Sexuality in John Steinbecks The Chrysanthemums Essay -- Chrysanthemu

Sexuality in Steinbecks The Chrysanthemums Reading over this excellent layer once more, I am again filled with the same feeling (if it can be called that) that I experienced when first reading it. Steinbeck be after for that. In a letter to George Albee in 1933, Steinbeck comments on this level and his enkindle in Albees opinion of it. ...It is entirely different and is designed to strike without the readers knowledge. I mean he reads it casually and after it is finished feels that something profound has happened to him although he does not know what nor how. I knew after reading this, that Steinbeck is truly a marvel. It is one thing to have enough luck to leave your readers with this awareness after theyve read something of yours, but to have it happen to them when youve actually intend it This is incredible. I was not the only person feel what Steinbeck had planned. And in that group, I was not the only one to want to pick apart this story to find out why I fel t this way, what he mean me to feel, and what his story meant taking all things into consideration. when looking at various criticisms, I found a division line that could be made in the midst of the sexes. Most women agreed with me and felt the sexual tension apparent in the story. This sexual tension was quiet and sensual. The only men that picked up on this picked out some overtly sexual innuendoes and chose to ignore the subtleties as Elizas witticism changes and tone of voice. The other men attributed any sexual tension to Elizas shoot for children, which is a valid point, but it ignores too many other things in the story to fit it well. ... ...e predominantly male or predominantly young-bearing(prenominal) side, nor can they be pushed into little cubby holes that define the different stereo-types of a woman. Her androgyny employs such stereo-types to define her, and to go over that and then use even more to define the end product of the story would be a mistake. Wor ks Cited Steinbeck, John. The Chrysanthemums 1937. Literature. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs eds. London Prentice Hall, 1998. Mitchell, Marylin L. Steinbecks Strong Women powder-puff Identity in the perfectly Stories, Southwest Review, Vol. 61, No. 3, Summer, 1976, pp. 304-15. McMahah, Elizabeth E. The Chrysanthemums Study of a Womans Sexuality, Modern Fiction Studies, Vol. XIV, No 4. Winter, 1968-69, pp. 453-58. Hughes, R. S. John Steinbeck A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston Twayne Publishers, 1989.