An Analysis Of The Relations Between Men And Women Described In D.H. Lawrence's Sons And Lovers And The Rainbow

This paper gives an analysis of the relations between men and women described in D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers and The Rainbow, accentuating his criticism of the modern world of money and machinery.Sons and Lovers is almost a true record of Lawrence's own early life when he suffered from the abnormal affection to his mother. The story happens in the Morels where refined wife and earthy husband have the irreconcilable conflicts. The disappointed wife then turns to her son, who becomes her lover in part. It records a true episode of Lawrence's early life, especially the deep influence the abnormal Oedipus complex has on his spiritual and psychological development. This novel reflects Lawrence has already had a basic recognition of the relationship between men and women in the modern and mechanized society.Another novel, The Rainbow, vividly depicts the Brangwen three generations' pursuit of the harmony between men and women and the individual fulfillment. The rainbow is a cosmic symbol, promising an earthly form of fulfillment as well as humans' regeneration in the future. In this novel, Lawrence develops his penetration into men's drastic change of inner world that the industrialization brings in British society, reflecting the different relationship between men and women in new times.In his opinion, Lawrence indeed sees sex and intuition as a way to respond to the inhumanity of the industrial culture. The paper tries to prove that Lawrence's works have their own special values in the search of the meaning of the relations between men and women, men and society, and literature and reality.