Henry is ready to offer what he can, but Elisa's urgent need for someone to talk to who can understand the essential nature of her yearning for a poetic vision of the cosmos is, unfortunately, beyond Henry's range and insight (Lewis). This lack of understanding between the couple prevents Elisa from being able to express her pent up feelings towards her husband and his ways. Such a conflict can lead to depression, loneliness, boredom, and for Elisa, a sense of no escape and instead an acceptance and conformity with what is taking place between her and Henry. By Henry possessing these inabilities, Elisa inevitably finds her self and a world with not much hope for change and nothing to do but conform with the way her life is which plays account into her succumbing to the world she is stuck in.
Along with mental stimulation, Optimistic wives that carry their days with contentment and joy probably aren't lacking in the department of sexual satisfaction. Many people wont admit it, but sex ponders through the channels of our minds on a daily basis. Within a marriage, it's a frequent occurrence between healthy couples. Elisa Allen isn't as lucky as most women in this sense, and many factors in the story The "Chrysanthemums" exhibit Allen's frustration and impatience towards her and her sexual desires, including the fact that her and Henry share no children together. Henry is blind to her appetite for sexual activity and fails to give her what she wants time and time again from the way he compliments her appearance to his reactions to her desires and comments. .
The story clearly shows how desperate she truly is when she is sexually aroused by the tinker's interest in the Chrysanthemums she works on by stating that her voice grew husky afterwards her breast swelling passionately (Sullivan).This clearly shows the severity of the issue as Elisa has to resort to the tinker who she just meets as opposed to her husband, to get some sense of excitement towards her sexual activity.
