The Chrysanthemums: Elisa Allen Comes to Life John Steinbeck has a unique ability to portray characters wholly through the smallest of details. Steinbeck was born in Salema, California in 1902 and held many different working class jobs. In these jobs he encountered many different types of people that later became the basis of a lot of Steinbeck’s characters. Steinbeck once said “We are all lonesome animals. We spend our entire lives trying to be less lonesome.” Steinbeck’s stories are filled with “lonesome animals” trying to break out of the loneliness. In “The Chrysanthemums” John Steinbeck paints a clear picture of Elise Allen in both h