Symbolism, in a story it can be anything that brings more depth to the story without having to explain everything. In John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums," the symbolism of the Chrysanthemums connects the reader to the central understanding of the stories theme of loneliness and frustrations.
             The story begins with Elisa working in the garden, the focus her Chrysanthemums. Elisa doesn't seem to have kids, so she protects the flowers as if they were her children. You can see this as "She spread the leaves and looked down among the close-growing stems. No aphids were there, no sowbugs or snails or cutworms. Her terrier fingers destroyed such pests before they could get started." With her husband always busy with the ranch and no kids to keep her occupied. She goes to work with her flowers as tending them are her way of easing the boredom of her life.
             When her husband comments on her Chrysanthemums, the pride she feels for the flowers come out, "in her tone and on her face there was a little smugness." It is as if the beauty of the flowers reflects on her own inner beauty and when her husband praises them she believes he is also praising her beauty. Although the husband doesn't take notice of this and goes on his way. Elisa's goes back to tending her garden as a way of releasing some of that frustration she feels towards her husband for ignoring her needs.
             The Chrysanthemums can also be her weakness her kryptonite. When the stranger comes and admires her flowers, she falls for him. Just like when her husband had commented on the flowers Elisa believes the stranger is talking about her own beauty. Unlike her husband though, the stranger picks up on Elisa's frustrations and loneliness and baits her using her Chrysanthemums. Elisa falls for it and agrees to give him some flowers. "She stood up then, very straight, and her face was ashamed. She held the flower pot out ...