John Steinbeck's

        Elisa’s passion for her chrysanthemums begins to shows through when she is cutting her year old stalks.  Mr. Steinbeck comes right out to tell his audience that Elisa is over eager in her task.  She cuts the stalks with, “…short and powerful scissors. (260)”  Elisa’s passion and eagerness show through as the healthy stalks become small and minuet to the energy which she is exerting through her hands and scissors.  Elisa continues to show her passion as her “terrier fingers (260)” dig deep into the dirt.  With the word terrier being applied to describe her fingers, it makes the reader sit for a moment and think, what is terrier like fingers?  A terrier is an energetic dog that has a love and a want to please.  Elisa’s fingers while working in her garden were just that, terriers. All of her fingers were doing something that they loved as well as doing their best to please Elisa and her chrysanthemums by making sure they were free of any bugs that may be a potential harm.  Elisa had a beautiful garden and her chrysanthemums were her pride and joy, this was shown by the energy she put in to them as well as her readiness to help else where.  

        When a stranger pulls in to Elisa’s yard she is more then willing to give him advice and help him in any way she can.  As the man begins to persist Elisa looses the positive energy that she had been carrying and turns to a more agitated and uncomfortable state of being.  The traveling sharpener and pot fixer continues to ask Elisa for work and she continuously tells the man that she has nothing for him.  Soon the sales man changes the subject to something more appealing to Elisa, her garden.  As the man inquired about her chrysanthemums Elisa’s attitude change quickly towards the man.  The more the man questioned about her flowers the more excited and eager she became.  The man gives Elisa a song and dance about a woman along his regular route that has the nearly every flower in her garden except a chrysanthemum.  He tells her that he would love to take some to her.  At this Elisa becomes over joyed and rushes to find a pot to send him with.  As Elisa begins to pack the sprouts for the man she is giving him directions on what the women needs to do to ensure that the plants turn out just right.  As she intensely gives the man directions she comes to a point where she is at almost a loss for her explanation as to how the planters hands just know what to so.  The author describes her position as “…like a fawning dog. (264)”  At this point Elisa is in a crouching position and at a point where she seems to be paralyzed.  Elisa has no words for her explanation and her thoughts just seem to stop.  The man quickly moves on away from the topic of the chrysanthemums and back to his business.  Since the man had appeared so interested in her flowers Elisa felt she needed to contribute to him as well.  As the man works on her pot Elisa begins to question him about his life style.  Elisa is told that it is not a life for any women, were as she replies that he should be on the watch one day he may have competition. (264)  The sales man finishes her pots, then picks up his things along with the pot of chrysanthemums and is on his way.   Elisa’s determination and will to be whatever she wants continues to haunt her conscience.  

        As Elisa’s day moves in to the night and she is getting ready to go into town with her husband she appears to have something weighing heavy on her mind.  Throughout the entire story Elisa had been portrayed as this strong woman, but it wasn’t until the conversation with the sales man that she herself realized that she was a very strong person.  When Elisa’s husband tries to give her a compliment on her appearance for their evening out, Elisa becomes defensive and short towards him.(265)  Elisa seemed to have this burden all of a sudden on her shoulders that she instantly took out on her husband.  The shock to her husband was short and he just moved on around her irritable comments to keep the evening from being ruined.  As the two of them rode into town Elisa asked about the fights and weather or not it was true that the boxers gloves became soggy with blood.(266)  Coming from her conscience this comment was a conflict deep with in Elisa.  She seemed to be fighting with her self and the thoughts that had been put in to her mind during her conversation with the sales man.  The blood that the boxers' gloves were filled with showed the inner conflict she was having to hide and how her heart was bleeding inside her soul.  

        From the beginning Elisa was a strong person, in her will to do things as well as her physical make up.  Her strength continues through the story and even through her inner conflict.  Elisa is still passionate about her flowers but also begins to look to new interests.  Her new inner strength becomes so apparent to her so fast that she is not sure how to handle this situation.  The use of words is just enough to give John Steinbeck’s reader enough to let their imagination take charge of their perception of his story.