Characters
She is the story’s main character who tends her garden with pride.
Elisa Allen
The story takes place in this U.S. state.
California
These flowers symbolize Elisa’s passion and creativity.
Chrysanthemums
Elisa gives the tinker something besides the chrysanthemum shoots.
Elisa’s excitement after talking with the tinker, and her disappointment later, highlights this theme about emotional vulnerability.
Longing for connection
He is Elisa’s husband, who runs the ranch with her.
Henry Allen
The ranch is located in this fertile agricultural valley, the same as in of Mice and Men.
The Salinas Valley
Elisa’s fenced garden symbolizes this aspect of her life.
Gender restrictions
This event crushes Elisa emotionally near the end of the story.
The discarded chrysanthemums
Elisa struggles between feeling strong and feeling vulnerable, showing this theme.
Identity/ Finding self-worth
This traveling worker stops by the ranch asking for sharpening work.
The Tinker
Steinbeck sets the story during this month, emphasizing the cold and dormant feel of the world around Elisa.
December
The tinker throwing away the chrysanthemum shoots symbolizes this.
Rejection of the emotional connection to Elisa
$300 – Henry offers that they celebrate by going to what?
A Steak Dinner
Elisa’s interest in adventure shows a desire for this.
Freedom
This character unintentionally makes Elisa feel ignored and underestimated.
Her husband, Henry Allen
This natural barrier isolates the Salinas Valley, making it feel cut off from the outside world.
Her strong work in the garden contrasts with her lack of freedom, representing this theme.
Gender inequality
Elisa briefly imagines this about the tinker’s lifestyle.
Living a free life on the road
The tinker’s dishonesty highlights this major theme of the story.
Deception
He throws away Elisa’s chrysanthemums after leaving the ranch.
The Tinker
The fog in the Salinas Valley doesn’t just hide the landscape, it pushes downward, creating this specific type of imagery.
Societal oppression
The final image of Elisa turning away and crying “like an old woman” symbolizes this deeper thematic reversal about her struggle with femininity and strength.
The return to societal expectations
Elisa’s breakdown in the car at the end shows this emotion.
Hopelessness
The story shows that society often praises women’s talents only when they stay within traditional boundaries, revealing this theme about personal expression.
The suppression of female creativity by society