"The Daffodil Sky" does not directly reflect upon larger social issues, focusing instead on the personal concerns of its protagonist and a handful of other characters. Nonetheless, the story does provide a general image of post-World War II England. Bates's vivid descriptions of the bleak and blackened town in which his story is set reflect the state of England during the 1950s—a nation left diminished both by the cost of its recent war effort and by the loss of its last major overseas colonies. By 1955, when "The Daffodil Sky" appeared, the worst of the daily inconveniences of post-war life—the shortages of food, fuel, building materials, and automobiles— was over.

In order to get the economy back on track, however, England's government had also altered the economy in fundamental ways. Important sectors, including coal production, electrical utilities, health care, and transportation, had...