Sons And Lovers: A Green Study

D. H. Lawrence is one of the greatest English writers in the 20th century and a man of vision. He expresses in Sons and Lovers, his masterpiece, his ardent hope of a harmonious relationship between man and nature through a close examination of the influence exerted by industrial civilization on men's material and psychological domain. Meanwhile alienation in the flourishing industrial society is indentified; its remedy has been incessantly sought in his fiction and non-fiction alike. This thesis strives to review it from the perspective of ecocriticism and disclose Lawrence's philosophy of nature and its revelation on the current society.By referring to the theory of Deep Ecology, the thesis examines Sons and Lovers in the ecological system with nature, society and ethics considered as a whole, so as to reveal the man-and-nature relationship that Lawrence hopes for, frowns upon and constructs. The study touches on the similitude between Lawrence's ecological attitudes and the traditional Chinese Taoist concepts of "the unity of man and heaven" and "the Yin-Yang". In this way, his ecological attitudes are elaborated from a different cultural background.The thesis begins with the presentation of Lawrence's preference for returning to nature and his advocating the healthy aspects gained by a pro-nature life. By comparing the brightness and darkness in Lawrence's description concerning nature and industry, it claims that Lawrence's aspiration that human excessive interference with the non-human world should be lessened is manifested by his shadowy depiction of industry. Then it analyzes alienation resulted from marriage and kinship which were subjected to the change of production mode at the turn of the 20th century. What we have to bear in mind is that to identify the problems in the rising industrial society doesn't necessarily mean changing the status quo. At the end of the study, after a research into Lawrence's major essays pertaining to ecological philosophy is conducted to complement his dualistic eco-view reflected vaguely in Sons and Lovers, the remedy prescribed by Lawrence against the mechanical life in the industrialized society is illustrated, i.e. to preach the primitivism and blood consciousness as a way to avoid alienation. By and large, his remedy, which denounces anthropocentrism and calls for unity between man and nature, conforms to the holistic idea proposed by the deep ecology. Lawrence's dualistic philosophy and his appeal for decentrism run parallel with Chinese Taoist's concepts of "the unity of man and heaven" and "the Yin-Yang".