Signet Classics Sons And Lovers [Mass Market Paperback]

 

 

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While "Sons and Lovers" would not be a best seller if it was written by a current day author, it was, for its times, quite controversial and forward-leaning and should always be considered one of fiction's classics. On its published date, 1914, the world was enamored with Freud's Oedipal fixation and found itself newly-awoken to the sexual side of humanity. Before this era, sexuality was either repressed or made a separate entity away from emotional caring. D.H. Lawrence relit the 'Oedipal candle' and the mother/son controversy went on. While neither Freud nor Lawrence ever fully understood their own sexuality, let alone that of others, this piece of autobiographical fiction allowed society to continue in its personal understanding of its physical self.

While I fully agree with other critics that the main thrust of this novel is the interaction of mother and son, I also feel there is much more that can be psychosocially understood from its reading. The mother, in today's terminology was a narcissist. All of her actions throughout this tale are directed back towards herself and her own happiness. She married a very handsome and well-built man because she mistakenly thought that he owned the house in which he was living and that he could provide for her in the manner in which she felt she deserved. When this proved false and her plans became futile, she turned her selfish need for personal fulfillment towards her sons. She felt that it was their duty, and not their choice, to make her happy. Throughout the novel Paul, the younger of the two, is left with this onerous and suffacating burden. In very short order he, too, changes his need structure to rely on her for his recognition and fulfillment. But, his mother being a narcissist, she can never provide this in a mature and caring manner. Instead, she does so in a self-devised and incomplete manner making Paul to always wanting more and more and never feeling complete. He, in turn, was never able to fulfill her insatiable needs of attention and personal fulfillment. Neither person took any responsibility for their own actions or their own psyche and, because of that, eventually developed a love/hate relationship with each other. This is dramatically shown in the fact that Paul, while continuing to profess his love and caring for her, actually murders his mother while she lie on her death bed.

In social situations the damage that Paul suffered at the hands of his mother, were generalized into the rest of his life. His work was never fulfilling, his love/hate relationship with his mother translated into an approach/avoidance behavior with women and his ultimate goals in life continued to focus on what would make his mother happy with little or no concern for himself. Because his mother had never equated her sexual life with any type of caring or emotion, Paul, too, made a divide between sex and love and often mistakenly confused one with the other. He never allowed himself to feel both together or, for that matter, had the capability to do so. The women in Paul's life had their own irrational agendas. One sacrificed her life while waiting for Paul to eventually admit his love for her and the other lived her life based solely on her own selfish and ego driven emotions while leaving rational thought unheeded. The author, if this truly is his autobiographical sketch, certainly lived and most probably died a very lonely and disturbed life. He never made the effort nor probably never had the emotional strength to understand himself as an independent being apart from the maternal demands that were continually laid at his feet.

While the subject of this book does merit 5 stars, I only gave it 4 stars because of the rambling and diffuse writing that occurs in the first half of the book. Yes, I understand that the author himself viewed life as a rambling and purposeless process but we, as readers. do not need to re-experience his self-confusion in order to fully understand it. We, too, have our own life experiences from which we can draw and do not need our hands held while we come to understand the author's internal insecurities. Nor do we need to have the various derivatives of the work 'hate' be used in nearly every paragraph in order to understand the love/hate relationship that the author had with everything around him. We, too, have a degree of intelligence that can comprehend intense negative feelings directed towards the world.

This story of the Morel family begins with a dramatic portrayal of the effect industrialization has on human lives. Mr. Morel, a coal miner in turn-of-the-century Britain, lives a life of drudgery, anger and desperation. He takes his frustrations out on his wife Gertrude, while the real source of his unhappiness is his own low self-esteem. Gertrude is embittered by his hardness and so looks to her sons to fill all her emotional needs. This constitutes Part One of the novel, which to this reviewer's taste is the more satisfying section. The detailed descriptions of the arguments and even outright fights between the married couple are as powerful as anything in fiction, and bleakly dramatize how poverty can destroy the very hearts and souls of the working classes. Morel is oppressed by his employer, so he in turn oppresses his wife, who emotionally smothers her sons. Fight the power!

All of which is what makes Part Two such a disappointment. The entire second half of the book revolves around the second son, Paul, and how his closeness to his mother makes it impossible for him to engage in satisfactory relationships with other women. Miriam, the milquetoast who yearns for a transcendent, spiritual love, cares for Paul so much that she lets him walk all over her. The much tougher and independent Clara introduces Paul to a more physically satisfying relationship, but neither of them has any real attachment to the other. The weakness of this second half is not just that it all seems to take far too long; it's that over time, the characters become very unsympathetic. None of them have the strength of will to break away from their failing relationships, despite the fact that these failures cast dark shadows across their lives. And there's certainly nothing tragic about these young people mooning about, complaining that their relationships aren't what they'd like them to be; most especially in the context of Part One, which reminds us that there are people in this world who are really suffering.

Readers who are deeply interested in the internal subtleties of male-female relationships (and this probably includes a majority of young women) will love this book. If the two parts were published separately, this reviewer would unhesitatingly give Part One five stars, while grudgingly giving Part Two three and a half. For Mama's boys (and those who've seriously dated them) this book certainly rates five stars, but others will find these characters so annoying that even four stars may seem generous.

'Sons And Lovers' is perhaps the most touching classic by D H Lawrence. The story revolves around the Morel family, a lower-middle class family living on the Nottingham coalfield. Initially, Lawrence vividly describes the hardships faced by Mrs. Morel in raising a family of three sons and a daughter while living from hand to mouth, in face of the frequent beatings delivered by an oft-drunk miner husband. For the larger part, he examines in detail the passionate relationship between Mrs. Morel and her second son, Paul. Disillusioned from her drunkard and temperamental husband and devastated by the death of her elder son, Mrs. Morel has high expectations from her second son, Paul. At the same time, Paul is torn between his duty towards his beloved mother, and his passion for the two other women in his life, Clara and Miriam. It is widely believed that through this novel, Lawrence has addressed the dynamics of his own complicated relationship with his mother, and has depicted the dilemma that faced him. D H Lawrence has masterfully handled the fragile subject of intimate relationships between loved ones. In my view, it is a definite must-read. Also recommended: Waiting by Ha Jin, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez

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4.0 out of 5 stars A Complex Examination of Dysfunction
Emotional manipulation and possessiveness are at the core of this most intriguing novel. D.H. Lawrence's SONS AND LOVERS greets the reader with the author's elegant prose while... Read more

Published on Sep 23 2003 by D. Mikels

3.0 out of 5 stars strange love
knowing the reputation of this novel, i was curious to find out what the fuss was about. but i found that the best thing about the novel is the description of his family,... Read more

Published on Jun 29 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars Autobiographical and true to life
Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence. Recommended.

Sons and Lovers is said to be the most autobiographical of D. H. Read more

Published on May 26 2003 by Diane Schirf

5.0 out of 5 stars Mothers and Lovers
A tour de force! Bravo. It is story of Paul Morel who loves his mother more than himself. Mrs. Morel who is married to a ignorant, illiterate coal miner tries to find comfort,... Read more

Published on May 8 2003 by Vijay B. Kumar

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Look at Mother and Son Relationships
D. H. Lawrence's "Sons and Lovers" should have been titled "Mother and Sons", since it is an unflinching, at times harsh, look at a mother's relationship with... Read more

Published on Mar 29 2003 by John Kwok

5.0 out of 5 stars Just wonderful
I just loved this book, what a work of art. Only thing i disliked was the ending, i am still waiting and wondering, i assume that was the writers intention.... Read more

Published on Sep 20 2002 by Lizanne Malinowski

4.0 out of 5 stars I can't relate to Paul's relationship with his mother
In reading any novel you bring a certain amount of yourself and your experiences with others to the table, which helps you to understand the characters you meet. Read more

Published on Sep 5 2002 by Joe J. Kern

4.0 out of 5 stars Great!
I hated most of the characters, but I still loved this novel. It kept me interested the whole three days it took to read. Definitely read this book!

Published on Jun 1 2002

2.0 out of 5 stars I Guess I Just Don't Like DH Lawrence
This is the second Lawrence novel I have read, the first being Lady Chatterly's Lover. I didn't really like it to much but I recognized the man had talent. Read more

Published on May 10 2002 by Bill

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Piece of Literature
Taken at face value, this is a high caliber novel. Reading into it and discussing it with others elucidates many otherwise obfuscated themes and story lines. Read more

Published on Nov 26 2001 by Richard Dosik

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