What Does The Chrysanthemums Symbolize

In John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums”, a gardener named Elisa Allen plants chrysanthemums. In the story, she was busy planting her prized flower, when she encountered a man who talked her into giving him some of her chrysanthemum seeds. Once the man left, she gained a sense of freedom.. Her mysterious transformation was triggered by her conversing with the salesman and giving him her chrysanthemum seeds. In this story, there is immense symbolism behind the chrysanthemums she planted, the gardening gloves that she wore, and the relationship between those seeds and gloves. Chrysanthemums were Elisa’s favorite. As her pride and joy, she gave them all of her attention as she worked. In the story, whenever Elisa was working with the chrysanthemums, she was excited and cheerful, yet whenever she wasn’t planting her flowers, her happiness went away and she seemed melancholy. Her chrysanthemums symbolize her desire to escape into a world
She was stifled by the covering of the gloves, unable to feel the power of her flowers. While wearing those gloves, she was unable to truly express herself, but once she threw them off, she felt free. After her realization that she was able to use this power to give to other people, such as to the salesman, she felt a complete freedom which carried on into that evening when she got very dressed up to go out to dinner with her husband. Since she no longer felt the symbolic gloves on her, she felt free to be herself and not hide inside of her gloves. In this short story, Elisa found her true freedom. She removed the gloves that were holding her back and jumped straight into the freedom that the chrysanthemums gave her. Not only did she realize the power that the chrysanthemums gave her, but she also realized the influence that they could have on other people. By the conclusion of the story, Elisa was solidly rooted in her