Simon Mapp

Compare "Wuthering Heights" and "Odour of Chrysanthemums".

"Wuthering Heights" and "Odour of Chrysanthemums" are two completely different stories. They are set in different times and different places. They do have some similar issues. They both use imagery to demonstrate issues. The differences may be explained by the change in times, which are very different. In between Victorian times to the 1920’s there have been two major events, World War one has not had much effect on the stories but the Industrial revolution is what makes the stories so different. In ‘"Wuthering Heights"’ the only form of employment we se is that of the servants. In ‘"Odour of Chrysanthemums"’ we see a whole mining community. The story backgrounds may have been based on their author’s life. Emily Bronte was brought up in a similar lifestyle of Wuthering Heights. In Odour of Chrysanthemums the author (D.H.Lawrence) was also brought up in a similar background to his story.

Emily Bronte’s story shows that sexism was common in Victorian times. She had to assume a false name (Ellis Bell) to publish the story because women were dismissed unable to write. This is shown in her book as men seem to be the leaders of the families. Another sexist point is when money is inherited, it always goes to the husband, not the wife. This sexism is also in "Odour of Chrysanthemums" . The mining village only allows men to work as miners. The women were left at home to do the domestic chores. This shows that attitudes to women have not changed much from Emily Bronte’s time to D.H.Lawrence’s.

The characters are also different. The main characters in "Wuthering Heights" are Heathcliff (a mysterious, uncaring character), Catherine (A wild, fun-loving girl), Hindley (a drunken

gambler), Edgar (A weak posh man), Cathy and Nelly. In "Odour of Chrysanthemums" the main characters are Walter (a drunk miner

who happens to be dead), Elizabeth (his wife), and her mother in law (a jealous, possessive woman). One of the key features in both stories is relationships.

Relationships play a major role in each of the stories, especially in "Wuthering Heights" where there are so many of them. The relationships are what links the characters together. In "Wuthering Heights" the main three relationships are between Catherine and Edgar, Catherine and Heathcliff and Heathcliff and Cathy. These relationships are more positive than the relationships in "Odour of Chrysanthemums" because in D.H.Lawrence’s story there is only one relationship with positive emotions (between Walter and his mother). In "Wuthering Heights" all the relationships have negative sides (excluding Cathy and Edgar’s), but two of them have love. The relationship between young Cathy and Heathcliff does not include any love as Heathcliff has kept her prisoner and used her to gain Thrushcross Grange. There is love in the relationship between Edgar and Catherine but it is stronger love from Edgar. Catherine does not love Edgar but she is quite fond of him. She married him for his money, but he does not realise this, he also does not want to believe Catherine’s love for Heathcliff. In "Odour of Chrysanthemums" the marriage relationship is between Elizabeth and Walter. This relationship started with love but has decayed over the years. Walter kept coming home drunk and eventually his wife stopped loving him. She only stays with him so the children can be brought up with two parents and a decent home. The relationship between Elizabeth and Walter is represented by the Chrysanthemums. At the start of their relationship the flowers were sweet and attractive. As the relationship decayed away, so did the image of the Chrysanthemums in her mind. At Walter’s death the flowers were a bad sign in her mind. They no longer mean anything to her. An other relationship in "Odour of Chrysanthemums" is between Elizabeth and Walter’s mother. This also contains negative emotions. Walter’s mother is very jealous of Elizabeth, as in her mind she has taken her son away from her. This jealousy is shown in a simple and small quotation from Walter’s mother when they are wiping the body :

"Let me wipe him."

This relationship shows how strong the mother-son bond is between Walter and his mother. She never sees him in as bad and probably does not believe that he would ever come home drunk. She calls him ‘.a little lamb..’ suggesting that he is beautiful, living or dead. She is extremely jealous of her marriage to him. She really loves her son and he probably loves her too. Compared to the Father-Daughter relationship in "Wuthering Heights" (between Cathy and Edgar) there is not much difference. There is still a parent-child loving relationship but in "Odour of Chrysanthemums" the mother is jealous of his wife. In "Wuthering Heights" Edgar is trying to protect his daughter from the dangers of marrying Linton and the even more dangerous Heathcliff. This is more of a concern than petty jealousy.

In "Odour of Chrysanthemums" the relationships are different to "Wuthering Heights" but the most similar relationships are the parent-child relationships.

Death is encountered in both stories. It has a major role in "Wuthering Heights" because deaths are common in it. "Odour of Chrysanthemums" also has death playing a major role (the whole story is focused around one). In "Wuthering Heights" there are many deaths, each one changing the story either slightly or dramatically. E.g. When Hindley dies, his son, Hareton gets brought up and rejected by Heathcliff. When Heathcliff dies, Catherine is able to go free from Wuthering Heights to live with Lockwood. In "Odour of Chrysanthemums" the death is what the whole story is based on. The death is different from any death in the other book as Walter’s death was an accident. In "Wuthering Heights" the deaths were caused by old age or sicknesses (The majority fall into the latter category). There was not mush shock since diseases were common in the Victorian era. Diseases such as tuberculosis (Today people are immunised to protect them and the disease no longer poses a threat) would have killed people in weeks, or even days. The slow deaths gave the family members a chance of knowing the inevitable, they would be able accept their deaths, and overcome them.. Surprisingly, the main death in "Wuthering Heights" seems to have a bigger reaction to the one in "Odour of Chrysanthemums", Edgar and Heathcliff were very upset about her death. It probably affected Heathcliff the most as Hindley was able to keep a part of Catherine in his daughter.. In "Odour of Chrysanthemums", Walter’s wife, Elizabeth takes his death with almost no shock at all. This is probably expected as he is an alcoholic, and their marriage no longer includes love. There is more despair and sadness in "Odour of Chrysanthemums" but not from Elizabeth , it comes from his mother and (probably after the end of the story) his friends. Elizabeth didn't’t tell the children what had happened. This statement shows when the child asked if their father was back.

"Yes, they’ve brought him....Go to sleep now, like a good child."

The different reactions may be common for the time periods that the stories are set in or the setting of the area.

The setting in each story are completely different from the other. The two main points are the different locations and the different time periods. These factors change the stories dramatically. For example, if "Wuthering Heights" was set in Manchester in the 1990’s then I doubt that the story would be similar at all. The differences in time do affect the stories (I have mentioned these in the introduction). What does also make a difference is the location of the homes. In "Wuthering Heights" the are is barely populated with only two main houses and no community at all. In "Odour of Chrysanthemums" there is a mining community with people living close together and working together at the mines. People are friendly to each other and seems to be a much pleasant area to that of "Wuthering Heights" . This will probably lead to the differences in their characters.

Another thing that differs the people from "Wuthering Heights" from the people in "Odour of Chrysanthemums" is the level of class.

In "Wuthering Heights" the class is varied. The major families are quite wealthy (obviously the Linton family are the richest). They both live in large houses and own vast amounts of land. In "Odour of Chrysanthemums" the area is a small mining village. People no longer own large amounts of land with large houses and more space than they need. In "Odour of Chrysanthemums" the characters are poor and have to work for a living. In "Wuthering Heights" the major characters do not need to work. They are wealthy enough to employ servants to do there work for them. Compared to the lower class of "Odour of Chrysanthemums" they are very different. In "Odour of Chrysanthemums" the husband (Walter) is out working while his wife (Elizabeth) does all the domestic chores. The classes in each story are very, very different. Elizabeth’s marriage has got worse since day one. Symbolism has been used to represent in the form of the chrysanthemums. These show the state the marriage E.g. At the start of the marriage the chrysanthemums were bright and blooming. At that time the marriage seemed good and bright. At the end of the marriage the chrysanthemums were dead. They had gone bad, like the marriage. In "Wuthering Heights" symbolism is used in the windows. When people look through the windows they see a different ‘world’. When Heathcliff and Catherine look through the windows they were looking at something that they had never seen before. They saw a tidy room and a house that looked a lot better than their own. They also saw other children for the first time. Catherine and Heathcliff were amused when they saw the two children fighting over the puppy. These types of symbolism are used in small, and sometimes unnoticeable places. Symbolism is sometimes used with imagery.

Imagery is the use of similes and metaphors in the stories. These are used "Wuthering Heights" but are used quite a lot more in "Odour of Chrysanthemums". These similes are used to describe thing that are similar to others. The following are similes that describe things in "Odour of Chrysanthemums" :-

" The flames from the pit-bank are like red sores ". This shows the pain that she is feeling over her sad marriage and she is describing it as something she can see

" The red smear of the burning pit bank". This also shows that she is feeling sad, as red is usually associated with sadness. Also this is being shown by something she sees.

These all describe things in the story. In "Wuthering Heights" the amount of similes used has shortened, but they are still being used. For example :-

" It was not the thorn bending to the honeysuckle’s, but the honeysuckle’s embracing the thorn." This is showing Heathcliff as the thorn and Catherine as the Honeysuckles. The Honeysuckle's are known to be sweet, while the thorn is known as danger.

 " ...the gunpowder lay as harmless as the sand, because no fire came to explode it. " This simile is used to shows Catherine as the gunpowder which is safe on its own but when it is metaphorically lit (by Heathcliff), she becomes dangerous.

Both of the authors of these stories knew how to use symbolism and imagery at the right time in the right places. They do have a small but significant effect on the story.