"The Chrysanthemums" - John Steinbeck

7.How do you interpret Elisa's asking for wine with dinner? How do you account for her new interest in prize fights?


a)In my opinion Elisa's asking for wine is a way to escape the dreams and illusions that she had made early before during the conversation with the traveler.In her mind she was imagining how life would be if she would escape from the fence that always surrounded her.Her asking for wine demonstrates her acceptance for the life that she is having because her illusions faded away in the moment she saw the sprouts that she gave to the traveler and the other contents of the pot dumped in the road.She feels disappointed,fooled around and she loses her self-confidence.She now understands that her life is not going to change and she wants to make an effort in saving her marriage and give rebirth to the passion of her marriage.

b)Her sudden interest in prize fights is just an effort to understanding if she could take part in a man's world and if she could withstand it.She wants to know if other women go as well to understand if she could put up with all that anger,strength,fight and other masculine things.In the moment that her husband says that other women go as well she understands that women can also put up with these things but she says no to the invite because she loses her interest of being part of a man's world.She represses her feelings and accepts to go on with the kind of life that she had until now.A typical married woman taking care of her garden and her husband.


8.In a sentence,try to state this short story's theme.

In my opinion this short story's theme is: The desire of equality between women and men and the oppression of women in a man's world.

9.Why are Elisa Allen's chrysanthemums so important to this story?Sum up what you understand them to mean?


The chrysanthemums symbolize a lot of things in this story.They symbolize Elisa's whole world.She lives in a virtual world where everything she has are those chrysanthemums.Also,by the way she takes care of them and by the importance she gives to them i think that they represent the children she never had.She is proud to have the best chrysanthemums in the area like a mother would be proud to have the best children.She protects them with a wire fence by the other animals and protects them from worms by destroying and not allowing them to get anywhere near the chrysanthemums like a mother would do anything to protect her children.

Also the chrysanthemums symbolize Elisa's beauty and her femininity.Elisa's passionate involvement with the process of planting becomes an expression of all the suppressed romance in her life.When the traveler notices her flowers she feels like he has noticed her,like he has noticed her beauty and her sensuality.She offers herself to him but he disdains her. The Chrysanthemums is understood to be the salvation or a place where to escape from the reality of those years.Most of women at that time had nothing else but gardening,farming or house holding.They lived in a man's world oppressed by men and they escaped from this reality dedicating themselves to other things,like Elisa did with the Chrysanthemums.  

"Revelation" - Flannery O'Connor

7.What is the final revelation given to Mrs.Turpin? (to state it is to state the theme of the story). What new attitude does the revelation impart? (how is Mrs.Turpin left with a new vision of humanity?). 

-Mrs.Turpin finally understand by the vision that she has been during her whole life a person who prejudiced other people by their skin color,by the way their way of dressing,by their way of behaving and by their physical features.This vision reveals to her the things that truly matter in this world and that God has another vision of mankind not the one that she had.

-Mrs.Turpin changes her beliefs and understands that we cannot judge the others because we are nobody to do that.The only one who can judge others is God.She perceives the message that:all the people are the same,all the people are equal when they're put in front of Gods eyes.

"Revelation" - Flannery O'Connor

6.When, near the end of the story, Mrs.Turpin roars "who do you think you are?" an echo "returned to her clearly like an answer from beyond the wood". Explain.

-In the passage where Mrs.Turpin roars "who do you think you are?"  the echo that returned these words it might be a spirit or even God himself that her imagination  produces in order to make her understand that she is not the perfect person that she thought she was but instead of it she is somebody who has taken the role of God when judging others.She understand by the vision of paradise that she is nobody to judge others and that everybody is the same in front of Gods eyes.

"Revelation" - Flannery O'Connor

5.What do you infer from Mrs.Turpin's conversation with the black farm workers? Is she their friend? Why does she now find their flattery unacceptable(Jesus satisfied with her)?

-During the conversation that Mrs.Turpin has with the black farm workers i understand that she talks and respects them only because she sees it as a duty for the perfect woman that she is.She pretends to be a religious woman,a well behaved woman who doesn't discriminate nobody,she pretends that by these little gestures of humanity she would be"saved" from hell.She doesn't talk to them because she is fond of the conversation with them but only for duty.She doesn't give importance to their words because she thinks that they are in vain.

-In my opinion Mrs.Turpin isn't friend of theirs.She sees talking with black people and respecting them as a duty for the perfect person she is.

-She finds their flattery unacceptable because coming from them "idiot people" they don't have any value.She is doubting of herself and she needs a prove from God to tell her that she is saved.In the line where she says: "What do you send me a message like that for?" she later demands of God. "How am I hog and me both? How am I saved and from hell too?" we understand that she sees the words that Mary Grace said to her as a message from God but she doesn't understand them.She understand that Jesus isn't satisfied with her and the words that the black workers say to her are just meaningless flattery.

"Revelation" - Flannery O'Connor

4.Sketch the plot of the story. What moment or event do you take to be the crisis, or turning point? What is the climax? What is the conclusion? 

-The plot of "Revelation" is:

Mrs.Turpin,a white southern woman goes with her husband Claud for a visit at the Doctor.Immediately when she enters in the waiting room she begins to stare at people,watching how are they dressed classifying them into categories.As soon as she enters,Mrs. Turpin sees a little boy who is dirty and labels as him as :"the nasty little boy",there are two other white women badly dressed which she calls them the "white trash".She sits next to a nice lady,well dressed and begins to talk with her.She talks to her about the importance of being cultured,polite and how they must be grateful that God has made them perfect.She also talks about the farm that she and her husband own and how difficult is to get niggers to work at her farm.Mrs. Turpin says to her that niggers wont pick up anymore the cotton because they pretend to be at the same social position that white people are,just like her and her husband.While they're talking about how niggers this conversation begins to alter the daughter of the nice lady,Mary Grace.She is a young girl,very fat and with a face full of acnes.Mrs. Turpin feels pity about the girl and thanks Jesus for making her so perfect and without a wrinkle in her face,except those from smiling a lot.The young girl is reading a book titled:"Human Development" and she is very disturbed by the noise and the type of conversation that her mother and Mrs are making.

In a second moment when Mrs.Turpin says :"Thanks Jesus for making me so perfect" in a loud voice,Mary Grace throws the book and attacks Mrs. Turpin saying to her:"Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog."Mrs.Turpin is shocked from these words and she wonders why Mary Grace said these words to her,in that room were enough white trash that she could have picked to insult but instead she picked her,a kindhearted lady,well-behaved,polite with niggers and very devoted to the church.She returns home after the doctor took care of the bruises she had in the forehead,and above the eye.While giving water to the niggers that worked at her farm they ask her what happened.She tells to them that she was attacked and they pretend to be shocked and very upset,they flatter her but these things do not impress Mrs.Turpin anymore.She thinks that niggers are shallow persons,all they do is to talk in vain.

She goes to hose her hogs but meanwhile the words that Mary Grace said come in her mind.She rages at God very upset meanwhile an echo from the woods makes her understand through a vision of paradise where all the people are treated the same after death,where there is no color difference.She understands the "message" that God gives to her and feels sorry about all the bad things that she had done during her whole life.

-The crisis or the turning point of the whole story is the moment when Mary Grace throws the book at Mrs.Turpin and says to her:"Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog." This is the turning point of the whole story when Mrs.Turpin begins to doubt at herself.She begins to doubt the fact that she is perfect because if she were perfect nobody would insult and attack her.This is the point that leads Mrs.Turpin to the revelation in the end.

-The climax is the highest moment of tension where we know what is going to happen in the end,if this conflict will be resolved or not.In "Revelation" the climax is the point where Mrs.Turpin is hosing the hogs and she has the vision of paradise.At this point we understand how the story will end.

-Conclusion is to give the main idea of the story by summing up what happens throughout the story.The conclusion in "Revelation" is that Mrs.Turpin finally understands all the bad things that she did during her whole life.During the confrontation that she has with God she realizes that everybody,either black or white, poor or rich, well-dressed or badly dressed is the same in front of Gods eyes.The main idea of this story is to understand that God is merciful,forgives everybody and that in front of him we are all the same.