Symobolism in "The Chrysanthemums"

In the John Steinbach’s story, “The Chrysanthemums”, the main symbol of the story is flowers in which he uses to symbolize her thoughts and ideas. A lonely woman, Eliza Allan, enjoys growing and nourishing her chrysanthemums. They live a lonely isolated life, raising cattle, and Eliza doesn’t get much attention from her husband, or for that matter anyone. She puts all her love and passion into the care of her chrysanthemums. She tends to her flowers with great care and effort, which symbolizes the longing she has for her husband to love and care for her.

Another symbol in this story is the fence that protects her flowers. It surrounds her protected world, her flowers and garden, and the world she can control and nurture. Eliza becomes interested in a traveling tinker, because he makes a big deal of her flowers, and she feels special because of it. She blossoms from the attention of the tinker, just like her flowers. She ends up giving the tinker some of her plants and puts them in a pot for him, she then allows him to straighten some pots for her, pays him and he goes on his way.

When Eliza’s husband got home and saw her, he said “Why—why Elisa. You look so nice!” With her boost of confidence now, she says “Nice? You think I look nice? What do you mean by ‘nice’? (Page 638) Eliza gets defensive and wonders why she just looks “nice”. When Elisa sees her precious chrysanthemum on the ground, but without the pot she had put it in with such care. She now feels used. She was basically fooled into giving herself away to someone who showed some interest in her. Her flowers symbolize this throughout the story. The last sentence of the story, “She turned her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly—like an old woman” (Page 639). She has lost her confidence and her self-esteem to keep her head high in the air. It is as if she is a wilted flower, cast aside to wither and die.

Kara Carpenter