The woman who had imagination by H.E. Bates

Critical Comments

The women who had Imagination is very interesting story. It gives the experience of Henry and shows rather flashy, and highly sensitive girl who married ab old man, and had to live indoors all the time in spite of the fact that she had a great imagination. Her existence is quite pathetic. She cannot leave the old man for even a minute, because when she does, he gets so upset that it results in a fit. His attitude towards her becomes apparent from the very beginning. The moment he saw Henry he asked who he wad and she could not say that he was a visitor to the house. So she told him that he was the new gardener. Evidently the man felt jealous of any man who came there. It also showed that the lady had a romantic temperament, and perhaps she married the old man in the hope that he would not interfere in her escapades, but he proved to be just the contrary. This fact is suggested by the following sentence at the end.

‘Imagination! It needed a bit of imagination to marry that old cock.’

Her conduct with Henry also showed that she liked him and wanted to flirt with him but the old man was a terror for her. He would make a hell of a mess if  she did not go back at once. Evidently she had sent Henry to the lake so that she might meet him there in the evening and she was also thinking of going for a little boating with him but then felt helpless about it , and the result was the tears which she quietly shed by the lakeside. Henry was a quiet, serious minded boy. He did not like the people who were making love to each other in the brake, and who could not understand the intention of the lady when she indulged in the frolics by the lake side. If he had, things might have taken a different turn and the story would have been some what different.

There is a atmosphere of mystery throughout the story. We do not know who the women is and what she is doing there with the old man , the very entrance of Henry into their room is so managed as to give her and the old man a mysterious air. Her conduct remains a mystery not only for Henry but also for the reader, till he is told by suggestion that she was a gay woman. The writer does that quite well by giving an indirect suggestion that her mother was little irresponsible.

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