Summary

“Mums” begins with Section 1, as Jack’s mother, Bloom, declares they would be traveling to Minnesota to visit her family. They walk alongside the highway as Jack’s father, Hank, and his nephew, Connor, stop them. Hank frames Bloom for drinking, and her prescription drugs cause alarm with the police. A few weeks later, in Section 2, Jack has a dream about his mother buried to her neck. Hank tells him Bloom died falling in the tub after drinking too much. Beth sobs as she consoles him, and Jack notices the “spicy-sweet geranium soap” on her hands (354). In Section 3, the family buries Bloom on their Separatist land. Five weeks pass before Section 4. Beth insists they stop at a farm stand on their way to town. The elderly lady sells Jack a pack of mums seeds.

Section 5 begins with Beth helping Jack plant the mums in...