Sons and Lovers

Edited Original Cover Illustration by Anne-Marie Jones. 

Sons and Lovers - D.H Lawrence

1913

Sons and Lovers was one of the first novels D.H Lawrence wrote. It is a vivid description of a man's journey into adulthood and is widely attributed to be an autobiographical work with many parallels to Lawrence's own life. Sons and Lovers broke boundaries in literature by depicting the common workingman's life after the industrial revolution from a omniscient narrator's perspective. The life of the industrial working class had never been chronicled in this way before, as most successful writers of the Victorian era came from much more privileged backgrounds, few had the insight into the minds and lives of the proletariat as Lawrence did. 

Sons and Lovers follows the life of the Morel family, focusing particularly on Mrs Morel and the life of her son Paul. In many ways it is a bildungsroman and depicts Paul's coming of age through his relationships with the women that dominate his life. His mother is an overarching force throughout the novel:

Mrs Morel is a fiercely protective mother and becomes a destructive force over her children, particularly her sons William and Paul. Hardened by the failure of her marriage, her love for her children takes a predominantly non-emtional and authoritative role that is nevertheless extremely strong and powerful, despite lacking the softness of affection that often accompanies smothering parenthood. This hardened attitude of Mrs Morel, it could be argued is not only due to the coldness in the breakdown of the relationship with her husband but also a product of her environment - the industrial, dark mining village "Hell Row" that keeps its inhabitants refined to a life of man-made logic which is a way of life which is contrasted against the environment of his first love interest, Miriam who lives steeped in the much more sensual setting of nature on a farm. "There was something in the air. His own mother was logical. Here there was something different, something he loved."It's in this much more spiritual environment that his love with Miriam is sparked "It was in this atmosphere of subtle intimacy, this meeting in their common feeling for something in nature, that their love started."

Mrs Morel, previously from a higher class of society, feels trapped and isolated in the mining village and her marriage "she was sick of it, the struggle with poverty and ugliness and meanness" and this hatred for her own life, class and spouse only fuels further her incessant love of her children "she turns to the child; she turned from the father". She lives through them and for them "His wife was casting him off, half regrettingly, but relentlessly; casting him off and turning now for love and life to the children". Mrs Morel invests all her hopes and aspirations she has failed to achieve in her own life in her children "now she had two sons in the world and these men could work out what she wanted" she seeks, not only to make up for her class divide but also her gender through her sons "they were derived from her, they were of her, and their works would also be hers". This fixation with Paul in all areas of his life is a wholly destructive force for both herself and her sons: after William's death she is "shut off", however she attaches herself more than ever to Paul "her life became rooted in him". Anything that threatens Mrs Morel's full, overreaching presence as the primary and most significant love of his life leaves her floundering, butter and lost "she could feel Paul being drawn away by this girl. And she did not care for Miriam." She strives to keep Paul close to her, not for his own benefit, but for her own, selfish devotion. 

Quotes about Miriam: 

"She is one of those who will want to suck a man's soul out till he has none of his own left," she said to herself; "and he is just such a gaby as to let himself be absorbed. She will never let him become a man; she never will."

"Can you never like things without clutching them as if you wanted to pull the heart out of them?" 

“Recklessness is almost a man's revenge on his woman. He feels he is not valued so he will risk destroying himself to deprive her altogether.” 

"You don't learn algebra with your blessed soul. Can't you look at it with your clear simple wits?"

"They were going to have a communion together - something that thrilled her, something holy"