The_Chrysanthemums_菊花_斯坦贝克

Symbols--- fog and rain
"fog and rain do not go together ” Fog and rain can be seen as the female and male equivalents to Elisa and Henry, respectively: the former all too indistinct, and the latter altogether absent" When Henry comes over after talking with the men, he speaks with Elisa about going out for dinner. He also suggests they go to the fights. When she mentions she is not interested, he backs down very easily. This exchange between the couple clues the reader in to the lack of conflict in their marriage.
Symbols--- The Salinas Valley
The Salinas Valley symbolizes Elisa’s emotional life. The story opens with a lengthy description of the valley, which Steinbeck likens to a pot topped with a lid made of fog. The metaphor of the valley as a “closed pot” suggests that Elisa is trapped inside an airless world and that her existence has reached a boiling point. We also learn that although there is sunshine nearby, no light penetrates the valley. Sunshine is often associated with happiness, and the implication is that while people near her are happy, Elisa is not. It is December, and the prevailing atmosphere in the valley is chilly and watchful but not yet devoid of hope. This description of the weather and the general spirits of the inhabitants of the valley applies equally well to Elisa, who is like a fallow field: quiet but not beaten down or unable to grow. What first seems to be a lyrical description of a valley in California is revealed to be a rich symbol of Elisa’s claustrophobic, unhappy, yet hopeful inner life.
Elisa Allen
characters
The Tinker
A passionate woman who lives an unsatisfying life. As a result, she devotes all of her energy to maintaining her house and garden. Elisa is so frustrated with life that she readily looks for stimulating conversation and even sex. He is clever and canny enough to convince the skeptical Elisa to give him work, begging at first and finally resorting to flattery. In fact ,he is just a con man. Elisa’s husband, Henry ,is everything a woman should want in a husband by the standards of his society . He provides for her, treats her with respect. However, Henry is also stolid and unimaginative. Henry functions in the story as a stand-in for patriarchal society as a whole. He believes that a strict line separates the sexes.
[kri‘sæ nθəməm]
菊花
John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
Born :February 27, 1902, in California College : Stanford University ,but never graduated First famous work: Tortilla Flat (1935)<煎饼坪 > Characters of his works: social novels dealing with the economic problems of rural labor
Major works
• The Grapes of Wrath • Of Mice and Men • East of Eden • The Pearl • Cannery Row • The Long Valley • Travels With Charley
summary
Elisa Allen and her husband Henry live peacefully on their farm. When Elisa is busy with her chrysanthemums in the garden, a tinker passes by and asks for work .She refused directly. Later when the man enquires about her chrysanthemums and asks for some “seeds” to bring to“ a lady”, Elisa gets emotional and finds him two pots to mend. The tinker drives away with fifty cents and the cuttings . When riding on the road with her husband, Elisa sees the chrysanthemum shoots she sent to the "lady" thrown on the road. She is dismayed and cries sadly .
Henry Allen
Symbols---Chrysanthemums
The chrysanthemums symbolize both Elisa and the limited scope of her life. Like Elisa, the chrysanthemums are lovely, strong, and thriving. Their flowerbed, like Elisa’s house, is tidy and scrupulously ordered. Elisa explicitly identifies herself with the flowers, even saying that she becomes one with the plants when she tends to them. When the tinker notices the chrysanthemums, Elisa visibly brightens, just as if he had noticed her instead. She offers the chrysanthemums to him at the same time she offers herself, both of which he ignores and tosses aside. His rejection of the flowers also mimics the way society has rejected women as nothing more than mothers and housekeepers. Just like her, the flowers are unobjectionable and also unimportant: both are merely decorative and add little value to the world.
英美小说
• 杜蓓蓓020801069 • 杨艺020801061 • 杨佳俊020801095 • 吴燕娟020801090
Do you remember ‘The Moon Is Down’ ?
Have you heard of ‘The Grapes of Wrath ’?
The Chrysanthemums
Symbols--- Fences
Fences symbolize the barriers that separate Elisa from the rest of the world, including her husband Henry. Her fences protect flower garden from cattle, dogs, and chickens which represent her husband’s world while her flower garden represents Elisa’s world. “He had come near quietFra Baidu biblioteky, and leaned over the wire fence .” This shows that Henry is always treading softly around Elisa, courteous but always leaning over careful not to intrude into the woman’s world . The Tinker’s caravan pulls “up to Elisa’s wire fence and stops .” The Tinker, bearer of outside influences begins by resting his hands on the wire fence and made it sing . As the meeting progresses and Elisa’s sexuality is awakening the Tinker begins to “lean confidently over the fence and eventually penetrates Elisa’s barrier to come “through the gate .” The Tinker’s entrance into the gate represents Elisa’s passions fully released and she is no longer completely isolated. Elisa’s fence helped to divide her from the outside world full of influences and from a husband who was not completely aware of her.