RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

171
There is always a strongtsuggestion of industrialism and
corruption in the relation of the lovers.
Corruption is seen in
the influence of uncle Tom and industrialism in the invasion of
the collieries and railway which mix themselves with the
beautiful landscape of Tom Brangwen's time.
When Ursula and
Skrebensky walk together the sound of their steps mingles with
the ugly noises of progress:
Ursula and Anton Skrebensky walked along the
ridge of the canal between. The berries on the
edges were crimson and bright red, above the leaves.
The glow of the evening and the wheeling of the
solitary pewit and the faint cry of birds came to
meet the shuffling noise of the pits, the dark,
fuming stress of the town opposite, and they two
walked the blue strip of water-way, the ribbon of
the sky between (p.309).
The intrusion of industrial progress in the whole landscape
provokes in the characters a set of internal changes which destroy
what might be 'pure' in their temperament.
In Tom Brangwen's
generation, the characters' way of thinking was directed to
simple things.
For instance, they would never question each
others' differences. They would, instead, accept them. In
Ursula's time, on the other hand, industrial change may be seen
as a factor of transformation in the characters' themselves.
This "growth" could either be viewed positively in the sense that
the characters become more demanding, more critical persons, as
in Ursula's case, or negatively, in terms of their sickness of
soul, their "selling out" like Skrebensky and uncle Tom.
A good
example of this difference between Ursula and Skrebensky can be
seen when they, walking through the spoilt landscape, talk about
Skrebensky's career.
Ursula's questions are those of a person
Who has a certain distaste for the conventional values of the
man's world.
The main point of their discussion lies perhaps in
Lawrence's criticism of the nation as an instrument for