The Chrysanthemums

By the middle of this story I was beginning to feel as though Elisa's chrysanthemums were somehow connected with her and her husbands relationship. When the author described how she replaced the past years flowers he wrote "Her face was mature and handsome; even her work with the scissors was over-eager, over-powerful. The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy" (Steinbeck 632). I interpreted this as Elisa wanting change in her life, like she was ready to move on and start fresh. When her husband commented on the strength of the new flowers, she responded "Yes. They'll be strong this coming year" (633). I think she wanted to mend their relationship or perhaps maybe even actually try to put some effort into it. When the "man" came she was not at all interested in what he was "selling" her. until he pretended to be interested in her chrysanthemums. She was so excited to finally have someone to share them with, I think for her it was almost like she had an emotional affair. She was so impressed with him that she too gave a fake face and paid him for a job that she could do herselfjust to keep him around a little longer. "You might be surprised to have a rival sometime. I can sharpen scissors, too.And I can beat the dents out of little pots. I could show you what a woman might do" (637). (After it was mentioned in class I too changed my mind about the black speck on the road being the flowers, I too think it was the "man") When she started crying I think she not only felt as if she was losing the one person that understood her, even if it was just for a brief amount of time, but also out of guilt. She gave a complete stranger more of herself than she ever did her husband. She may have also realized, beacause of the closeness that she felt with the man, that the distance between her and her husband was her fault. What really made me think that she was going to try and make their relationdship work was when she started inquiring about the fights, this time it was her that was going compromise and meet him in the middle.