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Sons and Lovers
Sons and Lovers was written in 1913, and contains many autobiographical
details. His experience growing up in a coal-mining family provided much of
the inspiration for Sons and Lovers. Lawrence is often regarded as
one of the famous modernists in early 20th century, but he is more a
modernist in theme than in experiment and new technique. Many of Lawrence's
novels are very controversial because of their frank treatment of sex. This
treatment is evident as well in Sons and Lovers, with his vague use
of language and the obscure treatment of sex in the novel. In the novel
there is realistic description of mining life in the Midlands. The novel
distinguishes itself for its significant disposal of the psychological and
emotional changes with the development of the novel. The strong bond of
mother and son is always regarded as representation of “Oedipus Complex”,
though the interpretation may not be agreed by the author for his just
limited influence of
Freud.
The novel begins with the unhappy marriage of Mrs.
Morel. Her husband is a miner who indulges in drinking and treats her badly.
Estranged from her husband, Mrs. Morel takes comfort in her four children,
especially her sons. First her oldest son, William, and then Paul becomes
her favorite. After the death of William Paul becomes the focus of her life,
and the mother and the son are closely linked and seem to live for each
other. Later Paul falls in love with Miriam Leivers, who lives on a nearby
farm. For years the relationship of the two is intimate, but purely
platonic. Paul meets Clara Dawes, a married woman estranged from her
husband. As he becomes closer with Clara and they begin to discuss his
relationship with Miriam, she tells him that he should consider consummating
their love and he returns to Miriam to see how she feels. Paul and Miriam
sleep together and are briefly happy, but shortly afterward break off, for
he realizes that he don’t want to marry her. After breaking off his
relationship with Miriam, Paul begins to spend more time with Clara and they
begin an extremely passionate and sensual love affair. Paul's mother falls
ill and he devotes much of his time to caring for her. When she finally
dies, he is broken-hearted and realizes he loves his mother most. He goes
off alone at the end of the novel.
In the novel Lawrence described conflict between a
coarse father who was regarded as crude and illiterate but intelligent
father with vitality and a refined but over-demanding mother. Imprisoned by
her love, Paul meets much frustration in dealing with the relation with
girls in his life. When Lawrence worked on the novel, he was trying to give
a more thorough thing about his feeling towards his parents. His attitude
toward his father had changed. He believed that mankind was dehumanized in
the modern industrialized society taken up by machine, intellectualism and
materialism. People should turn to the primitive and instinctive in their
body and flesh to resume the relation between human being and nature. The
following paragraphs are excerpted from Chapter IV,
“The Young Life of
Paul”:
“The boy walked all day, went miles and miles, rather
than own himself beaten and come home to her empty-handed. She never
realized this, whilst he was young. She was a woman who waited for her
children to grow up. And William occupied her chiefly.
But when William went to Nottingham, and was not so much at
home, the mother made a companion of Paul. The latter was unconsciously
jealous of his brother, and William was jealous of him. At the same time,
they were good friends.
Mrs. Morel’s intimacy with her second son was more subtle and
fine, perhaps not so passionate as with her eldest. It was the rule that
Paul should fetch the money on Friday afternoons. The colliers of the five
pits were paid on Fridays, but not individually. All the earnings of each
stall were put down to the chief butty, as contractor, and he divided the
wages again, either in the public-house or in his own home. So that the
children could fetch the money, school closed early on Friday afternoons.
Each of the Morel children-William, the Annie, then Paul-had fetched the
money on Friday Afternoons, until they went themselves to work. Down all the
paths, women, girls, children, and men were seen trooping to the offices.”
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