The Chrysanthemums Essay, Research Paper

A good author has many tools at manus that help them develop good narrative lines. There are literary techniques such as voice, point of position, character, subject, and symbolism. One really interesting technique is that of symbolism. With symbolism the writer is able to compose a narrative in which many of the actions around the chief character seem to heighten the manner the character develops. The usage of symbolism to develop the characters is easy to see in the short narrative & # 8220 ; the chrysanthemums & # 8221 ; by John Steinback. In this narrative Steinback writes of a adult female who lives on a farm ; but the adult female feels trapped, and wants that she could liberate herself. The writer uses both the clip of twelvemonth and the location to develop a scene that compliments the feelings of the chief character. The narrative starts off stating, & # 8220 ; The high Gray-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from the remainder of the world. & # 8221 ; ( Steinback 267 ) from the first sentence the writer is developing a scene that compliments the character. At this point in clip of the narrative nil is known about the Elisa Allen, but this quotation mark about how the Salinas vale is closed away from the universe is a symbol of the battle that Elisa is shortly to face. The 2nd sentence of this narrative reinforces that the this topographic point is isolated by stating, & # 8220 ; On every side it sat like a palpebra on the mountains and made the great vale a closed pot. & # 8220 ; ( Steinback 267 ) The symbol of a closed pot plants in concurrence with the first sentence to give an thought to the extent of how difficult it would be to get away the force per unit area of the isolation that Elisa is experiencing. The symbol of life on a farm helps Steinback show Elisa & # 8217 ; s isolation. Location is non the lone symbol that Stinback uses in this narrative to typify Elisa Allen & # 8217 ; s character. Setback uses clip in this narrative to congratulate the location. In the 2nd paragraph the writer develops the character even more by composing, & # 8220 ; it was a clip of quiet and waiting. The air was cold and stamp. A light air current blew up from the sou’-west so that the husbandmans were mildly hopeful of a good rain before long ; but fog and rain do non travel together. & # 8221 ; ( Steinback 267 ) From this line much may be derived about Elisa Smith & # 8217 ; s character. The quiet waiting symbolizes how Elisa is mutely waiting for something to go on. Eli

sa can not say much about her current situation, she has to calmly weight for something to happen. This can be seen when her husband jokes about her going to the fights with her. At the time she says nothing, because it would be absurd for her to go with him. However, after she grows up at the end of the story she expresses her interest to go with him. The symbol of the possibly of rain shows how Elisa anticipates that something interesting in her life may happen, but deep down she knows that there is a very low probability that anything would actually happen. Elisa’s bath is another good symbol that Steinback uses to develop Elisa’s character. When she, “scrubbed herself with a little block of pumice. . . until her skin was scratched and red.”(Steinback 273) she was scrubbing away the skin that bound her into her conventional role. After this bath she had the courage to ask henry if they could have wine at the dinner tonight, and that they may possibly go to the fights together. After her bath she realized how strong she was by saying, ” [I am strong,] she boasted. [I never knew how strong.]“(Steinback 273) After this bath of hers she became more beautiful to her husband. He noted “Why – why Elisa you look so nice.”(Steinback 273) the bath changed Elisa so much that she now even appears to be a different person to her husband henry. Throughout the story Steinback drops many symbols that pertain to Elisa’s character. It is not until the end of the story that all of these symbols take on full meaning. A person who read this story only once may not pick up on the symbol of the valley holding Elisa back, confining her to do conventional woman’s tasks. The time symbol in the story shows how Elisa is anticipating that something would happen to change the way that things are. Then the bath where Elisa cleanses herself from the confining restrictive role symbolizes the moment in time where Elisa grows up to be a woman. All these symbols work together to show Elisa Allen’s character. Without them this story would have had a simple plot line where a woman grows some flowers, and then goes out with her husband. However, with all the symbols there is a story about a woman who is struggling with herself to break free from the traditional woman’s role, and in the end learns that she has grown up to become a woman.