Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Sons and lovers.
- D.H.Lawrence
- Initially titled “Paul Morel,” Sons and Lovers, published in 1913, is D. H. Lawrence’s third novel.
- David Herbert Lawrence was born in 1885 in
Nottinghamshire, England where his father was a
miner. His experience growing up in a coal-mining
family provided much of the inspiration for Sons and
Lovers. Lawrence had many affairs with women in his
life, including a longstanding relationship with Jessie
Chambers (on whom the character of Miriam is
based), an engagement to Louie Burrows, and an
eventual elopement to Germany with Frieda Weekley.
Sons and Lovers was written in 1913, and contains
many autobiographical details.
- he story recounts the coming of age of Paul Morel, the second son of Gertrude
Morel and her hard-drinking, workingclass husband, Walter Morel, who made his
living as a miner. As Mrs. Morel tries to find meaning in her life and emotional
fulfillment through her bond with Paul, Paul seeks to break free of his mother
through developing relationships with other women.
- The novel was also heavily censored. Edward
Garnett, a reader for Duckworth, Lawrence’s
publisher, cut about 10 percent of the material
from Lawrence’s draft. Garnett tightened the
focus on Paul by deleting passages about his
brother, William, and toning down the sexual
content. In 1994, Cambridge University Press
published a new edition with all of the cuts
restored, including Lawrence’s idiosyncratic
punctuation.
- The novel thus far is told from a third person perspective, but
the narrator is closest to Mrs. Morel. The narrator is partially
omniscient; he can narrate the thoughts of Mrs. Morel, but not of
the other characters. Throughout the novel the perspective of the
narrator changes, so the best description of the narrative mode
of the novel is probably third person omniscient.
- One narrative technique that is presented in this chapter and throughout the novel is the use of the iterative mode
to suggest events happening the same way a number of times. Frequently-employed iterative words and phrases
such as ‘would’ and ‘used to’ suggest repeated events, and this suggestion contributes to the novel’s confusion of
time periods by making it unclear how many times an event happened.
- We can see the way the narrative
perspective has shifted from that of Mrs.
Morel to that of Paul through the way Mrs.
Morel’s trip to the hospital is narrated. The
narrator describes Mrs. Morel leaving for
the hospital, and then he describes her
returning; the events that happen outside
of the house seem to be outside the
narrative field of vision. However, this is
not the case later in this chapter, when
Paul goes to Nottingham to work. This
suggests that Paul has become the
primary focus of the narration
- This chapter is Miriam’s last attempt finally to possess Paul, now that the obstacle of his mother is out of the way.
However, by the end she sees the futility of her efforts and realizes that, even in death, Mrs. Morel still owns Paul
and he can never be hers. Paul says of his mother that, “She was the only thing that held him up, himself, amid all
this. And she was gone, intermingled herself. He wanted her to touch him, have him alongside with her.” This
completes the book’s treatment of the relationship between Paul and Mrs. Morel and illustrates the way that his
love for her has remained constant throughout.