Sons and Lovers is a significant novel because it potrays the working class with an inwardness feeling seldom seen in English novel. As it renders effectively the power and mystery of sexual passion and recognizes it to wholesome existence. It makes sensible use of images and symbols to communicate it’s vision. Thanks to it’s richness and complexity we find a variety of approaches to this novel. Some can be classified on the basis as autobiographical, sociological, psychoanalytical, feminist and structural.
D.H. Lawrence’s work Sons and Lovers could be the best picture of the industrial working class lifestyle. The portrayal of characters are free from patronising humour or romantic identification. D.H. Lawrence himself described his work as a novel that deals with the life of the mining community in Nottinghamshire, England. He extends the boundaries of English fiction which was supposed to be the Bourgeois class. There is a dual achievement of miracle of language as well as the inwardness with subject.
Sons and Lovers is a novel about a young man’s excessive even erotic attachment with his mother, his jealousy with his father and his inability to give his another woman complete love. Paul Morel’s joyful declaration “I am the man in the house now” (Pg. 102) to his dreamof living in a cottage with his mother have the ingredients of Oedipus drama. However, Lawrence did not write a novel to illustrate this theory. It is infact a novel that comes closest to real – life experiences. It is said that D.H. Lawrence came to know about this theory through Frieda Weekley, who was his life – long companion, towards the stages of the completion of Sons and Lovers. The degree to which the personal relationships in the novel comply with Si...
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... answer to her problems, rather he is just a substitute to help Connie find in order to find satisfaction in her life.
Secondly, Once Connie becomes tired of Mellors's personality she will find herself just as unfulfilled as when she became bored with Clifford. There was no change in Clifford that brought about Connie's change in attitude. She did not immediately resent his impotence, but she grew tired of his personality which she had come to know too well. Something about Connie led her away from Clifford, it was she who brought about her own dissatisfaction, Clifford only happened to be the man she was with when she became resentful of her position. Connie will come to know Mellors just as well as she knew Clifford. She has uprooted herself from the self-ascribed tragic turns her life has taken, and placed herself among new "little hopes" and "little habitats."
Monster is an example of what Patty Campbell would call a “landmark book.” Texts such as these “encourage readers to interact with the text and with one another by employing a variety of devices, among them ambiguity” (Campbell 1) Because it is told through the eyes of Steve himself, the plot can be difficult to decipher. It is ambiguous whether he is innocent or guilty of being involved with the crime. Steve learned to make things unpredictable from his film teacher Mr. Sawicki who teaches him, “If you make your film predictable, they’ll make up their minds about it long before it’s over” (19). Steve took his teacher’s advice and made this film script entirely unpredictable, even after it is over. His lawyer, O’Brien, says in her closing statement, “What can we trace as to the guilt or innocence of my client, Steve Harmon?” (245) This leaves the jury with an undoubtedly difficult decision, as well as the reader, because there are clues to both guilt and innocence in Steve’s case.
All in all, from this vivid analysis of the role of marriage in “A Doll’s House” and “The House of Bernarda Alba”, one can see that marriage did not have much value and was completely devoid of emotion. In these two tragedies the idea of marriage is influenced by the cruel society and its orthodox views and beliefs in general that mould a “model” citizen. Ultimately, in both of these works of literature, marriage is a key theme that forms a substantial amount of the plot of the story and marriage is also an element that repressed individuals in the dramas who finally took extreme measures to free themselves from the unrelenting grasp of societies vortex.
Connie is only concerned about her physical appearance. She can be described as being narcissistic because "she had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirror or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right" (Oates 148). Connie wants her life to be different from everyone else's in her family. She thinks because she is prettier, she is entitled to much more. She wants to live the "perfect life" in which she finds the right boy, marries him, and lives happily ever after. This expectation is nothing less than impossible because she has not experienced love or anything like it. She has only been subjected to a fantasy world where everything is seemingly perfect. This is illustrated in the story when Connie is thinking about her previous encounters with boys: "Connie sat with her eyes closed in the sun, dreaming and dazed with the warmth about her as if this were a kind of love, the caresses of love, and her mind slipped over onto thoughts of the boy she had been with the night before and how nice he had been, how gentle, the way it was in movies and promised in songs" (151).
Many stories talk about relationships, especially the ones between man and woman as couple. In some of them, generally the most popular ones, these relationships are presented in a rosy, sentimental and cliché way. In others, they are presented using a much deeper, realistic and complicated tone; much more of how they are in real life. But not matter in what style the author presents its work, the base of every love story is the role each member of that relationship assumes in it. A role, that sometimes, internal forces will determinate them, such as: ideas, beliefs, interests, etc. or in order cases external, such as society. In the story “The Storm” by American writer Kate Chopin and the play A Doll’s house by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen I am going to examine those roles, giving a special focus to the woman´s, because in both works, it is non-traditional, different and somewhat shocking, besides having a feminist point of view.
When approached by Arnold Friend at first, she was skeptical but was still charmed by him. As she began to feel uneasy, Connie could have used her intuition to realize that he was trouble. Once she had been engaged by Arnold, her life was over. The influences on Connie and her lack of instilled reasoning led to her down fall. Her family’s fragmented nature was echoed in her actions; consequently, she was unable to communicate with her parents, and she was never was able to learn anything of significance. She felt abandoned and rejected, because no one took the initiative to teach her how to make good decisions. Connie was unable to mature until she was faced with death and self sacrifice. In the end, her situation made it difficult for her to think and reason beyond the position she was in. By not being able apply insight, she fell into Arnold Friends lure. Misguidance by the parents strongly contributed to Connie’s
Oates takes us to a journey of rebellion as the protagonist sorts through self-created illusion in order to come to terms with her own sexual inexperience. Connie’s desires for attention from the opposite sex, her vanity and immaturity blind her to think of the real intentions of guys, in this case Arnold Friend. A character that many critics argue is real, yet, others argue it was created by Connie’s mind.
From an outside view, everything in relationships seems to be wonderful. However, on many occasions, taking a deeper analysis of the women and their daily lives, one can realize the true dangers they face around their husbands. It is important to understand the reasons why the women in the following stories behave and feel the way they do. Firstly, in the story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, the female character is in danger because her boyfriend wants her to have an abortion. Secondly, in the story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Louise Mallard is at risk because her husband, throughout years of marriage has limited her freedom. Finally, in the story of “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinback, it is the frustration Elisa Allen feels towards her life because her husband never shows admiration towards her beauty which leads her to have a melancholic and miserable life. Even though men took an important role in the stories, it is clear they were the cause of the women’s suffering and perilous lifestyles.
In a nutshell, Connie regrets her risky business with two personalities and the resultant attentions, which were also provoked due to her contact with the false environment (Oates 120). Arnold's penetrating threat finally causes Connie to feel exhausted and not able to be resistant to his aims. Therefore one could regard Connie as a girl in a woman's body because she is not able to act and react reasonably in crucial moments. In addition, one could regard Joyce Carol Oates' short story as an insistent warning of the unpredictability's of life.
Rubin attempts to convey the idea that Connie falls asleep in the sun and has a daydream in which her “…intense desire for total sexual experience runs headlong into her innate fear…” (58); and aspects of the story do seem dream like - for instance the way in which the boys in Connie’s daydreams “…dissolved into a single face…” (210), but the supposition that the entire episode is a dream does not ring true. There are many instances in which Connie perceives the frightening truth quite clearly; she is able to identify the many separate elements of Friend’s persona - “… that slippery friendly smile of his… [and] the singsong way he talked…” (214). But because of the lack of attachment with her own family, and her limited experience in relating deeply to others, “…all of these things did not come together” (214) and Connie is unable to recognize the real danger that Arnold Friend poses until it is too late.
Oates write this story with a purpose, as all short stories are written, yet she forces the reader to think of the ‘what ifs’ for each character. If Connie was not vain because of her family, she would not have made herself pretty to simply eat with her friends at the drive in restaurant. If Friend was not swayed at a young age that aggressive sexual actions and unsolicited pursuing are considered normal, he would not have been at that diner looking for a victim. No matter how much one thinks they make decisions for themselves, external and internal factors will always subconsciously shape the actions of an individual, and they will change the course of ones’
Connie has the need to be viewed as older and as more mature than she really is, all the while still displaying childlike behavior. She shows this childlike behavior by “craning her neck to glance in mirrors [and] checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right” (Oates 323). This shows that Connie is very insecure and needs other people’s approval. Although on one side she is very childish, on the other side she has a strong desire to be treated like an adult. This longing for adulthood is part of her coming of age, and is demonstrated by her going out to “bright-lit, fly-infested restaurant[s]” and meeting boys, staying out with those boys for three hours at a time, and lying to her parents about where she has been and who she has been with (Oates 325, 326). “Everything about her ha[s] two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home” (Oates 324). Even her physical movements represent her two-sided nature: “her walk that could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearin...
The fallout of the once blissful mother and son, and husband and wife, is inevitable as it was the predestined fate of the glorified king and savior of Thebes. Through Oedipus’s traits and motivations, interactions with others, and language of others it is evident that fate is not something you can run or hide from.
In Beloved, by Toni Morrison, the three recurring symbols: colors, 124, and trees, enhances the meaning of the novel by showing the tragedies that occur for each symbol. Baby Suggs, Sethe’s mother, craves colors before she dies. The colors represent her last happiness. The numbers represent Sethe’s family and the number of children she has. The trees represents freedom and burdens on the slaves. Based on the title, the novel portrays itself as a haunted novel. After reading through the novel, not only is the house haunted by Beloved, but the characters are also haunted by their past as being slaves. At the end of the novel, Morrison shows that Sethe has escaped her barriers and the ghost.
Many authors are recognized by a reoccurring theme found throughout their works. The author D.H. Lawrence can be classified into this group. He is well known for his reoccurring theme that romantic love is psychologically redeeming. He wrote “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” , a short story that exemplifies this theme quite accurately, in 1922 (Sagar 12). Through excellent use of symbolism in “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter”, Lawrence renders his theme of romantic love being psychologically redeeming through the emotional development of the two main characters, Mabel and Dr. Fergusson.
Van Nortwick, Thomas. Oedipus: The Meaning of a Masculine Life. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.