Although I enjoyed all of the readings in this week's collections, I found John Steinbeck's "Chrysanthemums" the most intriguing because the main character Eliza has a lot of the same similarities as my mother. Today, I am going to explain to you how I associate the two. First, I am going to begin with their never ending love for foliage. Then, I am going to show you how they are both extremely clean and hard working individuals. Last, I am going to share with you how both women yearn for sustenance from the people around them.
             The most pronounced comparison was the portrayal of Elisa's love for gardening. My mother has, what she calls a green thumb (Eliza called it planter's hands). They both can make anything grow, giving the plants the proper nourishment and an abundance of TLC. Making sure every plant had the proper amount of water and nutrients and of course groomed to perfection. I remember at one point my mother had acquired over one hundred and fifty plants, making our house look like an African Jungle. Every plant was treated equally and received immaculate care, even talking to them was often part of her daily routine. Like Eliza, my Mother saw a beauty in her plants that no other person could possibly come close to seeing. My Mother loved her plants almost as much as she loved my brother and me. (We used to tease her by telling her that she loved her plants more than she loved us.) I feel that because Eliza never produced any children, she loved her plants as if they were her children.
             Secondly, they resemble each other because they are both very hard workers in almost a masculine way. Steinbeck described Eliza's farmhouse as a "hard swept looking little house with hard-polished windows, and a clean mud-mat on the front steps."(7) To me that said that Eliza was a very clean person. As is my mother whom is almost compulsively clean. Everything in the house has its place and is clean down to every nook an
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