A PSYCHOANALYSIS STUDY IN JOHN STEINBECK’S THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS

What makes a short story interesting is when the readers are persuaded to know exactly about the certain element of a fiction such as characters and certain symbols. Here, in John Steinbeck’s short story titled The Chrysanthemums, we are offered by such interesting element. The main character in John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums is a woman named Elisa Allen who lost her happiness, frustrated her marital life and being barred from doing certain thing that she wish for and treated unequally by men.

According to Abrams, “character is a person presented in dramatic or narrative work who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say and what they do” (1981: 21). From this we can interpret ourselves what kind of person Elisa Allen from The Chrysanthemums is. But it is not enough to interpret the character by noticing what the character do or say, since John Steinbeck put chrysanthemums as Elisa Allen’s favorite flower and the most important, as the title of the short story. Eliade in Images and Symbols stated that “symbols reveal the deepest secret of human way of thinking and it is very important to help understanding the hidden secret of human being” (1961: 12). Chrysantemums must have some contributions about the character.

To start the analysis of John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemum, there is one approach will be applied. This approach is and psychoanalytic. The approach will apply on the fiction, The Chrysanthemum, is psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis was first introduced by Sigmund Freud from year of 1900 until the year of 1940. Freud central hypothesis is that human behavior is determined in large part by unconscious motives. Freud himself is regarded as the explorer and mapper of the unconscious. Psychoanalysis can be applied in some subject: social science, history, biography, religion, and especially, literature. There are three heading of Freud’s concept theory of personality: principal structural concept, principal dynamic concept and principal developmental concept. Psychoanalytic helps the writer to identify about the characterization of Elisa Allen in The Chrysanthemum that influenced by social determination in relation with feminism.

Psychoanalytic was introduced by Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalytic tries to reveal the working mind of a character. Freud symbolize human mind as an iceberg, the tip above the water represent consciousness mind, and the vast region below the surface represents unconscious mind. This Freud’s symbolization will be applied in the characterization of Elisa Allen. Abrams stated that character is a person presented in dramatic or narrative work who is interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral and dispositional quality that are expressed in what they say- the dialogue- and by what they do-the action(1981: 20). Psychoanalytic will be helpful to reveal the hidden or unconscious human mind in the character of Elisa Allen.

Through the fiction, it is predictable that Elisa Allen lives beyond the control of the principal structural concept introduced by Freud named superego. Superego is internal representative of the traditional values, ideals, and moral standards of society and enforced by means of a system of reward and punishment imposed upon the child. Superego has conflict with ego. Ego is a structure develops out of the Id, to discharge tension in connection with out side world. Superego is society ideal of a person and Ego is reality need of a person. When the need or wish or instinct is blocked, that is, when it cannot secure its original object choice, the energy of the instinct is diverted (displaced) to substitute object. This is Freud most developmental concept known as Displacement.

Realizing her limited and determined life, Eliza declares her dissatisfaction of culture as a conflict between personal happiness and cultural obstacles. From the Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemum, it can be proven how the society, where Elisa Allen lives, becomes the subject uses their culture to define women how to be a woman that cause’s big influence to woman’s working mind.

Characterization of Elisa Allen

Through the short story, the characterization of Elisa Allen only provided in appearances only:

“She was thirty-five. Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water. Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man’s black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clod-hopper shoes, a figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron with four big pockets to hold the snips.”(p.283)

“Her face was eager and mature and handsome; even her work with the scissors was over-eager, over powerful.”(p.283)

On the beginning of the story, we may assume that there is nothing wrong with the daily life Of Elisa Allen. But when her husband asked her to have a dinner at a restaurant in Cominos Hotel, Elisa responds it:

“Of course I’ll like it. It’s good to eat away from home”. (p.284)

From the sentence above, a prediction arises, that Elisa has a wish, or need, to experience life outside her house. When the tinker comes to her house and tells her about her life, Elisa‘s desire to experience or have adventures becomes stronger.

“He drew a big finger down the chicken wire and made it sing.” I ain’t in any hurry, ma’am. I go from Seattle to San Diego and back every year. Takes all my time. About six month each way. I aim to follow nice weather.”(p.286)

“That sounds like a nice kind of a way to live.” She said. (p.286)

Elisa realizes that life such the tinker has is something she really wanted and attract her. She then makes a confession about it to the tinker unconsciously:

“I’ve never lived as you do, but I know what you mean. When the night is dark-why, the stars are sharp-pointed, and there’s quiet. Why you rise up and up! Every pointed star gets driven into your body. It’s like that. Hot and sharp and- lovely” (p.288)

“It must be nice,” She said. “It must be very nice. I wish women could do such things.”(p.288)

But, unfortunately, the tinker gives a response that Elisa never thought which disagree with Elisa perception. The tinker himself can not give the reason of it.

“It ain’t the right kind of a life for a woman.”(p.288)
“How do you know? How can you tell?” She said.”(p.289)
“I don’t know, ma’am,” He protested. (p.289)

Believing that she can live the world as same as the men do, Elisa tells the tinker about rival he may compete with.

“You might be surprised to have a rival sometime. I can sharpen scissors too. And I can beat the dents out of little pots. I could show you what a woman might do. (p.289)

The meeting with the tinker realizes Elisa that she has a kind of life she wanted to have life more wide than she has now. The tinker’s impression about her flower, chrysanthemum changes her thought. She finds that men might understand women’s thought and what women want. But after knowing what the tinker has done to the chrysanthemum she gave to, she realizes that what she first thought is something impossible. Elisa finds it’s too difficult to understand what’s in men’s mind:

“Henry, at those prize fight, do the men hurt each other very much?”(p.291)
“Do any women ever go to the fight?” She asked.(p.291)
“Oh, sure, some. What’s the matter, Elisa? Do you want to go? I don’t think you’d like it but I’ll take you if you really want to go.”(p.291)

“Oh, no. No. I don’t want to go. I’m sure I don’t.”(p.291)

Elisa Allen is a woman who lives in isolation. The form the isolation itself is women’s matter, households. She unconsciously has a wish, a desire to have a life more interesting which is the same with what men’s has. As the wish is repressed into her unconscious mind, she releases her energy to discharge the tension she has by taking care the chrysanthemums she does for years and cleaning her house, a hard –swept looking little house, with hard-polished windows and a clean mud-mat on the front steps. The repression of Elisa’s Wish itself is caused by the conflict between her Ego and Superego. Her ego here is her desire to have and to experience a life outside her house and to have romantic marriage. The superego of Elisa Allen is that she is not supposed to have a life of what her ego need to manifest. And the conflict’s result is that she must follow the women ideals according to society. But the meeting with the tinker brought her mind to prioritize her individual wish. Unfortunately she failed to manifest her wish because social determination to women is to strong. Elisa Allen is a character who is actually live in isolation, boredom, unromantic marriage.

Symbolical Meaning

According to Sylvan Bernet, In an Introduction to Literature, “Usually symbol is stressed by the author. The stress may take form in long description and frequent appearances. If a symbol is not stressed by the author, still it can be recognized by it in appearance” (1994:9). In John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemum, chrysanthemum flower described frequently from the beginning of the story until the end of it. Chrysanthemums also become the central of the story conflict.

In psychoanalysis term based on Freud’s concept, chrysanthemum is the substitute object where Elisa releases her energy to discharge the tension in his mind (displacement). Thus, it must be having certain meaning that related with Elisa herself. The existence of chrysanthemum as a symbolical object might have certain meaning and the meaning itself could be anything.
First, we can predict that chrysanthemums, the flower that Elisa Allen proud of, symbolizes children. When we first read the story, we may wonder that something is missing in Elisa, a twenty five Years old women’s marriage. That chrysanthemum might symbolize children is supported by descriptions how Elisa taking cares her Chrysanthemum:

“No aphids were there, no sow bugs or snails or cutworms. Her terrier fingers destroyed such pest before they could get started.”(p.283)

How Elisa takes care the chrysanthemums, flowers that she work on which becomes ten inches across, representing a child that she will always protected from any disturbances. When her husband, Henry Allen, compliments her flower, she shows him her proud. But it will not take a long time until Henry asked her to work out the orchard and to raise some apples as big as the chrysanthemum:

“I wish you’d work out in the orchard and raise some big apples that (the chrysanthemums) big” (p.284)

It’s remaining that Henry regards Elisa as a tool to reproduce and work only in household just like ordinary women. Unfortunately, Elisa shows her agreement to Henry about it:

“Maybe I could do it, too. I’ve a gift with things, all right”(p.284)

The second meaning of the chrysanthemum is that the flower might symbolize and describe Elisa Allen herself. A question may arise, why did Steinbeck use chrysanthemum? Why not other flower? Chrysanthemum is a kind of flower, which has many usages, especially for medication. There is a possibility that Steinbeck wanted to symbolize Elisa with the chrysanthemums in meaning that he wanted the readers to know that Elisa is a person who has special quality, such as the chrysanthemums, as an individual.

Elisa is a woman who lives in isolation, after she meets the tinker and knowing his interesting adventure, she wish that she could touch the outside world. She symbolizes it by giving some of the chrysanthemum to the tinker to give it to a woman the tinker knows who want chrysanthemums. But when the Elisa finds out that he throws it away in the road after leaving her house, she realizes she can’t touch and experience the life outside her house. Elisa finds that her life will never change and she must live her life she never wanted until she died. It caused by the power of the society which is male dominated and stereotypes and defines women of how to be a woman.

Conclusion

Basically, the main character of John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemum, Elisa Allen, is a woman who live in boredom, frustration, and limitation because of the pressure of her social construct. She has no children, unhappy marriage, and isolation. She spent her daily life by take care her favorite flower, chrysanthemum to release her boredom.

Elisa’s mind has conflict between her ego and superego. Her ego is her dream for having a life she really wanted outside her house, because she spends her daily life in house hold matter only, and her superego is a social construct which determines her life for having a kind of life that most of women have. Because Elisa life is beyond her superego, her energy to fulfill her ego is blocked, that’s why she chooses her favorite, flower, chrysanthemums as a substitute object to fulfill her ego.