The dissatisfied Elisa in The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck“The Chrysanthemums” is a short story from The Long Valley, a collection of short stories by John Steinbeck. This story dramatizes the efforts made by a housewife, Elisa Allen, to compensate for the disappointments she has encountered in her life. Steinbeck makes it clear that Elisa wants something more in her life than the daily grind of farm life. Although Elisa is portrayed as strong, ultimately her strength is not enough to have the courage to make real change in her life as her fragile self-esteem proves too susceptible to external forces. From the beginning of the short film In the Story, Steinbeck emphasizes that Elisa is a strong, competent woman who finds her considerable energy channeled into things, like her garden, that never give her the kind of recognition or satisfaction she desires. For a brief moment, she feels she is capable of so much more and feels her own strength only to have, once again, a man tear down her efforts and self-esteem. The story opens with Elisa working in her garden. Steinbeck makes a point of telling the reader that he is thirty-five years old. Her age immediately implies a near-middle-aged woman who may be re-examining the dreams of her youth as she contemplates the second half of her life. Steinbeck emphasizes Elisa's strength as he writes, "Her face was eager, mature, and beautiful" (Steinbeck 279). Her husband, Henry, returns home having just completed the sale of some cattle. He is complimentary of her gardening and comments on her talent. He suggests that she put her talents in the orchard to good use by growing apples, and Elisa seriously considers his offhand comment,… at the center of the card… nature yearning for expression. For a moment, he feels like he's touched on such a shared intimacy with the tinker and it's easy to see why he could have been so easily wrong because the tinker hints that he too has that kind of aesthetic sensibility when he describes the chrysanthemums that will bloom later. in summer, “Some kind of long-stemmed flower? Does it look like a quick puff of colored smoke?" (282). When the tinker puts aside his plants, it is almost as if he also puts aside Elisa's dreams. It is not only this brief episode that makes Elisa cry, but what What really shocks her is the thought of a future in which she feels unsatisfied and unchallenged. Work cited Steinbeck, John. "The Chrysanthemums." 6th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. 239-47.