篇一：读后感(儿子与情人-)sons-and-lovers
The Interpretation of the flowers in Sons and Lovers
Abstract
Sons and Lovers, written by DH Lawrence, is an earlier works that reflects both penetrating social problem and psychological problem. The theme of the novel is Paul Morel's relationship with his mother and her influence upon his development. This paper will talk about the symbol meanings of the flowers. In this novel, different flowers symbolize the three main different women, and reveal their human qualities, such as white lily symbolizes the pure mother's love; white roses and narcissi imply Miriam's pure spirit, whereas Miriam's intimacy to the flowers indicates that her tendency of possessing objects including Paul's soul; The crimson flowers refer to the passion of Clara. Here, the paper studies the relationship between flowers and main characters, showing that analyzing the meaning of the flowers is important to help us have a better understanding of the theme in the novel.
Key words: flowers, relationship, character
Introduction
Lawrence's novels are always full of vivid descriptions of natural environment to show that human beings need to live in a healthy and natural world. Also the natural objects such as trees, flowers, the moon and evenings imply symbolic meanings to make the novel significant. To understand the novel better, this paper tries to use a Semiotics approach to interpret the main symbols, so as to reveal the theme of the novel.
In Classics of Semiotics edited by Martin Krampen, Semiotics is thus defined: As a science of sign processes, semiotics investigates all types of communication and information exchange among human beings, animals, plants, internal systems of organisms. Thus it encompasses most of the subject areas of the arts and the social science, as well as those of biology and medicine. According to this theory, there should be some certain connections between the different flower symbols and the
three different kinds of women characters.
The Flowers Related to Mrs. Morel
Everything Paul does is for his mother. As it is, the flowers he picked can prove us that his mother is his only intimate and his only confidant. We can see this unnatural love at any occasion in the novel:
Then Paul fished out a little spray. He always brought her one spray, the best he could find. (63)
"Here's a bit of new-mown hay," he said; then, again, he brought her forget-me-nots. And, again, his heart hurt with love, seeing her hand, used with work, holding the little bunch of flowers he gave her. She was perfectly happy." (114)
When Paul takes his mother to Lincoln, She was bright and enthusiastic as ever, but as he sat opposite her in the railway carriage, she seemed to look frail. He had a momentary sensation as if she were sleeping away from him. Then he wanted to get hold of her, to fasten, almost to chain her. He felt he must keep hold of her with his hand. And later he bought her some blue violets. (222)
We know that the mother's love to the son is abnormal, but they are not aware of it. And even this feeling grows unconsciously just like the scyllas flowers growing quietly when Mrs. Morel doesn't know:
Under the fence, in a little bed, was a ravel of poor grassy leaves, such as come from very immature bulbs, and three scyllas in bloom. Mrs. Morel pointed to the deep blue flowers.
The white flowers are often related to Mrs. More to express her spiritual features. Let us examine the passage with which the first chapter of Sons and Lovers ends-where Mrs. Morel, pregnant with Paul, wanders deliriously in the garden, shut out of the house by Morel in his drunkenness. In the garden, she stands cold and isolated from the world, with great anguish, feeling the mystery of the nature and sensing the child within her womb:
Mrs. Morel leaned on the garden gate, looking out, and she lost herself awhile. She did not know what she thought. Except for a slight feeling of sickness, and her
consciousness in the child, herself melted out like scent into the shiny, pale air. After a time the child too, melted with her in the mixing-pot of moonlight, and she rested with the hills and lilies and houses, all swum together in a kind of swoon. (22)
After getting back in the house, the moment she notices that her face is smeared with the yellow dust of the lilies, she gets relieved, thinking the overpowering scent of the lilies and strange cold light of the moon. It is such a mystical moment that she finds peace in the sensation of her unborn child. This scene is the first indication of a special bond between the mother and the son.
Although it is very ordinary, sunflower in the novel is a symbol, too. It symbolizes the shelter that Paul seeks for. Wherever Paul goes, whatever he meets, he always seeks consolation from his mother, and his mother thinks so. We can see it from the following scenes:
There was a lovely yellow ravel of sunflowers in the garden. She looked out of the window. "There are my sunflowers!" she said. (352)
She sat propped in her chair, smiling, and so pretty. The gold wedding，ring shone on her white hand; Her hair was carefully brushed. And she watched the tangled sunflowers dying, the chrysanthemums coming out, and the dahlias. Paul and she were afraid of each other. He knew, and she knew, that she was dying. (357)
When Mrs. Morel is alive, the sunflower is flourishing, and when she is dying, the sunflowers are dying.
The Flowers Related to Miriam
Miriam loves flowers, but her love is unnatural. She "caress it with her mouth and cheeks and brow" (201). To her, "flowers appeared with such strength she felt she must make them part of herself" (160). The description of Miriam's love to the flowers indicates two aspects: 1. It is not appreciation of nature, but a sense of possession. 2. A sense of religion. For her, "she was cut off from ordinary life by her religious intensity which made the world for her either a nunnery garden or a paradise, where sin or else are ugly, cruel thing" (138). As a result, the love between Paul and her is doomed to be a failure. We can see this view from the following.
Paul passed along a fine row of sweet-peas, gathering a blossom here and there, all cream and pale blue. Miriam followed, breathing the fragrance. To her, flowers appealed with such strength she felt she must make them part of herself. When she bent and breathed a flower, it was, as if she and the flowers were loving each other. Paul hated her for it. There seemed a sort of exposure about the action, something too intimate. (160-1)
Miriam loves the flowers in a very intimate way; she always embraces and breathes the flowers, as if they loved each other. It seems that she wants to possess them. Just as Paul said that she wants to “suck them”, it also shows Miriam's unusual love to things including Paul. The narration of Miriam always connects with white roses and Christian figures to show her pure spirit and religious emotions. However, all these behaviors make Paul feel annoyed, believing that she wanted the soul out of his body, and not him. “She wanted to draw all of him into her.” (179)
Lawrence uses flowers to objectify the considerably milder sexual attraction of Miriam. In chapter VII:
The place was decorated for Easter. In the front hundreds of white narcissi seemed to be growing. The air was dim and thrilled with a subtle scent of lilies and narcissi. In that atmosphere Miriam's soul came into a glow…Miriam turned to him. Her soul expanded into prayer beside him. He felt the strange fascination of shadowy religious places. All his latent mysticism quivered into life. She was drawn to him. He was a prayer along with her. (155)
Lilies and narcissi in the scene indicate both Miriam’s virgin and her pure soul. And sex-consciousness always fills her with shame. But Paul is so attractive to her, so she would rather sacrifice herself to get the soul of him.
In the book, I believe Miriam may be the most miserable figure. While she has no idea what the religion has influenced her, she fails to get Paul, no matter how hard she tries.
The Flowers Related to Clara
Clara is a woman different from Mrs. Morel and Miriam. If we say the latter are spiritual, the former is passionate.
In the novel, being the symbol of passion, she is always connected with crimson. This is the first time that Paul meets Clara in formal occasion. The crimson nasturtiums that come out from the cool green shadow of their leaves predict the coming of Clara. What is more, it also gives hints that Paul will seek a sort of fire in passion.
The flowers in the novel stand for the Clara’s charm without doubt. And Paul is drawn into it completely.
When Paul and Clara went out, "He bought her a bunch of scarlet, brick-red carnations. She put them in her coat, flushing. (284)
When she arose, he, looking on the ground all the time, saw suddenly sprinkled on the black wet beech-roots many scarlet carnation petals, like splashed drops of blood; and red, small splashes fell from her bosom, streaming down her dress to her feet. (289)
In all, Clara's indiscretion makes their first intimacy easy for Paul, despite the hazards. However, they only are able to have sexual connection rather than spiritual words. An old lady in the novel once presents Clara with "three tiny dahlias in full blow, neat as bees, and speckled scarlet and white" (291). And it is clear that their getting together is made "because we were jolly."
Conclusion
As a writer, Lawrence has a great influence on Modern English literature, for he saw the empty soul of the flourishing society. The sons and loves is one of the great novels, and it is rich of all kinds of flowers between the lines, which, to some extent, is important for readers to understand the characters and the themes. After all, the symbolic interpretation of the main objects described many times in the novel has great benefits, and we should learn the flowers seriously in the future research of the sons and lovers.
篇二：儿子与情人英文读书
Book Report of Sons and Lovers
The book which written by D.H. Lawrence is mainly about love between a son and his mother. The first half of the novel focuses on the love between Paul and his mother, while the rest is about different kinds of love between Paul and two girls.
The elder son in the family is William who is a lawyer in London. Paul is the second son, whose mother was born in a middle-class family and she is cultured while his father is a miner in Nottinghamshire mine. His parents fall in love at first sight at a party and they live happily after they get married. Then they make money to support the family together.
Their happy time just lasts for a short time. After doing heavy work and seeing many colliery accidents, the father’s temper becomes very grumpy. The mother gets tired of her husband when seeing her drunken husband come back very late. They quarrel frequently and sometimes the husband even beats his wife. Paul’s mother usually hurts deeply after fighting. Day by day, she shows no interest in her husband, but devotes all her love and hope to her children, which results malformed motherly love.
William has died of overwork. Then the mother puts all her love to Paul. She encourages Paul to enter high class and become a famous person who can bring fame for her. In order to make up the defect in her marriage, she manages to make Paul not fall in love with other woman. She wants to control Paul’s spirit and even regards Paul as her ideal lover. The love from his mother deeply locks him up in a dark room and he cannot get out of it. Also, he feels painful.
Milian and Clara are two girlfriends of Paul. Paul has many interests in common with Milian, but she pursues fulfillment of her spirit too excessively and she is lack of passion. What’s more, she becomes the enemy of Paul’s mother. Paul has to consider his mother’s feeling even if he loves Milian. Clara lives in the lower class, separated her husband. She has a good relationship with Paul at first. However, they break up soon because the love between them is just lifeless.
After Paul’s mother has died, Paul gets rid of the fetter of his mother’s spiritual control. He could have been reconciled with Milian, but he still rejects her wedding request and chooses to be solitude in the end.
Motherly love is great but unilateral. It can only be the children’s love if it should be rewarded. However, the writer challenges the concept. He turns the love between the mother and the son into the love between lovers, which brings negative spirited burden to the son and the mother. The end is doomed to be a tragedy because it is against normal social ethic. But this kind of love is worthy to be thought about.
篇三：床头灯.I.儿子与情人.Sons.and.Lovers_ocr_识别无图版
SonsandLovers
Chapter One The Early Married Life of the Morels (I)
Ow.pter Two The Birth of Paul ... .. ... ... . ... ... ...... . ... .. . . , ( 10 )
Chapter Three The Casting off of Morel, the Taking on of William---(20)
Chapter Four The Young Life of Paul .... .. . . . .. ... .. ... . . . .. (30)
Chapter Five Paul Enters Adult Life .. . ......... . .. . . . ......... (40)
Chapter Six Death in the Family .. ... . . . · · .. .. .. ·· . . . . . . . . · . . · (50)
Chapter Seven fuy and Girl Love ,.. .. . . .. . . . .. .... .... . . ... . . . ( 62)
Chapter Eight Trouble in Love ... . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. ... (72 )
Chapter Nine The Defeat of Miriam ... ... ...... ...... ... ......( 82 )
Chapter Ten Clara ........................... . . . . . . . . . .... . .. ... ( 92 )
Chapter Eleven 1be Test of Miriam . .. .......... . . . . . . . . . .. (102)
Chapter Twelve Passion ..... , ..... , .. , ................... ,"" (114)
Chapter Thirteen Mr. Dawes .. .. . ... .... ...... ... ..... .. .. ... ( 125 )
Chapter Fourteen The Release . . ......... ....... . . . . . ....... . .. (34)
Chapter Fifteen Destroyed . . .... . .. , ... " , ... , ........... , . ... (140)
Chapter One
-
-,
- CHAPTER ONE The Early Married Life of the Morels Mrs. Morel had been married. for eight years when she and her family moved to the mining town of Bestwood. They had only been in their new home three weeks when the town fair began. Morel, her husband, had left early in the morning. William, a seven-year-old hoy, left after breakfast. Annie, who wa.'l only five, cried. to her mother that she wanted to go to the fair. But Mrs. Morel did not know any of her neighbors well enough to trust themwith taking her little girl to the fair. So she promised to take her after lunch.
William returned for lunch at half-past twelve. He
was a very active boy. with blond hair. "Can I have my lunch now,
mother?" he asked. "You can have your lunch as soon as it's ready,"
said the mother. "Is it ready yet, I'm going to be late," he said, while his blue eyes stared at her. "N '
0, you won t, ''she '
sald. When lunch was ready, William ate it very
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iii&.Is and Lovers
quickly. As soon as he had finished, he ran for the door
and left without saying a word. Annie started crying that she wanted to go to the fair too.
"You shall. you shall," said MrsMorel. .
So.later in the afternoon, she and her daughter climhed the hill leading to the fair. MrsMorel did not like fairs. She went to get .
Annie some sweets. When she returnedWilliam ran up to her with two cups he .had won. "I won these in the game where you have
.to throw the balls into the holes, .he said, very excited. She knew that
he had won them for her. "They are very pretty ... she said.
He was full of excitement now that his mother had come. He thought that she was the most beautiful woman at the fair. The small boy took great pride in his mother. So he was very sad when she told him that it was time she and Annie went home. He stood watching them walk down the hill, but soon the excitement of the fair took hold of him again.
William returned home at half-past six. He asked if his father had returned yet.
"No. he will be drinking with his friends is my
" guess, said Mrs. Morel.
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Chapter One
When her children went to sleep, MrsMorel was left alone. She .
thought about her life and how nothing in it would change until the children grew up. She thought about the child that was growing in..<;ide her and how at the bottom of her beartshe knew that she
didn't want it. She hated the child's father, drinking himself stupid at the fair. She told herself that she would leave if it wasn't for William and Annie .
At half-past eleven her husband came home. His face was very red above his black beard. She knew that he was drunk. He talked on and on in a drunken way about what had happeoed that day. Mrs. Morel. whowas tired and sick of his talk. went to bed as soon as possible.
MrsMorel had come from a proud old family. Her father, George .
Coppard, was an engineer. He was Iallaodhaodsome. with blue eyes. Gertrude looked 8lOre like her mother, small with brown hair. But her personality was like her father's. strongand proud. George Coppard. whose father had lost all his money when the cloth business became bad. George hated his own poverty. He was a bitterman. Gertrude hated how he treated her gentle and kind mother.
When she was twenty-three she met the twenty
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iiiSons and Lovers
-
- seven year old Walter Morel at a party. He was tall with black hair and a big black beard. He was very different from the men she had met before. He laughed loud and often, and he seemed full of life. She was the opposite. She was usually quiet and thoughtful. Nothing excited her more than an argument with an educated maIl. At heart she was a very serious woman. Walter Morel thought she was amazing. To the miner she represented all that was outside of his world. She spoke very well and in an educated way. This thrilled him. She watched him dance. He danced very well, as if it was natural for him to dance. His grandfather had come from France and married an English girl. Gertrude watched him dance and laugh and thought that he was wonderful. Her father never
dancedor laughed; he was far too serious. And even though she was very much like her father, there was something about this young miner that captured her imagination. He seemed so full of happiness and life.
He came and stood in front of her. She felt wann inside as if she had been drinking wine. "Will you come and dance with me?" he asked. She told him that she oouldn'tdance. She looked
athim and smiled. Her smile was very beautiful. It
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