Chrysanthemums

I don’t know if I really liked the story “Chrysanthemums” or if I didn’t just fully understand it. I could tell that Elisa really loved her garden and seemed to spend most of her time there. “I’ve a gift with things, all right. My mother had it. She could stick anything in the ground and make it grow. She said it was having planters’ hands that knew how to do it.” (633) When she first met the man with the wagon I could tell she was kind of annoyed that he was trying to sell his services. “You got any of them things to do? Oh, no, she said quickly. Nothing like that. Her eyes hardened with resistance.” (635) I understand where she was coming from. When people are selling things and bother you about them it can get somewhat annoying. But then after talking with him, she was describing how it felt to plant the flowers, he could relate to what she felt with the work he does. I think at this point she realized that they had more in common. I think she also felt a little sorry for him since just lived and traveled in his wagon all the time. “I never lived as you do, but I know what you mean.” (636) I think this is why she found some work for him to do. “Here, maybe you can fix these.” (637)