Click to read the passage from "the chrysanthemums," by john steinbeck. then answer the question.
elisa is lonely. which of the following most likely explains the reason for this feeling?
a. her inability to speak and communicate with others
b. her home in the salinas valley, which is far from close neighbors
c. her children's abandonment of her
d. her husband's job that requires constant travel

the high gray-flannel fog of winter closed off the salinas valley from the sky and
from all the rest of the world. on every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and
made of the great valley a closed pot. on the broad, level land floor the gang plows
bit deep and left the black earth shining like metal where the shares had cut. on
the foothill ranches across the salinas river, the yellow stubble fields seemed to be
bathed in pale cold sunshine, but there was no sunshine in the valley now in
december. the thick willow scrub along the river flamed with sharp and positive
yellow leaves.
it was a time of quiet and of waiting. the air was cold and tender. a light wind blew
up from the southwest so that the farmers were mildly hopeful of a good rain
before long; but fog and rain did not go together.
across the river, on henry allen's foothill ranch there was little work to be done, for
the hay was cut and stored and the orchards were plowed up to receive the rain
deeply when it should come. the cattle on the higher slopes were becoming shaggy
and rough-coated.
elisa allen, working in her flower garden, looked down across the yard and saw
henry, her husband, talking to two men in business suits. the three of them stood
by the tractor shed, each man with one foot on the side of the little ford-son. .
elisa watched them for a moment and then went back to her work. she was thirtyfive. her face was lean and strong and her eyes were as clear as water. her figure
looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man's black hat pulled low
down over her eyes, clod-hopper shoes, a figured print dress almost completely
covered by a big corduroy apron with four big pockets to hold the snips, the trowel
and scratcher, the seeds and the knife she worked with. she wore heavy leather
gloves to protect her hands while she worked.
she was cutting down the old year's chrysanthemum stalks with a pair of short and
powerful scissors. she looked down toward the men by the tractor shed now and
then. her face was eager and mature and handsome; even her work with the
scissors was over-eager, over-powerful. the chrysanthemum stems seemed too
small and easy for her energy.