On Walter’s Otherness in Odour of Chrysanthemums.docVIP

On Walter’s Otherness in Odour of Chrysanthemums 　　摘 要：Odour of Chrysanthemums is one of the British writer D. H. Lawrence’s short stories. In the story， character’s understanding of each other reflects the idea of otherness. This paper tries to analyze both Walter’s mother and Elizabeth’s understanding of Walter Bates. Then it points out that they did not really understand him， nor did they understand his otherness. Their failure to understand his otherness is a reason to the unhappy marriage to some extent. 　　关键词：otherness；the odour of chrysanthemums； Walter Bates 　　Odour of Chrysanthemums is one of Lawrence’s novels which contain his idea of otherness. The novel mainly tells a story about a miner’s wife， Elizabeth Walter， waits for her alcoholic husband to come home but at last was informed that her husband died in an accident in the mine. Faced with her husband’s dead body， she thinks about the relation between her husband and her as well as their marriage. Then she has a new understanding of her husband. She find that she never know him though they’ve live together for so long time. 　　In the novel， two women， Elizabeth and Walter’s mother， are two people who have direct connection with the miner， Walter Bates. However， neither of them truly understands the man. They both have known him for quite a long time and have their own judgments on this man， but that are only a little part of him. In fact they never known his otherness before his death， this is one of the reasons which lead to the unfortunate marriage. 　　In the novel， the difficulty of apprehending and accepting the other and the vital need of such awareness comes out vividly through the two women characters， Elizabeth and Walter’s mother. 　　Walter’s mother， the old lady in the novel thinks her son is always a good boy. 　　“Whatever he was， I remember him when he was little an’ I learned to understand him and to make allowances. You’ve got to make allowance for them.” 　　This reveals that Walte