Character Roles in Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” In “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, the role of Elisa shifts several times throughout the story, from the loving, sensitive wife, to strong, independent woman and back. This all comes about from a meeting with a traveling repairman. Her attraction to the repairman, and his apparent interest in Elisa’s prized chrysanthemums, gives her a feeling of strength that she does not achieve from being with her husband Henry. Eventually, though, she finds th ....