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Elisa Allen
The husband of Elisa Allen, Henry is a farmer living in the Salinas Valley of California during the 1930’s. Henry provides Elisa with a comfortable life (his farming business seems to do well, as he negotiates the sale of thirty head of cattle with representatives from the Western Meat Company at the start of the story) and he appears to be a kind, if traditionally-minded, husband; nevertheless, Elisa is clearly unhappy in their marriage. Unlike Elisa, Henry is content with society’s prescribed gender roles and expects nothing from his wife outside of her responsibilities as a homemaker. In addition to ignoring Elisa’s professional capabilities, Henry also neglects Elisa emotionally and sexually, evident by their childless marriage and Elisa’s immediate attraction to the tinker as soon as he expresses the slightest attention to her personal interests and desires. In many ways, Henry’s character serves as a personification of the American patriarchy—he believes very little in Elisa and expects even less. Ironically, despite being her husband, Henry knows little about Elisa, including who she is and what she is capable of.
Henry Allen Quotes in The Chrysanthemums
The The Chrysanthemums quotes below are all either spoken by Henry Allen or refer to Henry Allen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Chrysanthemums
Quotes
“You’ve got a 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.”
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Her eyes sharpened. “Maybe I could do it, too. I’ve a gift with things, all right. My mother had it. She could stick anything in the ground and make it grow. She said it was having planters’ hands that knew how to do it.”
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She relaxed limply in the seat. “Oh, no. No. I don’t want to go. I’m sure I don’t.” Her face was turned away from him. “It will be enough if we can have wine. It will be plenty.” She turned up her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly – like an old woman.
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Get the entire The Chrysanthemums LitChart as a printable PDF.
Henry Allen Quotes in The Chrysanthemums
The The Chrysanthemums quotes below are all either spoken by Henry Allen or refer to Henry Allen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Chrysanthemums
Quotes
“You’ve got a 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.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Her eyes sharpened. “Maybe I could do it, too. I’ve a gift with things, all right. My mother had it. She could stick anything in the ground and make it grow. She said it was having planters’ hands that knew how to do it.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
She relaxed limply in the seat. “Oh, no. No. I don’t want to go. I’m sure I don’t.” Her face was turned away from him. “It will be enough if we can have wine. It will be plenty.” She turned up her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly – like an old woman.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
