Blog #3A

Jimmy Cross: A sensitive, dreamy Lieutenant, Cross must lead his men through the rice paddies of Vietnam. He would rather be back in New Jersey with Martha, a girl he loves who does not love him back. He knows she never will, and this tortures him, and distracts him from his work. When a man dies and Cross thinks he could have prevented it if he hadn't been thinking about Martha, he abruptly decides that he has to learn to think only of his job in the field. He never forgives himself for forgetting his responsibility to his men. One of the things that he carried letters from a girl named Martha. I chose Mr. Cross to talk about because in my opinion he is better than other characters in the story.

Symbols and symbolic

In John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums”, he uses the chrysanthemums (flowers), fence, and garden to symbolize Elisa’s thoughts and feelings throughout his story. He uses these symbols to show love, neglect, loneliness, protection, and passion for his characters.
Steinbeck introduces Elisa, the main character, as a masculine young woman with a “face was lean and strong” (Steinbeck 5th paragraph 2nd line) and “Her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man’s black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clod-hopper shoes.” (Steinbeck 5th paragraph 2nd – 4th line) He lets the chrysanthemums symbolize Elisa’s true beauty. She feels that her husband does not see her as beautiful woman. All he can see is a house wife and a gardener. He shows little interest in the chrysanthemums. When Henry says, “You’ve got gift with things,” Henry observed. “Some of those yellow chrysanthemums you had this year were ten inches across. I wish you’d work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big” (Steinbeck 11th paragraph) it is almost like he is making a joke. He knows that he would never let her work outside of the garden and because of Henry’s neglect she turns to her chrysanthemums. She nourishes them as a mother would her children.

A little about me

My name is Tomasz. I was born on a cold day in September in Kolbuszowa, Poland. I came to United State, New York 10 years ago, and I attended to school at International High School. I live with my wonderful sister Aneta. When I was born, my sister was twenty two months old. Aneta is a sweet woman and she would do anything for me, but like all brothers and sisters we fight like cats and dogs. I still love her but only because she is my sister.