In effect, he is throwing her away carelessly, just as he threw the flowers away on the side of the road. Therefore, they represent Elisa herself too, and the wants and dreams that have already died in her own life. She is not a happy person, she has many desires and dreams that are unfulfilled, and her husband really does not recognize that. The chrysanthemums are also a symbol of her longing for freedom and what might happen if she actually broke away. She gives the chrysanthemums their freedom when she shares them with the tinsmith. Steinbeck writes, "Her lips moved silently, forming the words 'Good-bye -- good-bye'" (Steinbeck), and this shows how much she cares about her flowers and the life they symbolize. The tinsmith just throws them away, and so he is saying that what she shared is not important. It was extremely important to her, and she shared a bit of herself with this stranger. He simply took this part of her and destroyed it. When she sees them, it is as if all her strength and dreams have died. Steinbeck writes, "She tried not to look as they passed...
She whispered to herself sadly, 'He might have thrown them off the road. That wouldn't have been much trouble, not very much'" (Steinbeck). In this, they represent the hopelessness of her life as she sees it. She might end up broken and dying along the side of the road, too, she knows this, and it makes her sad.
Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck, and "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather. Specifically, it will discuss a thematic connection between the two stories. These two short stories highlight the themes of loneliness, unfulfilled desires, and dreams. Both main characters have dreams of something better that are never realized, and they live tragic and unfulfilled lives because of this. These stories might not seem related, but underneath two very different characters lays
" His use of alcohol only enforces his incapability to distinguish between what is real and what is memory. It seems as though every stop represents a moment in Ned's life that he chose to ignore, oblivious to the fact that it might interfere and disturb the course of life. He does not recognize what people are telling him, nor does he find himself on the same length with them,
Open Boat Stephen Crane's short story "The Open Boat" is very much "open" to interpretation. The story revolving around four men on a small boat braving a raging sea in hopes to save themselves from death points to many interesting comparisons and deep symbolism. The purpose of this essay is to examine the five main characters of this story and how they collectively represent something more than the sum of their
Mrs. Mallard's husband could have thought he was doing her a great kind kindness by "bending" her will to his. This quotation demonstrates the fact that even if Brent Mallard was on his best behavior, he still had a negative, oppressive effect upon his wife. With little legal recourse, Chopin is alluding to the fact that for many women, death -- of either the husband or the repressed woman
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