Views of Life of D.H. Lawerence
Views of Life of D.H. Lawerence
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 mother’s 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 semiautobiographical 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 lerky 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...