“Why-because Elisa…. You look strong enough to break a calf on your knee, happy enough to eat it like a watermelon. (Steinbeck 232) Most people reading this article would simply pass it off as an attempt at a compliment from a tactless man, but is that all? In “I Crisantemi”, Elisa is a farmer, whose only passion in life is gardening. Henry, her husband, owns a farm and is oblivious to the monotony of Elisa's life. Throughout the story, Henry remains on the outside, never truly understanding Elisa and how she feels. Until a tinker arrives at the farm and talks to Elisa about his chrysanthemums. By asking just one question, the tinker opens Elisa and allows her to release the passion and femininity she has kept hidden her entire life. In John Steinbeck's “The Chrysanthemums,” Henry Allen's seemingly inept comment is not only this but an allusion, implemented by Steinbeck, to the Dionysian maenads. Dionysus is the Greek god of wine, cheerfulness and harvest. His followers, the Maenads, were said to be driven into some form of "divine madness", aided by wine, which would lead to prophecy and insight. More often, however, it led to drunkenness and promiscuity. Then they danced, sang and wandered, not to mention joining in sexual activities to stimulate the fertility of the earth and achieve ecstasy. Maenads occasionally reached a dangerous "frenzied state" in which, if they encountered it, they would "tear animals to pieces and devour raw flesh" ("Maenads" par.1). So, knowing this, let's take a second look at our story. Elisa Allen had an erotic experience with the tinker simply by talking about the passion she has for her chrysanthemums which opened her eyes to how much of herself she hides and subdues. Henry notices a difference in Elisa, beyond the way she is dressed, but he has never seen her passionate side and doesn't know what to say. When Henry states that Elisa seems strong enough to kill and eat a cow, Steinbeck makes an allusion to the maenads of the ancient Greek world. David Leon Higdon, a scholar, states that "With this image...Steinbeck transforms the characters and the ranch, synchronizing empirical and mythical realities, and identifying Elisa's new power and beauty with that of the Maenads or the Bacchae in their cult of Dionysus" (par. 1). It is quite clear that Henry's comment is much more than that. “It is as if Steinbeck wanted his reader to feel, for a brief moment, that he had opened a door inappropriately and