She was quite a different character to Miriam in this regard, and in the end, I liked her best.Īs I mentioned above, there wasn’t really much of a plot to Sons and Lovers. She was strong in character, but possessed a fragility in stark contrast to this strength, which made her brashness seem like a front. I didn’t like Clara Dawes, Paul’s older lover, initially, but as her relationship with Paul developed, and her character along with it, I found her to be rather endearing and likeable. Her ultimate realisation of the truth of her relationship with Paul made me want to give a little sigh of celebration I was proud of her. However, by the end of the novel, it was evident that despite her apparent meekness, she was incredibly strong and perceptive.

Miriam, Paul’s childhood love, seemed to be the sweet girl-next-door kind of character meek and supplicating, she came across as being willing to do, and put up with, anything for love. Her actions didn’t seem malicious or cruel I don’t believe she set out to ruin her sons’ potential love lives, but instead she wished for them to be happier in their marriages than she was. A less-than-ideal marriage, the death of a child, living beneath her station…everything points towards a woman unlucky in love and life. I think Lawrence made him out to be made this way through his mother’s influence, but I simply didn’t like him. He was selfish and arrogant, unfeeling and rather nasty at times. He seemed spoiled and pathetic, incapable of thinking for himself at the same time as incapable of thinking of anyone but himself. However, by the end of the novel, I didn’t like him at all. Initially, I felt some compassion for Paul, sorrow for the power his mother had over him, and pity for the choices he made. As I read, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the story of Oedipus, such were the relationships between them. The novel’s protagonist is Paul Morel, a young man with an intense, passionate love for his mother, and an intense hatred of his father. Sons and Lovers is said to be semi-autobiographical if this is true, then Lawrence certainly had a very interesting relationship with his mother. It was the characters, and the intensely woven relationships between them, that had me wanting more. It wasn’t, however, the gripping plot that kept me interested, for there really wasn’t much of a plot at all. Initially, I found the chapters to be incredibly long and rather monotonous, but as the story progressed, it became more of a page-turner than I expected. This is my first experience of reading Lawrence, and now that I’ve finished, I can happily say I was pleasantly surprised. Book #749 Reviewer: Ange, of Tall, Short & Tiny

Dh lawrence novel and lovers