Interpellation And The Birth Of Self:An Althusserian Reading Of D.H. Lawrence’s Sons And Lovers

As one of the most influential writer in twentieth-century English literature,D.H.Lawrence shows great concern for the exploration of individual’s deepest self in the modern industrial civilization.This thesis takes D.H.Lawrence’s highly autobiographical novel Sons and Lovers as subject of study,and adopts Althusser’s Theory of Ideological Interpellation as theoretical framework,to explore the young protagonist Paul Morel’s construction of selfhood under the double interpellation within the domestic sphere.Since the heterogeneity of ideological configurations in the Morel household is the product of modern industrial civilization,the young protagonist Paul Morel’s transcendence of double interpellation metaphorically reveals Lawrence’s own journey of self-exile from modern industrial civilization.This thesis consists of three parts.The introduction focuses on the reflection on Louis Althusser’s theory of ideological interpellation.Chapter One aims to analyze the configuration of conflicting class ideologies in the Morel household.The Morels’ marriage as the union of two ideal subjects of contrasting ideological interpellation gives rise to numerous oppositions concerning gender,language and outlooks in terms of familial ideological configuration.The heterogeneity of ideological configuration in the familial sphere forms the prelude to the double ideological interpellation on their son Paul Morel.Chapter Two discusses the double ideological interpellation on Paul,namely,the bourgeois ideological interpellation from the mother’s side and the working-class ideological interpellation from the father’s side.Under the doubling ideological interpellations,Paul is caught between his mother for whom life is spirit and his father for whom it is the flesh.The split in the religious spirit of the mother and the sensuous nature of the father has shaped the potential form of Paul’s sexuality,which is manifested in his triangular romantic relationship with Miriam and Clara.Chapter Three aims to illustrate Paul Morel’s construction of selfhood.Paul’s rebellion against his mother indicates the negation of maternal interpellation.His intense sexual union with Clara not only serves as the resurrection of desire,but the symbol of body vitality.Yet,Clara is only a means for him for self-discovery.Paul’s passion for nature,his sensibility to art and his departure from the coal community indicates his journey of self-exile from modern industrial civilization which shows his transcendence of double ideological interpellation.The last part offers the conclusion.The conflicting class ideologies represented by the Morels are the concrete products of modern industrial civilization.Since Sons and Lovers is a highly autobiographical novel of D.H.Lawrence,Paul Morel’s self-exile metaphorically reveals that of Lawrence’s own from modern industrial civilization.