Fighting Blue Birds

           D.H Lawrence’s “Two Blue Birds” begins with the bizarre marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Gee as they loved and were attached to each other but admitted that they could not live together. The husband, Cameron Gee who was somewhat of a successful writer, lived in Britain while his wife went to places in the south that were more warm, where she had many lovers. With Mr. Gee was a secretary named Miss. Wrexall who was hopelessly devoted to him in everyway as she even got her family members to work for him for small wages.

            The short story is surrounded around these three characters that are completely disconnected from understanding what they want from each other.

Mrs. Gee is away from her husband having countless affairs, which Mr. Gee is totally indifferent to as he is satisfied with the arrangement they have. Miss. Wrexall feels a sense of affection towards Mr. Gee which Lawrence depicts in the story through their dialogue. The relationship between the secretary and Mr. Gee was strictly professional but Lawrence reveals the depth and nature of the relationship through repetition as the secretary continuously reveals that she “adored him…she adored him… he dictated to her, she slaved for him, and adored him”. She later exclaims to Mrs. G “But he gives me everything, everything!” cried Miss Wrexall. “He gives me everything!” Mr. Gee did not return this fondness wholeheartedly as Lawrence writes, “He didn’t ‘adore’ her. A man doesn’t need to adore his secretary. But he depended on her (Lawrence 484)”.  This, however, portrays Mr. Gee’s attachment to his secretary in a professional manner as she dedicated herself for his betterment, which he began to fully rely on.

          The two women are polar opposites but they are united in their alienation from Mr. Gee as he does not fully care for either of them according to the context of the story. Mrs. Gee expresses that she feels like a stranger or guest in the house where her own husband lives. She is the first and the only one to be contemplative enough to notice the sense of isolation that everyone in the house experiences including the secretary who works harder than Mr. Gee does on his work. Everyone else appears to not notice or ignore the neglect in the household. Mrs. Gee especially notices the hard work of the secretary thinking, “That girl — she was only twenty-eight — really slaved herself to skin and bone. She was small and neat, but she was actually worn out. She did far more work than he did…(Lawrence 487)” 

         Mrs. Gee’s teasing or confrontation with Miss. Wrexall may have came off as vindictive or cruel due to the possibility of envy but it seemed more of an attempt to understand the secretary’s motivation for working so hard for little payment. She had a desire to liberate this woman from working so hard as she thought “Yet something must be done. She felt it” (Lawrence 488). Mrs. Gee even partially encouraged adultery so that the secretary could receive some type of payment for her work as she says to Mr. Gee, “…for taking so much from her and giving her nothing (Lawrence 493). Mr. Gee and his secretary felt content in the relationship they had, which Mrs. Gee could do nothing to change.