Roles Of Landscape Description In Sons And Lovers

David Herbert Lawrence is regarded as one of the prominent modernistic writers and an innovator in the realm of literature in the 20th century. Lawrence throws himself into probing into the organic relationship between natural landscapes and human beings since the creation of his first novel and makes prominent progress in his third novel Sons and Lovers, an autobiographical fiction, in which there is plentiful natural landscape description. Lawrence vividly portrays changes in nature to reflect the subtle emotional changes of the characters and he really does well in applying natural landscape to expose the characters'complicated ideas and emotions, and thus further reveals their inward psychological activities. The special description not only expose the characters'inner thoughts and touch upon their emotion and desire, but also reveal the themes of the novel and exhibit Lawrence's striking writing skill.This thesis mainly focuses on the application of landscape depiction in Sons and Lovers, consisting of the following five parts:The introduction is a survey of related literary reviews on the novel Sons and Lovers and the features of landscape description and its application in the novel. Sons and Lovers is mainly researched by many critics from the following aspects: the feature of autobiographical novel, the feature of Buildungsroman novel, the Freudian novel, Oedipal Complex, the use of symbolism, Lawrence's ideas on love, the eco-criticism, and so on.Chapter One analyzes the role of landscapes in presenting characters'unconsciousness. Lawrence deeply reveals characters'true nature and profound thoughts through exhibiting the characters'subtle psychological variation revealed by nature, so that their complex and changing thoughts can be better grasped by readers.Chapter Two discusses the role of landscape description in establishing mood. The characters have quite an intimate relationship with nature in the novel and the desire and real feelings are inspired by the mood created by the natural landscape, thus showing Lawrence's super writing skills.Chapter Three studies the role of landscapes in conveying multiple implications. Both specific and abstract natural landscapes can be skillfully used to symbolize characters' abstract inner thoughts and living state, therefore the further theme can be explored.By analyzing the roles of natural landscapes in presenting characters'inarticulate unconsciousness, establishing mood and conveying multiple implications, the thesis draws a conclusion that the landscape descriptions play very important roles in portraying the subtle emotional changes of the characters and highlighting the themes of the novel. On the basis of absorbing the achievements of the predecessors, Lawrence pushes the landscape description into its peak. He deserves the title of innovator in the realm of literature.