In the short story "Odour of Chrysanthemums," D.H. Lawrence effectively and continually employs a technique of keeping certain entities absent from his story to convey their looming presence and definite importance. Lawrence's omission of Walter, a vastly crucial character, best demonstrates the author's ability and effectiveness in creating presence through absence. Through this method, Lawrence creates a sense of tension and anticipation within the reader's mind. Moreover, Lawrence plays with readers' expectations; he only …showed first 75 words of 914 total…

…showed last 75 words of 914 total…a story that incorporates the reader to seek and discover. His masterful use of symbols further exhibits his intentions. For Lawrence, literature had two great purposes: "providing an emotional experience, and then, if the reader had the courage of his or her own feelings and could live imaginatively, becoming 'a mine of practical truth'" (874). Lawrence, utilizing a method of presence through absence, successfully achieves both. <Tab/> <Tab/>