Elizabeth Bates lives in a bleak setting: a small industrial
coal-mining town. In front of her house, trucks “thumped heavily” past her house. The smoke from
the train settled on the grass. The leaves were withered fell to the
ground.
As the story “The Odour of Chrysanthemums” by D. H. Lawrence
begins, Elizabeth picks up a branch of the last of the chrysanthemums, holds it to her cheek, and
places it in her apron. Turning and watching the men trudge home from work, she looks for him,
but Walter does not come.
Elizabeth’s house was small but neat. The
table was set with the tea set and a nice tablecloth. The children and Elizabeth wait on their
father, but he does not come. Looking at their son, Elizabeth sees her sullenness in her son and
his father’s silence and bullheadedness.
Her daughter notices the
flowers in her apron. To Elizabeth, these flowers represent the life that she wishes that she
had. Elizabeth tells her daughter:
“It was chrysanthemums when I married him, and
chrysanthemums when you were born, and the first time they ever brought him home drunk, he’d got
brown chrysanthemums in his button-hole.”
Her disillusionment is evident in her
description of her life related to the flowers.
Elizabeth is not a
sympathetic character. Her attitude and treatment of her children prevent the reader from feeling
empathy for her plight. She barks commands at them, talks about their father to them, and shows
no affection toward them. Bitterness pervades her speech and facial expressions. Described as a
handsome woman with striking black hair, Elizabeth focuses her attention on her husband’s
tendency to go to the pub after work and drink .
Marriage and a
happy life have not come to Elizabeth. She is a pragmatist who takes care of her home, keeps her
children clean and dressed, and lives in poverty. Her lack of respect for her husband has come
through his neglect both personally and toward his family.
After
several hours of waiting, Elizabeth asks a neighbor to check on her husband. Eventually, she
learns that Walter has been killed in a mining accident. He has been asphyxiated. The miners
bring in his body and place it in the parlor. It will be her job to clean his body and dress him
for the wake and viewing of the body. Her first consideration is not emotional but rather how
will she and her children survive.
As Elizabeth works on her
husband’s body, she makes several discoveries that change her appreciation of her husband. Her
obvious awakening comes from her realization that she does not know her husband. He is a stranger
to her. The only thing that they did together was have sex. Suddenly, Elizabeth realizes that she
did not treat her husband well; furthermore, they had essentially a fake marriage.
Sympathy is all she can feel for Walter. Elizabeth also questions
her behavior as a mother and daughter. She has withheld her love from them. In addition, even
more disturbing to Elizabeth is her recognition that her husband was a stranger to her. Her
attitude turns toward her pity and complete sympathy for not sharing herself with
him.
Again the pragmatic Elizabeth takes over and shuts the door on
this phase of her life. Her heart is heavy. Now, she has to evaluate her future. She turns from
her husband back to the reality of life. Knowing that like everyone else, the true master is
death, and she must live her life more fully.
”The Odour of
Chrysanthemums” by D.H. Lawrence tells the story of Elizabeth Bates, a coal miner’s wife. The
story is told from a third person point of view with the narration primarily seen through the
eyes of Elizabeth.
Described as a handsome woman, she finds herself
feeling put upon and drained by her husband who spends his off time in the bar. On this day, she
seems to have little patience for her children. With pity, the reader realizes that Elizabeth is
expecting another child.
Elizabeth has a desire for beauty which
seems out of place in a coal mining town. Her quest for beauty is further illustrated by the
chrysanthemums in her apron, which she refers to as “such nonsense” when she removes them. Her
dreams and her desire for beauty are in a hostile environment.
The
story feels familiar with the hardworking woman waiting on her erring husband to return from the
bar smelling of alcohol and wanting his dinner. Trapped as a coal miner’s wife and wanting to be
anywhere but this place, her bitterness has crawled inside of her and stayed. Her waiting goes on
as long as she can stand it.
After asking a neighbor to look for
him, her mother-in-law shows up and tells her that she has heard that her son is dead. When the
other miners bring her husband in, they lay the corpse in the parlor for the mother and wife to
clean up. Elizabeth learns that her husband has been smothered to death when the overhead rocks
caved in on him.
The mother is grief stricken but wants to help with
the washing of her son. In her mind, Elizabeth does not know how she will make it. She will get a
little pension, but how will she work with three little children.
As
the women work on the washing of the man, Elizabeth realizes something about herself. It was not
just her husband that caused her unhappiness. She had never given herself to her husband. In the
final analysis, they shared their bed and sex but never shared each other.
When Elizabeth looks at the body of her dead husband she
understands that she had a large role in the failure of their marriage. She did not really ever
see or look at him. Each time he had taken her, they had been two isolated beings, far apart as
now.
He was no more
responsible than she. The child was like ice in her womb. For as she looked at the dead man, her
mind, cold and detached, said clearly: ‘Who am I? What have I been doing? I have been fighting a
husband who did not exist.’
The agony
that she feels for her dead husband contrasts with the earlier harsh view of him. To Elizabeth,
she sees Walter as a human being, rather than simply a difficult burden. Up until now, Elizabeth
has merely submitted to life; but now, she recognizes that death is the ultimate master. She
feels fear and shame for her treatment of her husband.
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