摘 要

约翰·斯坦贝克，美国20世纪最重要的作家之一，善于探讨社会和环境问题。《菊花》是斯坦贝克最著名的短篇小说之一，塑造了一个坚强的女主人公艾丽莎，勇于追求自由独立的人生。

本文拟从身体和精神两个角度分析艾丽莎所面临的生存危机，揭示了女性在美国经济大萧条期间陷入艰难的境地。通过巧妙地运用象征手法，斯坦贝克建立了艾丽莎与菊花之间的联系。正如自己种植的菊花，艾丽莎美丽坚强，但是无人欣赏。丈夫亨利不认可艾丽莎的美，并且也不能满足她的性欲望。从精神层面来说，艾丽莎一直渴求自由和平等，但是因为补锅匠的欺骗，她的梦想最终破灭。

本文分为四章。第一章简要介绍作者约翰·斯坦贝克和短篇小说《菊花》。第二章从身体角度讨论艾丽莎的生存危机，包括她的外貌和对性的渴望。第三章着重讨论艾丽莎的心理活动，探讨她内心深处的女权意识。最后一章对全文进行概括总结。

关键字： 约翰·斯坦贝克；《菊花》；生存危机；象征手法

Abstract

John Steinbeck, one of the most important American writers in the 20^th century, is good at exploring social and environmental issues. The Chrysanthemums is one of Steinbeck’s best-known short stories, shaping a tough heroine Elisa who is bold in pursuing a free and independent life.

The thesis focuses on analyzing Elisa’s living crisis from the physical and spiritual perspectives, revealing that women were stuck in a difficult situation during the Great Depression. Through the delicate use of symbolism, Steinbeck establishes the relationship between Elisa and the chrysanthemum. Like the chrysanthemums she plant, Elisa is beautiful and tough, but nobody appreciates her. Elisa’s beauty is not recognized by her husband Henry who cannot satisfy Elisa’s sexual desire either. From the spiritual perspective, Elisa has been yearning for freedom and equality, however, her dream finally disillusions because of the potter’s deceit.

The thesis is made up of four chapters. The first chapter is the brief introduction to John Steinbeck and the short story The Chrysanthemums. The second chapter discusses Elisa’s living crisis from the physical perspective, including her appearance and sexual desire. The third chapter emphasizes Elisa’s mental activities, probing her feminist consciousness in her deep mind. The last chapter summarizes the whole thesis.

Key words: John Steinbeck; The Chrysanthemums; living crisis; symbolism

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 John Steinbeck and The Chrysanthemums 1

1. 2 Literature review 1

1.3 Structure of the paper 2

2 Elisa’s Living Crisis from the Physical Perspective 4

2.1 Elisa’s appearance and physical features 4

2.2 Elisa’s sexual desire 5

2.2.1 Henry’s attitude 6

2.2.2 The potter’s attitude 7

3 Elisa’s Living Crisis from the Spiritual Perspective 8

3.1 Elisa’s dream of freedom 8

3.1.1 The symbolic meanings of the chrysanthemums 8

3.1.2 Disappointment with Henry 9

3.1.3 Disappointment with the potter 9

3.2. Elisa’s Dream of Equality 10

3.2.1 Equality of familial status 10

3.2.2 Equality of social status 11

4 Conclusion 13

References ................................................................................................................... 14

Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................... 15

Elisa’s Struggle: Interpreting Women’s Living Crisis in Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums

1 Introduction

1.1 John Steinbeck and The Chrysanthemums

John Steinbeck, the winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, is considered as one of the greatest American writers in the 20^th century. As an important Depression writer, Steinbeck presents a realistic panorama of American society during the Great Depression. His works mainly probe social, cultural, ethnic and environmental problems in American society. Belonging to literary realism, Steinbeck strives to explore the lives of downtrodden people and reveal the dark side of the society. Steinbeck is also noted for his description on the relationship between man and nature. Most of his works are set in southern and central California, especially in the Salinas Valley. In the place of misery and lost, farmers are torn from the land because corporate-owned had destroyed the land (Hall, 2012). In almost all his works, Steinbeck expresses sympathy to the wretched people who are swamped in decay and desolation.

Steinbeck is known for writing novels related to land and farmers in America. His most famous ones include The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, etc. The Chrysanthemums is one of his best short stories. In The Chrysanthemums, John Steinbeck vividly depicts a great but pathetic female image Elisa who is the core of the thesis. Elisa and her husband Henry live in the Salinas Valley and run a small farm. Confined in the desolate valley, Elisa’s dream of going out can never be realized, therefore, she puts all her hope to the chrysanthemums, wishing that they can be taken outside one day. Yet, the appearance of the potter destroys Elisa’s dream and makes she eventually give in to reality. The potter deceives and betrays Elisa by throwing her chrysanthemums by the roadside, symbolizing Elisa is abandoned by the world, too. This short story profoundly reflects women’s struggle in front of the ruthless and hypocritical world.

1.2 Literary review

As a Nobel Prize winner, Steinbeck lags behind his contemporaries William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway in popularity, and has got frequently detracted by influential critics, scholar, and cultural taste-makers. Steinbeck attracts considerable readers with his humanistic spirits, however, his technical virtuosity, straightforward language and perceived sentimentality have made him a tough target among critics (Demott, 2009, p.9). For over half a century, the western literary circle has not reached an agreement on evaluating Steinbeck, which means the study on Steinbeck has never been uniformed. The truth is that Steinbeck is not a favorable topic among scholars though he enjoys a long-lasting fame among massive audience (Fang, 2002, p.152). Foreign studies on Steinbeck mainly focused on the biographical, thematic or intentional elements of his works. One research method was chronological study, that was, studying Steinbek’s works according to the time order. Another two main approaches included social criticism and biographical criticism, the activities to comment on Steinbeck based on the social context, reality and other documents (Tian, 2005, p.20).

Steinbeck’s works were first introduced to China in 1940, but there were few researches on the writer because of the turbulent social background. After the establishment of PRC, Steinbeck was studied mainly from the perspective of Marxism, and many works were misunderstood in this period. After the reform and opening policy, the study of foreign literature in China was gradually developed, but the study was confined to Steinbeck’s biography and introduction of his works. It was not until the 21^st century that the study on Steinbeck achieved great breakthroughs though still inferior compared to the study on Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. The study can be classified as five respects: stylistic criticism, ecological criticism, feminist criticism, archetypal criticism, social-historic criticism (Tian, 2014).

As one of Steinbeck’s most appealing short stories, The Chrysanthemums reveals the female dilemma and hardships in American society during the Great Depression. Usually, critics analyze The Chrysanthemums from the perspectives of feminist study, environment description or ecological study. For instance, in Hou Wenjing’s paper, she analyzed the short story from points like symbolism, character and environment description. She particularly focused on analyzing the depiction of Elisa, trying to decode the character in front of her audience(Hou, 2016, p.59). In Qin Yanyan’s dissertation, she elaborated on the works of Steinbeck in different periods with the theory of ecological criticism. Her analysis was based more on ecology and philosophy than literary criticism, thus providing a new perspective for the research(Qin, 2013). However, there are few papers thoroughly analyzing the protagonist Elisa and discussing her living crisis both physically and mentally. Therefore, this thesis aims to analyze the predicament that Elisa is faced with and figure out the influence that Henry and the potter have on Elisa. Moreover, this thesis is more like an elegy for working women, attempting to summarize the common dilemma troubling women like Elisa at that time.