Penguin Readers Factsheets l e v e l E T e a c h e r’s n o t e s 1 2 3 Sons and Lovers 4 5 by D H Lawrence 6 UPPER S U M M A R Y INTERMEDIATE ons and Lovers is one of the most famous English Lawrence’s health was bad and he had to give up S novels of the twentieth century. Published in 1913, teaching. In 1912 he met a German woman, Frieda it tells the story of the Morel family, and in particular, Weekley, who left her husband and three children to live of Paul Morel. with him. During the First World War, Lawrence formed Gertrude Morel and Walter Morel live in a village in the many important friendships in artistic and literary circles. north of England. Gertrude is clever and competent. He was unable to fight, due to ill health. Walter, her husband, an uneducated coalminer, drinks his Lawrence published his third novel, The Rainbow, in money away and is often violent. Divided by class, the two 1915. It was declared obscene and suppressed. He do not understand each other, and Gertrude is bitterly completed Women in Love in 1916 but could not find a unhappy. She pours all her love and ambition into her four publisher until 1920, when it was published privately in children, and in particular, her oldest child, William. William New York. However, in 1920, his novel, The Lost Girl, won pre p a r es to marry a very superficial girl, against his the James Tait Memorial Prize. After the war, Lawrence mother’s wishes. Then tragedy occurs; he falls ill and dies. travelled constantly, all over the world. He wrote poetry, With William gone, Gertude’s love and hopes are pinned short stories, essays, travel books, as well as the following on Paul, who is talented and artistic. novels: The Lost Girl, Aaron’s Rod, Kangaroo and The At fourteen Paul finds a job in nearby Nottingham. He Plumed Serpent. The novelist’s health was very poor and makes friends with a highminded girl called Miriam. From he was constantly in need of money; his relationship with now on the story concerns Paul’s conflict between his love Frieda was stormy. Yet he continued to pour out work at an for his mother and his need to grow up and have sexual astonishing rate. In 1925 Lawrence returned to England. experience. Gertrude is jealous of Miriam and a tug-of-war He was dying of tuberculosis, yet he worked hard to starts for Paul’s love. Time passes. He longs to leave home produce his last novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. It was but feels he cannot leave his mother. Eventually he sleeps privately printed in Italy in 1928. Lawrence died in the with Miriam but the relationship is unsuccessful. Paul south of France at the age of forty-four. embarks on another relationship with a more eart h y woman called Clara. With her he discovers ‘the enormous BACKGROUND AND THEMES power of passion’. But Paul realises that Clara is not his soulmate. Meanwhile, Gertrude dies of cancer. With his D. H. Lawrence was a rebel. He felt that society made mother gone, Paul, now twenty-three, is griefstricken. He people lifeless and unreal, and that the class system was feels a strong pull towards death. But the life urge in him pernicious. Lawrence believed in the ‘life force’, in Nature, proves stronger, and he sets off towards the ‘golden lights its beauty and its power. He also believed passionately in of the city’, to begin life anew. man’s natural instincts; he believed that sexual feeling between a man and woman was natural and should be celebrated. He was the first novelist in western culture to ABOUT D H LAWRENCE attempt to explore sexuality seriously and frankly. Because Sons and Lovers is highly autobiographical. Like Paul of this, several of his novels were refused publication and Morel, Lawrence was the younger son of a mining family. declared obscene. Lady Chatterley’s Lover, completed in He and his mother, Lydia, were very close, and his father 1928, was only published in its complete form in 1960. was violent. Lydia married beneath her and the marriage Lawrence’s writing was also revolutionary in that it was unhappy. At sixteen Lawrence met a girl called Jessie s t ressed the importance of feelings. The plot was Chambers, who was the model for Miriam. Like Paul, important for the light that it threw on the inner events in a Lawrence worked in a surgical goods factory. He then character. Lawrence’s novel style is often highly poetic. In trained to be a schoolteacher. Like Paul, Lawrence left a sense, Lawrence was a kind of mystic; he worshipped home at twenty-three. His first novel, The White Peacock, ‘life itself’ and attempted to convey his feelings and pass was published in 1911; his mother died of cancer in 1910. on his beliefs in his novels. To some extent he succeeded; With her death, the parallels end. in the west, the twentieth century has been an era of greater openness, particularly in the area of feelings. © Pearson Education 2000 l e v e l Penguin Readers Factsheets 5 T e a c h e r’s n o t e s All the themes described above are strongly present in Write your advice down. Sons and Lovers, Lawrence’s greatest novel. But it is perhaps most illuminating to read what Lawrence himself Chapters 4–6 wrote about the book: Put students into pairs. They discuss the following questions. ’A woman of character and refinement goes into the lower Do you think that Sons and Lovers, so far, is a realistic class and has no satisfaction in her own life.......... As her book? Do you think it shows how life was in a coalminer’s sons grow up, she selects them as lovers - first the eldest, family in the early twentieth century? Do you like the book then the second........ But when they come to manhood, so far? Say why/why not. they can’t love, because their mother is the strongest power in their lives, and holds them .......... As soon as the young Chapters 7–9 men come into contact with women there is a split. William Put students into pairs. They answer the following gives himself to a superficial woman and his mother holds question.Then have a whole class discussion on the his soul. But the split kills him because he doesn’t know subject. where he is. (Paul) gets a woman who fights for his soul (a) What qualities should a good mother have? (Miriam) - fights his mother. The son loves the mother - all (b) Do you think Mrs Morel is a good mother? Say why/why the sons hate and are jealous of the father............. The son not. decides to leave his soul in his mother’s hands, and like his Chapters 10–12 elder brother, go for passion (Clara). Then the split begins to In pairs, students answer the following questions. Then tell again. But almost unconsciously, the mother realises have a whole class discussion. what is the matter and begins to die. The son leaves his (a) What kind of woman do you think would be the best mistress, attends to his mother dying. He is left in the end partner for Paul? Write a description of her. naked of everything, with the drift towards death. ‘ (b) Do you think Mrs Morel would like this woman? Say Finally, it is worth pointing out that when Lawrence says why/why not. Mrs Morel selects her sons ‘as lovers’, he does not mean Chapters 13–15 literally. He is not writing about incest, but about a powerful emotional connection. And although Lawrence talks about In pairs, students discuss the following questions. ‘the drift towards death’ the novel ends with Paul’s (a) How do you feel about the death of Mrs Morel? Can you affirmation of ‘life’ - which was Lawrence’s creed. explain your feelings? (b) What kind of life do you think Paul will go on to have? Do you think he will find the right woman for him? Communicative activities ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK In pairs, students discuss the following questions. The following teacher-led activities cover the same sections Imagine that Mrs Morel had not died. What would happen of text as the exercises at the back of the reader, and to Paul, do you think? Do you think his life would be very supplement those exercises. For supplementary exercises different? Give reasons for your opinion. covering shorter sections of the book see the photocopiable Student’s Activities pages of this Factsheet. These ar e primarily for use with class Readers but, with the exception of discussion and pair/groupwork questions, can also be G l o s s a r y used by students working alone in a self-access centre. It will be useful for your students to know the following new words. They ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK are practised in the Before You Read sections of exercises at the back of the book. (Definitions are based on those in the Longman Dictionary Read the information about Sons and Lovers in the of Contemporary English.) Introduction. Give each student in the class a different Chapters 4–6 sentence from the second and third paragraphs (’Gertrude appliance (n) a piece of equipment such as a washing machine or Morel is poor ......... Miriam and Clara.’) Ask students to cooker memorise their fact and then put their strip of paper away.