Chrysanthemums the Influence of Setting

Chrysanthemums

The Influence of Setting in Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums"

John Steinbeck's story "The Chrysanthemums" is set in the Salinas valley in December, and the setting is very significant to the story. As Steinbeck describes it, the setting is indicative of the anticipation and sense of coming energy that Elisa, the protagonist of the story, also experiences. Ultimately, however, Elisa is disappointed and unable to achieve the energy she anticipated, which calls into question the true role of the setting in this story. Through the building anticipation of the setting, through Elisa's growing understanding and articulation of her own power, and finally with the disappearance of the setting as she succumbs to her weaknesses, the setting helps to track Elisa's internal progress.

December in Salinas is, according to the first paragraphs of "The Chrysanthemums," a time when the fog "sat like a lid on the mountains…a time of quiet and waiting" (pars. 1-2). This description makes the Salinas Valley seem like a pot with a lid on it set on a low simmer -- things are going to happen here, and the energy is building up, but nothing is happening just yet. It is with this atmosphere of anticipation that the reader is first greeted, and in which they are greeted by Elisa Allen, who is watching her husband and a group of men involved in something in a manner that is reminiscent of the same removed energy.

The story's action really begins to take place when Elisa witnesses an old wagon winding its way towards her farm, and when she begins conversing with the tinker that drives it. He is a sharpener of blades and a mender of pots (reinforcing the pot-like imagery of the initial description of the setting), and after touching on the subject that truly animates Elisa -- namely her gardening, which is the only domain where she appears to be given true reign -- he finds himself in a somewhat deep conversation with her about life on the road. As Elisa expresses it, "When the night is dark -- why, the stars are sharp-pointed, and there's quiet. Why, you rise up and up! Every pointed star gets driven into your body. It's like that. Hot and sharp and -- lovely" (par. 73). The open night sky, in contrast to the lid of fog that sits on Elisa now, is felt as a release or a joining of energies, and the fulfillment of the anticipation now felt, and this scene puts Elisa at the height of her internal awareness.