The short story "The Chrysanthemums" is about a woman named Elisa Allen. Elisa seems like a very strong and independent woman, but is somewhat frustrated with her life. There are many items in this story that can be symbols about Elisa's life.
The first symbol that really stands out in this story is the Chrysanthemums. The story never mentions the Allens having any children, and the chrysanthemums resemble a mother and child bond. Elisa seems to spend a lot of time with her chrysanthemums and is very proud of them. She is happy and pleased by her ability to nurture these beautiful flowers. Whenever she is complemented on them her faces tends to brighten up. This could remind someone of how a mother treats her children. He has a wire fence to protect her flower garden from cattle, dogs, and chickens as a mother would protect her children from harm.
The second symbol noticed is the relationship with Elisa's husband. Henry was very noticeable of his wife's hard work in her garden. However, he doesn't seem to recognize or appreciate her womanhood, and this feeling causes her to shy away from him. He fails to praise her on the things she is proud of and instead says "I wish you'd work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big". She also fails to point these types of flaws out to him. Another example is when he was telling her how she looked. He stated she looked nice strong and happy. Most women would be looking for the words pretty, beautiful or gorgeous. She seemed unhappy in her marriage because her husband did not treat her as feminine as she wanted.
A third symbol in this story was her clothing. In the beginning she had on dirty clothing that did not fit a female figure. It showed hard work on her part and the independent side of her. When looking at someone in those types of clothing a person may think "what a hard working woman" or "that woman looks like she can do things for herself".
