Odour of Chrysanthemums Analysis

Based on the reference to a train coming from Selston, which is in Nottinghamshire, we have to gather that the action takes place within or somewhat near to that county. Given that there is a nearb...

The narration pretty much hitches its wagons to Elizabeth and her point-of-view. We see what she sees and we are privy to what she's feeling throughout the story, though this is all given to us fro...

The story starts out focusing on the tensions between Elizabeth and Walt (which ostensibly stem from his fondness for drinking and generally unseemly behavior), and you think those two are headed f...

This isn't the cheeriest of tales, and the tone of the writing definitely reflects the darkness of the subject matter. From the moment Elizabeth steps outside and starts looking around for family m...

In what might strike readers as a kind of paradox or contradiction, the narration plays up the emotions of its characters (see "Tone") while also, at the same time, seeming kind of impersonal and "...

If you've cruised by the "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory" section, you know that chrysanthemums are 1) a symbol of death and 2) a flower with some mixed associations for Elizabeth. When Annie is in r...

The story doesn't end on the happiest of notes (shocking, we know—it's not like the story as a whole was a laugh-fest to begin with). After the women finish preparing the body, Elizabeth seems to...

The language in "The Odour of Chrysanthemums" is not very twisty or tangly, so we'd consider it pretty accessible on that front. However, the tale has the somewhat disorienting habit of introducing...

Family MattersWe meet Elizabeth, Annie, and John Bates (oh, and Elizabeth's father, though we don't get his name). It's the end of a regular old workday, and Elizabeth is waiting for her husband, W...

Elizabeth Bates, our heroine, has a simple enough goal: She just wants her family to come home for dinner in a timely way. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so . . . Even though the workday at th...

We follow the Bates family on what initially appears to be a fairly typical evening. Basically, Elizabeth Bates and her two children, Annie and John, are waiting for Walter (the family patriarch) t...

A lot of D. H. Lawrence's writing was based on his own experiences growing up in Nottinghamshire. For example, "Odour of Chrysanthemums" is based on his aunt and uncle. (Source)Ford Madox Ford, a f...

The story is pretty steam-free, aside from some references to Elizabeth and Walter's sex life, which Elizabeth described so lovingly as "exchanging their nakedness repeatedly" (2.128). So, not sque...

Lord Nelson (1.29)Prince of Wales (1.44, 2.2, 2.7, 2.20)