The mock orange flowers after which the poem is titled symbolize societally enforced gender roles. The speaker expresses her concern over the failure of sex to transcend these roles and create a more meaningful union between man and woman. The reappearance of the flowers throughout the poem shows that the speaker feels taunted by the flowers and what they represent. In referring to their “odor in the world” (24), the speaker brings the presence of the flowers to a scale much larger than just her bedroom, and we understand that the flowers symbolize these issues on a societal level.