Paper Summary:

The paper describes how in "Sons and Lovers", D. H. Lawrence presents the Morel family, a family situated firmly in one setting, with one job, one landscape and one set of parents, and thus, the family is rooted in one place. The paper discusses how this profoundly impacts the happiness of the children of this family, but not in a good way. The paper notes that in fact, the sons are destroyed by the implacable centrality of the mother, Mrs. Morel. The paper relates that William dies young and Paul has a miserable adult life, so that, as Dorothy Van Ghent points out, by the end of the novel he is left "emotionally derelict, with only the 'drift toward death'" (2). Thus, the paper shows how strange as it may seem, it is only Mr. Morel who can be seen to be in any way happy, as he at least holds onto his sexuality and his selfhood.

From the Paper:

"In "Sons and Lovers", D. H. Lawrence presents the Morel family, a family situated firmly in one setting, with one job, one landscape and one set of parents. Thus, the family is rooted in one place. This profoundly impacts the happiness of the children of this family, but not in a good way. In fact, the sons are destroyed by the implacable centrality of the mother, Mrs. Morel. William dies young and Paul has a miserable adult life, so that, as Dorothy Van Ghent points out, by the end of the novel he is left "emotionally derelict, with only the `drift toward death'" (2). Thus, strange as it may seem, it is only Mr. Morel who can be seen to be in any..."

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