After studying “Odour Of Chrysanthemums” by D.H.

Lawrence and “The Dead” by

James Joyce, we know that although there are similarities between these two short stories which

is the theme that learn lesson from the death, there are also distinctions in term of characters, and

literary device in both of the short stories. Elizabeth Bates which is the central characters in the

Odour Of Chrysanthemums realizes that she never pass her life well with her husband, Walter

for quite a long time and she feels regret about that. After the incident, she only discovers that

she is a person with unique mind and passions. Gabriel which is the central character in the The

Dead realizes that love is hard to come by, and when the true love appears in life of a person, the

true love will never be forgotten.

One of the differences that can be found in these short stories is about the protagonist

which is the central character of these two short stories. The central character of the “Odour Of

Chrysanthemums” is a round character named Elizabeth Bates while the central character of the

“The Dead” is a dynamic character named Gabriel. We need to take longer time to identify her

characteristics and personality. Elizabeth Bates is describes as a proud, arrogant, and

domineering woman. For example, she is described as a tall woman of imperious men,

handsome, with definite black eyebrows in the story. (Lawrence, 1961) She always scold her

children in order to get them obey to her. Besides that, she is also a tidy woman. For example,

her smooth black hair was patted exactly. (Lawrence, 1961) On the other hand, there are some

complexities of her emotion when she saw her husband, Walter dead body. When she is washing

the body with her mother-in-law, she has goes through a complex series of emotion which are

anger, curiosity and forgiveness. The central character in The Dead, Gabriel has undergoes

significant change during the story. At the beginning of the story, Gabriel and Gretta appear to be

a very sweet couple. Gabriel loves his wife Gretta very much. He cares and concerns everything
with her. Gretta reciprocates her love towards Gabriel, until Mr. D'Arcy was singing a song

which named The Lass of Aughrim in the adjacent room has changed her attitude. Gretta recalls

back those sweet memories with her first crush, Michael Furey. Gabriel thought he loves his wife

the most and after the dance party, he only realizes that he does not know well about his wife

although they have been married for years. He never knows Gretta had her first deep love with

the guy named Michael before they have married. He is being selfish and self-centered in his life

because he has never care about the past love of his wife and his selfishness has been carried

over in their marriage. When he finds out the past love of his wife, he feels surprised. Gabriel

compares his love with Michael’s and he realizes that love is hard to come by and when a person

loves someone deeply, they willing to spend everything to their love including life. From The

dead, Michael Furey, he learns that a person should care about others feelings and not just focus

on our self. He had changed his thought at the end of the story.