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D. H. Lawrence used his novels Sons and Lovers and Women in Love to express his unhappy views toward his family and the world around him. Lawrence expressed himself through his other writings as well as these two novels to explain how he felt. Lawrence's family life, his too close connection with his mother, and the trials he had while growing up may have severely influenced his writings in his conscious and the unconscious mind. D.
H. Lawrence grew up in a family of four children. His Father was illiterate and his mother came from a higher class (Harrison, 1997, p. 1). This same situation was portrayed in the beginning of the novel Sons and Lovers when the narrator recalls his mothers family before she was married, Mrs. Morel came from a good old burgher family, famous independents who had fought with Colonel Hutchinson, and who remained stiff Congregationalists. (Lawrence, 1913, p. 8). Through the semi autobiographical Sons and Lovers we find out that Lawrence lived a very hard life in a house where there was very little love, Their marriage life had been one carnal, bloody fight.
I was born hating my father: as early as ever I can remember, I shivered with horror when he touched me. (Boulton, 1979, p. 190) Along with the difficult relationships that Lawrence had in his own household Lawrence had a difficult relationship with his hometown. Lawrence was considered a strange child because he was very intellectual like his mother. He enjoyed reading, writing and being academic rather than the idea of hard labour and work. He was a quiet child who kept to himself. (Harrison, 1997, p. 1). This idea was portrayed by the narrator, So Paul was towed round at the heals of Annie, sharing her game. She raced around wildly at leroy with the other young wild-cats of the Bottoms.
And always Paul flew beside her, living her share of the game, having as yet no part his own. He was quiet and not noticeable. (Lawrence, 1913, p. 52). His home town, Nottingham, affected Lawrence very deeply because of the way he was treated and much of his writings used Nottingham as the backdrop. In most of his novels the life and culture he grew up with in the mining town and in his own house were very apparent (Harrison, 1997, p. 1). Lawrence certainly suffered his whole life from the essential solitude to which his gift condemned him. (1999, ) In life Lawrence being the fourth child was loved by his mother but in his novel Sons and Lovers the role that is seen as Lawrence's was not his at first.
The older brother named William was the mothers favored child. See had a very intimate and close relationship with her older son. Lawrence's character only took over the role as the favored child after his older brother died (Salgado, 1970, p. 130). In Real life Lawrence did have an older brother who similarly was the favored child his name was Earnest. He, as the same as in the book, moved away and became a clerk. He made 120 pounds a year and was loved the most by his mother.
As in the novel William died a sudden death and Paul took the place of the dearly loved son. Mrs. Lawrence from then on made sure her son had everything that would get him out of the coal mining society (Worthen, 1997). Lawrence wrote the final version of his novel Sons and Lovers in 1913 after his mother died of a long and time consuming death (Lawrence, 1915, p. 5 (forward) ) Even as a child Lawrence was deeply devoted to his mother who was refined but domineering. She cared deeply for her son and insisted that he get a good education (Columbia Encyclopedia, 6 th Edition, p. 2).
In a letter that Lawrence wrote he explained just how close he was to his mother, This had been a kind of bond between me and my mother. We have loved each other, almost with a husband and wife love, as well as final and maternal. We knew each other by instinct... We have been like one, so sensitive to each other that we never needed words. It has been rather terrible, and has made me, in some respects, abnormal. (Lawrence, 1913, p. 10 (Introduction) ). In the novel Sons and Lovers He repeated this idea, Paul loved to sleep with his mother.
Sleep is still the most perfect, in spite of hygienists, when it is shared with a beloved. (Lawrence, 1913, p. 60) His relationship with his mother begins to account for his attitude toward sex. His particular experiences as being a son and a lover may have intensified his preoccupation with the subject; but they certainly did not make it. Whatever his experiences, Lawrence must have been preoccupied with sex. (Lawrence, 1915, (Commentary), p. 39). In the novel Women in Love he speaks about relationships as being near to evil.
Some critics saw Women in love as to be an obscene novel but are now looked upon as an intense psychological probing into human relationships. Some few critiques hailed his books as brilliant, others condemned them as neurotic and indecent. (World Book, D. H. Lawrence, 1998). Other works by Lawrence that spoke about his opinion of the world around were also seen as wrong. The Rainbow was seized in 1915 by police after it had been outlawed for being indecent, and the novel Women in Love was not published because its content was viewed as being not to the best interests of the public.
It was not until six years later that he could find a publisher that was willing to publish it (Lawrence, 1915, (Forward), p. 6). In November of 1914 after Great Britain had entered the war Lawrence wrote and published a collection of stories called The Prussian Officer which was considered politically and morally offensive but represented his views of the country entering the war (Lawrence, 1915, (Forward), p. 6). Some see these novels as a disease of modern life in all its manifestations. The life patterns that Lawrence reflects in Sons and Lovers and may have happened in his life are that of which have transgresses against the natural direction of life and the conditions in which humans normally live. His novels follow a very conventional and basic organizational way of writing that some critics see as nave and that of an amateur (Salgado, 1970, P. 112). This may have been a real factor in Lawrence's real life causing him to have such difficult relationships with women, including his wife.
Lawrence has a talent for imagery some see as a direct cause of his upbringing. His use of repetition becomes apparent and nagging in both novels Sons and Lovers and Women in Love (Salgado, 1970, P. 130). Lawrence may have used repetition because of the way his own life flowed as a child and as an adult. After he married, Lawrence traveled back and forth between Europe, Australia and the United States. In his novels his repetition is in the feelings he has. He goes back and forth between hate and love for people.
They experience more than classical satiety. Mad with love in one hour, in the next they are no less mad with hate. (Lawrence, 1915, (Commentary), p. 35). In the novel Women in Love Rupert and Ursula are walking down a road to Beldover. Rupert goes on about how he never wants to be in love and he thinks that Ursula should feel the same way.
After a few more sentences he stops and kisses her, he kissed he face and brow, slowly, gently, with a sort of delicate happiness which surprised her extremely, and to which she could not respond. (Lawrence, 1915, p. 192). Rupert is not sure of what he wants and throughout the entire novel he repeatedly goes back and forth between his love for her and his feelings that he doesnt want to love. Lawrence in his own life mimicked this novel by the way he treated his wife. Lawrence wavered back and forth between love and the lack of need for his wifes love.
While writing The Rainbow and Women in Love Lawrence bordered on mental instability, sexual confusion and experimentation. These his outrageous actions had many times challenged his marriage, caused endless health reversals and caused him and his wife to start living in different countries for a period of time as well (Lawrence, 1915 (Forward), p. 6). He ended his life with his wife, living together again, but not until after they had a very turbulent filled life (Lawrence, 1915, (Introduction), p. 2). He recorded all of these trails and tribulations in a poem cycle named Look! We Have Come Through (Lawrence, 1915, (opening) p. 6).
Lawrence left no part of his life untouched. People now feel that he wrote to discover what he thought, what was thinking in him on an unconscious level and why he thought it (Lawrence, 1915, (Introduction), p. 14). Even Lawrence himself realized that my novels pretend only to be a record of the writers own desires, aspirations, struggles; in a word, a record of the profoundest experiences in the self. (Lawrence, 1915, (Forward), p. 30). With these statements made there are no arguments that even though his writings were controversial. They reflected his own opinions of the world and his family. Bibliography 1. "Biography of D.
H. Lawrence" John Worthen, 1997 web 2. D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers. 1913. 1999, Wordsworth Classics, Hertfordshire, England. (Introduction and Novel) 3. D.
H. Lawrence, Women in Love. 1915. 1999, Modern Library Edition, New York, USA. (Commentary, Forward by D. H. Lawrence, Introduction, Forward. ) 4.
World Book 1999. CD-ROM version. 1998 IBM Corp. D. H. Lawrence. 5. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001 Columbia University Press.
Life. web 6. Sons and Lovers Critical Commentary, Edited by Gaming Salgado. , Aurora Publishers Inc. , Nashville/London, 1070. P. 112, 130. (Dorothy Van Ghent's (1953), Seymour Betsy, Rhythm and Theme (1953) ). 7. Eastwood and D. H.
Lawrence. Nigel Harrison, 1997. web h / dhl . htm
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