Feminism in The Chrysanthemums by John SteinbeckAt first glance, "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck seems to be the story of a woman whose niche is in the garden. Upon closer inspection, the story features strong hints of feminism in the central character Elisa Allen. Elisa's actions and feelings reflect her struggle as a woman trying, unsuccessfully, to emasculate herself in a male-dominated society. Elisa is the strongest and proudest in the garden and becomes weak when placed in feminine positions such as going out to dinner with her husband. Steinbeck carefully narrates this woman's frequent shifts between femininity and masculinity over a short period of time. At the beginning of the story, Elisa is emasculated by the description of her clothes. She wears “a black man's hat pulled down to his eyes, heeled shoes, a printed dress almost entirely covered by a large corduroy apron…” (paragraph 5). When Elisa's husband Henry comes to visit and compliments her garden and her ability to grow things, Elisa is proud of him and very proud of her skill with flowers. Her “green thumb” makes her an equal in her own eyes. When Elisa's husband asks her if she would like to go to dinner, her feminine side comes out. She is excited about going out to eat and states that she would much rather go to the movies than go see fights, because she "wouldn't like fights at all" (paragraph 21). Elisa is disconcerted by her own submissiveness and quickly turns her attention to her flowers once her husband leaves. When the vagabond comes to ask Elisa for work, she is harsh with him and refuses him a job. She acts like a man would towards another strange man and becomes irritated. When he persists in asking her, she responds: “I tell you I have nothing of the sort to ask you” (paragraph 46). The wanderer mentions Elisa's chrysanthemums and she immediately relaxes as "irritation and resistance melt from her face" (paragraph 51). The wanderer feigns great interest in Elisa's chrysanthemums and asks her many questions about them. He tells her that he knows a lady who told him "if you ever come across some pretty chrysanthemums, I would like you to try and get me some seeds" (paragraph 56). Elisa is delighted with any interest in her flowers and gives the man some chrysanthemum shoots to take to his friend..