Elisa of The Chrysanthemums :: The Chrysanthemums Essays

Why-why enzyme-linked-immunosorbent serologic assay. You look strong enough to break a calf over your knee, happyenough to eat it interchangeable a watermelon. (Steinbeck 232) Most people reading this would just pass itoff as a tactless mans attempt to compliment, but is that exclusively it is? In The Chrysanthemums,Elisa is a farm wife, whose only passion in life is found in her gardening. Henry, her husband,owns a farm and is oblivious to the monotony of Elisas life. Throughout the story, Henry is onthe outside, never really understanding Elisa and how she feels. Until, a fiddler comes by the farmand speaks with Elisa about her Chrysanthemums. By asking just one question, the tinker opensElisa and allows her to release the passion and femininity that she keeps hidden throughout herlife. In John Steinbecks The Chrysanthemums, Henry Allens seemingly inept comment is notjust that but an allusion, put in place by Steinbeck, to the Dionysian maenads.Dionysus is the Hellenic god of w ine, merrymaking and gathering. His followers, themaenads, were say to be pushed into some form of divine madness, aided by wine, whichwould lead to prophecy and insight. More often, however, it led to drunkenness and promiscuity.They would then dance, sing and jog about, not to mention, join in sexual activities tostimulate fertility of the earth and achieve ecstasy. The maenads would occasionally reach adangerous frenzied state where if they happened crosswise it, they would tear animals apart anddevour the raw flesh (Maenads par.1). So, knowing that, we take a second look at our story.Elisa Allen has had an erotic experience with the tinker by merely speaking of the passion she has for her chrysanthemums that has opened her eyes to how much of herself that she hides andsubdues. Henry notices a difference in Elisa, beyond the way she is dressed, but he has neverseen the passionate side of her and does not know what to say. When Henry claims that Elisalooks strong enough to kill and eat a cow, Steinbeck is making an allusion to the maenads of theancient Greek world. David Leon Higdon, a scholar, claims that With this imageSteinbecktransforms the characters and the ranch, synchronizing empirical and mythical realities, andidentifying Elisas new power and beauty with those of the Maenads or Bacchantes in theirworship of Dionysus (par. 1).It is quite clear that Henrys comment is more than just that. It is as if Steinbeck wishedhis reader to feel, for one brief moment, that he or she had opened a door inappropriately and