ABSTRACT
Reading this novel through the role of trees, flowers and gardens in its organic imagery reveals a succession of tests of the character of Aaron himself who is uncertain about his own inner nature. Because Aaron’s Rod is so dramatically a male conversational novel and so exclusively an urban novel, it might be neglected by ecofeminists. In fact, the novel explores resistances and reasons for failure to achieve idealisations of ‘mutual co-creation’ between men and women and their wider organic relations. Ultimately it seems that Lawrence is unable to take Aaron beyond his alienation from nature and women in any lasting way.
