes of her husband and his disposition towards her. The story critically examines her psychology. The images of seasons, weather, plants and a animals—all work as natures agents to provided support to the happiness of her life. When a bright and energetic woman has to fall in