ODOUR OF CHRYSANTHEMUMS
by D. H. Lawrence, 1914

The final version of "Odour of Chrysanthemums" was completed during the period of The Rainbow (1915), the peak period of D. H. Lawrence as a writer, and was collected in The Prussian Officer. The story is of the essence of Lawrence, and it is in the central line of his artistic development.

One of Lawrence's major interests as a writer was in the conditions of life of modern humans as brought about by industrialism. The story, which begins with a description of a mining village, brings out the ugliness of industrialism, how it ensnares and victimizes people. It radiates beyond description to become representative of the plight of humans in industrial society. Lawrence's own interest is less in the milieu and more in individual human destinies, on the consequences of the industrial system on individual human lives and on personal relationships. The miner's home is a "dirty hole," cramped, untidy, infested with rats. The miners have to live frugally: the child John's trousers and waistcoat "were evidently cut down from a man's clothes"; at night Mrs. Bates wants to light a candle only when indispensable. Soon after she hears that her husband has had an accident, she thinks of its financial implications, not because she is callous but because she is in the grip of poverty. Lawrence thus shows how industrial capitalism works for the benefit of a few, not for the majority.

The duration of the action of the story is only a single evening, yet it is a highly significant moment, and Lawrence telescopes the entire marital history of the Bateses and a phase of British social history. The central theme of the story is failure in human relationships, shown through the relationship of the Bateses.

Mrs. Bates, the main character, is conventional. Her conventionality is not merely a matter of her prim appearance and outward conduct but also goes deeper and has affected her inner being. This is confirmed in the early scene when she meets her father. She censures him for remarrying (in her view) too soon, yet the reader tends to sympathize with the bluff parent who had wanted to save himself from loneliness. Criticism of Mrs. Bates's values is also implied by the actions of her son and daughter. Their behavior (John goes outside on his own, playing by himself; Annie comes late from school) suggests a type of independence that Mrs. Bates does not permit and, in their own way, a more natural way of life.

The neighbors, the Rigleys, form a striking contrast. Mrs. Bates's house is neat, Mrs. Rigley's an untidy mess. Mr. Bates is a toper; Mr. Rigley goes to the pub but is not a drunkard. Mrs. Rigley is kind, sympathetic, and helpful. The Rigleys represent natural, instinctive life, different from Mrs. Bates's rigid conventionality.

Mr. Bates alive is not a character in the story. He appears only at the end as a corpse. He is portrayed through the conversation, thoughts, and attitudes of the others. Mrs. Bates and her father see him as an alcoholic brute, and Mrs. Bates holds him responsible for all of the family's problems. Yet Lawrence's implied criticism of Mrs. Bates suggests that her view of her husband is righteous rather than accurate. His addiction to alcohol is established as a fact, but Mrs. Bates regards it as an inherent flaw of character. The truth is suggested unmistakably only at the end, yet the reader doubts her view early on. Mr. Bates appears to be a comradely kind of person, natural and instinctive in his responses down in the pits and in the pub.

Thus, Mr. and Mrs. Bates represent two different ways of living, and the failure of their marriage is the result of the conflict between these two. His alcoholism is shown to be not the cause of the failure but a consequence of Mrs. Bates's attempt to impose her way of life on him. Incapable of self-criticism, she is bitter against the life she and her family are forced to lead and also bitter against her husband. Under the circumstances this is all she is capable of intellectually.

Lawrence introduces chrysanthemums ("dishevelled," "ragged wisps") in the opening scene as a part of the background. They suggest the disfiguring of nature by industrialism and the somber atmosphere of the story, and they prepare the reader for a sad human situation. Mrs. Bates associates the flowers with crucial stages in her life: "It was chrysanthemums when I married him, and chrysanthemums when you (Annie) were born, and the first time they ever brought him home drunk, he'd got brown chrysanthemums in his buttonhole." Toward the close of the story one of the miners carrying Mr. Bates's body knocks over a vase of chrysanthemums. This symbolizes the end of the marriage of the Bateses as Mrs. Bates thought of it, as well as the shattering of her views. Whether the symbolism of the chrysanthemums is integral to the story or external is debatable.

The main emphasis of the story, however, is on the change that comes over Mrs. Bates at the climax. Mrs. Bates's conventionality and her view of her marriage are ingrained, disrupted only by her husband's death. She realizes that they had not understood each other and that she is responsible for the failure of their marriage. She concedes that he had been "living as she never lived, feeling as she never felt." It is he, not she, who has lived the instinctive life that Lawrence valued. She is the only one who could have adjusted their relationship, yet comprehension comes too late.

The story is tragic but not despairing. In the final analysis Lawrence's outlook is positive. The industrial system is destructive, but human beings can survive provided they adjust themselves to their environment.

—D. C. R. A. Goonetilleke