Feminine Identities in John Steinbeck`s Short Stories

“The Chrysanthemums,” “The White Quail,” and “The Harness” are three of Steinbeck`s short stories collected in The Long Valley. These stories share common themes and character`s type such as Elisa Allen, Mary Teller, and Emma. Those women are outwardly depicted as dependant women but inwardly independent to their own visions of their lives. The purpose of this paper is to analyze those female identities, to elucidate how they are similar and different in those three short stories. The method used was descriptive method. The result shows that Elisa, Mary, and Emma are accepting their roles as housewives in a vain, sterile way. The three females make their husband sexual desires quite unsatisfied. We can also say that the three females are very different in ways they pursue their own ideals. Elisa is portrayed as the least independent one as she fails to realize and accomplish her natural, feminine desires. Thus, Mary is portrayed as the stronger female; she is able to manipulate her husband and her garden to be kept and corrected according to her own narcissistic, feminine identity. Finally, Emma appears to be the strongest, the most independent among the three