Estimated Reading Time: 7 min
The Summary of The Ox by H. E. Bates
The story, The Ox describes Mrs. Thurlow’s life as one of constant hard work. She lives with her husband, Thurlow, and their two sons in an exposed house on a small hill.
Every morning, she pushes a heavy, rusty bicycle down the hill, loaded with washing, oil cans, and other goods. She can never ride it because of the weight. She is described as being like a “beast of burden” with “flat heavy feet pounding painfully”.
Mrs. Thurlow’s day involves cleaning for four different employers. She works from early morning until late evening. She rarely thinks about herself.
Her focus is on her husband and, more importantly, her two sons. She dreams of them achieving “refined ambitions,” like becoming shop assistants, clerks, or even butlers.
A Life of Hardship
To make this future possible, she has saved money for fifteen years. She hid fifty-four pounds in a bran bag under a mattress in the back bedroom. This money was her “creed” and represented her sons’ future, “two lives”.
She wanted to save £100 and earn extra money by picking and planting potatoes, and doing more washing. She often worked by candlelight.
Even in her sleep, she dreamed of working and counted her money. She feared it might disappear. Her only relaxation was reading old newspapers. She collected these from the houses where she worked.
Through them, she briefly escaped her small world. Her face, however, remained “ox-like” and showed no emotion. Her husband, Thurlow, often claimed a “silver plate” in his head prevented him from working. He was wounded on the Marne.
He frequently complained about his plate causing him pain, making him seem “wild and vacant”. On weekends, he often returned home “tipsy”. He rode his bicycle like a “comic rider”. In pubs, his only topic was his “solid silver plate”.
A Sinister Turn
One Sunday, Thurlow came home later than usual. Mrs. Thurlow saw him hiding something under his coat near the woodshed. She thought it was his billhook. He lied, saying he was taking the saw to be sharpened. But she could see the saw hanging in the woodshed. Thurlow then rode off, his coat “bunched up”.
Immediately after he left, Mrs. Thurlow rushed upstairs. She discovered all her meticulously saved money was gone from under the mattress. She knew Thurlow had taken it. That night, Thurlow returned quietly before ten o’clock.
He went straight to the scullery and thoroughly washed his hands, repeatedly swilling the sink. His expression showed “wildness,” “fear,” and “defiance”.
Mrs. Thurlow checked the woodshed in the dark. Both the billhook and Thurlow’s bicycle were missing. She went to bed, perturbed and dreamed of Thurlow’s bicycle with the billhook as handlebars. Mrs. Thurlow felt blood rushing from her hands in terror. She woke up to find the bed empty and Thurlow gone.
Unable to do anything else, she rose at five o’clock to start her washing. When her sons came down, they noticed blood all over the sink. Mrs. Thurlow calmly told them, “Your dad killed a rabbit”.
As she pushed her bicycle down the hill, two police officers stopped her. They asked about Thurlow. They searched her house and noted the blood in the sink. She explained Thurlow had washed his hands there.
The Police Station
She insisted on taking her bicycle to the police station, believing she needed it for security. At the station, she was questioned for four hours. Mrs. Thurlow explained the situation to the police. The money was gone, and her husband’s behaviour was very strange. She also reported that the billhook was missing.
The woman knew the exact amount of money. It was fifty-four pounds, sixteen shillings, and fourpence. She said twenty-eight of those pounds were in gold coins. The police then shared some information.
They told her Thurlow had argued with a man from London at the Black Horse pub. During the argument, Thurlow became very threatening while talking about his “silver plate.” No one has seen the man from London since that time.
Mrs. Thurlow’s main concern remained the money. She viewed it as “bone and flesh, blood and sweat”. It symbolised her sons’ future. Its loss, to her, was as terrible as a life being destroyed.
Later that afternoon, the police called her back. They informed her that the man’s body had been found in a spinney. He was killed by a sharp instrument “like an axe”.
A warrant had been issued for Thurlow’s arrest. She again asked about the money. They told her it would be found with Thurlow. Despite this grim news, Mrs. Thurlow still expected Thurlow to be home.
She decided to take her bicycle and walk four miles to her brother’s house in the next village. Her brother was a “master carpenter” and a man of “straight-grained thinking”. He lived in a neat, electrically-lighted house. Her family had openly disapproved of Thurlow for fifteen years.
Investigation
Mrs. Thurlow, in her mud-stained clothes, told her brother that Thurlow was suspected of murder and had taken all her money. She asked him to take her sons “Till it’s blowed over”. He agreed. She told her boys about “a little trouble”. She explained their father “took some money,” and they would stay with their uncle “for a bit”. The boys were excited.
The next morning, Mrs. Thurlow checked for the money again. She noticed her bicycle’s back tyre had a slow puncture. The police arrived and informed her, “We got Thurlow”.
Her immediate question was, “Is he got the money?”. They said they hadn’t had time to look. As she pushed her bicycle, the policeman told her Thurlow had done “something more serious than taking money”.
She considered this with “dull astonishment”. She firmly believed nothing could be more serious than the loss of her money. It represented “a huge and irreplaceable section of her life”.
At the police station, amidst crowds and posters proclaiming “Metford Murder Arrest,” she was told Thurlow was charged with murder. She asked once more, “He say anything about the money?”.
She was allowed to see Thurlow in his cell. He looked strange in a new, ill-fitting suit. His short sleeves made his hands look defeated.
She repeatedly asked him about the money. Thurlow stared blankly and shook his head, unable to remember anything about it. Mrs. Thurlow left, feeling bewildered and lost. She insisted on picking up her bicycle and found a sense of security gripping its handlebars.
A Future Lost
She continued her cleaning jobs. But the thought of the missing money resurfaced with “bitterness”. On Sunday, she read newspapers filled with stories of Thurlow. She noted the absence of any mention of the money, “the only thing that mattered”.
She believed that the money would return. Thurlow’s fate seemed secondary to her lost ideals. In their last meeting, Thurlow’s face was still fixed in “defeat”. He still could not remember anything about the money.
After Thurlow’s death, Mrs. Thurlow, in springtime, pushed her bicycle to her brother’s house. She believed she was pushing “forward into the future”.
She hoped the boys’ return would overcome the loss of Thurlow and the money. Her brother, however, told her, “The boys ain’t coming back no more”. She was stunned and did not understand.
He explained that they were doing well and wanted to stay. He could take them into his business. They thought Thurlow was in jail for stealing money.
When the boys were asked, they both confirmed their desire to stay with their uncle. They said, “Here. We want to stop here”.
Mrs. Thurlow stood silent and felt her “crushed core of optimism and faith”. She refused her brother’s offer for a ride. She pushed her bicycle slowly home in the darkness and felt as though she was pushing “forward into nowhere”.
Her back tyre slowly deflated. As she struggled up the hill to her house, she had a fleeting impression that she might “never reach it”.
After reading this summary, challenge yourself and test your understanding with specially prepared MCQs on The Ox by H.E. Bates.
