rier of isolation between Elisa and the rest of the world. Another example of Elisa’s seclusion is that her house sits “across the river, [is] Henry Allen’s house (Steinbeck 1462).” Steinbeck placed Elisa’s house away from town to allow the audience to realize that Elisa has virtually no contact with other humans other than her husband who barely paid her any attention. “On every side [the fog] sat like a lid on the mountain and made of the great valley a closed pot (Steinbeck 1462).” The symbolism of the fog creating a pot that encloses Elisa in her own little, remote world is Steinbeck’s way of showing the reader Elisa as she really is. A lonely farmer’s wife with only flowers to give her love who longs for a companion who will return the affection and passion that Elisa must restrain in her marriage for fear of breaking societies norms. The fences is a reoccurring symbol with two implied meanings, one being isolation. This fence not only separates her world as a woman from the world of a man but also protects her from any outside influences that may unleash her passion (Lee 1). Elisa did not abandon the protection of the fence until after the Tinker’s entrance had violated and penetrated the sanctity it represented and awakened her slumbering passions. “Elisa stood in front of her wire fence watching the slow progression of the caravan (Steinbeck 1468).” Once her eyes were open to the outside world Elisa felt suffocated and smothered in her self-made haven. Not only did she feel stifled but also felt guilt due to her uninhibited release of her passions. “She tore off her soiled clothes and then she scrubbed herself with a little block of pumice until her skin was scratched and red (Steinbeck 1468).” She would not have thought of this encounter with the Tinker as a sin if society had not brainwashed her at an early age. Society made her believe that t...
