RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE
RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE
351 shed her influence. In the last pages of the book the main ideas of the narrative imply a strong sense of contradictions. Lawrence has control of the action but, even so, he is incapable of putting an end to the story in terms of a fixed solution. The contradictions of the narrative show clearly the authorTs instability. The story has a pattern of negative + negative + negative events with an incongruous positive outcome. The following sentences from the very end of the book express the nature of Paul's conflict: Who could say that his mother had lived and did not live? She had been in one place, and was in another... Now she was gone abroad into the night, and he was with her still... But yet there was his body, his chest that leaned against the stile, his hands on the wooden bar... On every side of the immense dark silence seemed pressing him, so tiny a spark, into extinction, and yet, almost nothing, he could not be extinct... So much, and himself, infinitesimal, at the core a nothingness, and yet not nothing... She was the only thing that held him up, amid all this... He wanted her to touch him, have him alongside with her... (p.510). All these contradictory remarks imply Paul's 'drift towards death'. Yet finally in the last paragraph of the novel there is an imposition of a 'happy ending': But no, he would not give m . Turning sharply, he walked towards the city's gold phosphorescence. His fists were shut, his mouth set fast. He would not take that direction, to the darkness, to follow her. He walked towards the faintly humming, glowing town, quickly (p.511). Lawrence holds in abeyance Paul's impulse to commit suicide. This above quotation has several negative implications. First, 'phosphorescence' is a word with definitively negative connotation in Lawrence and it usually implies the woman's destructive power of will. Second, the idea of city does not normally imply rebirth in Lawrence. It implies corruption, degeneration. Third, going to the city is. what Paul's brother William did and it destroyed
352 him. The turning to the city also implies an association with the mother's will because of her desire to make a middle class gentleman of her son. Therefore, the option to go the city does not seem very positive at all. It can also be added that there are several hints that the mother still has Paul's soul with her. The more Paul tries to elude the past, the less will he be free to use his soul as he likes. The mother still has strength enough to maintain Paul's split between soul and body. The turning to the city also does not guarantee that some steps further he will not return to his suicidal mood. Perhaps the sense of the author's control in the narrative accounts for Paul's 'salvation'. Anyway, the language is too ambiguous for us to take sides — either death or life. What we feel as readers is that Paul's split of consciousness is still very vivid in himself and the conflicting experiences he has had only served to increase the tension within himself. Therefore, despite the author's deep effort, the end of the novel does not provide the answer for Paul's divided self. The Rainbow, as I said, has a similar pattern to Sons and Lovers because of the author's imposition of a solution which does not convincingly fit the series of negative episodes which Ursula has been going through till the very end of the novel. In trying to define the three sections of the novel, we would say that the first generation is the most stable of the three. Tom and Lydia reach at the peak of their search, i.e., they attain 'balance' as I pointed out in chapter III of this dissertation. They attain balance simply by forgetting their individual differences. The individual self in their relation gives way to a collective self which encompasses both man and woman. They are one in two. However, their balance is soon
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351<br />
shed her influence. In the last pages of the book the main ideas<br />
of the narrative imply a strong sense of contradictions.<br />
Lawrence has control of the action but, even so, he is incapable<br />
of putting an end to the story in terms of a fixed solution.<br />
The contradictions of the narrative show clearly the authorTs<br />
instability. The story has a pattern of negative + negative +<br />
negative events with an incongruous positive outcome.<br />
The<br />
following sentences from the very end of the book express the<br />
nature of Paul's conflict:<br />
Who could say that his mother had lived and did not<br />
live? She had been in one place, and was in another...<br />
Now she was gone abroad into the night, and he<br />
was with her still... But yet there was his body,<br />
his chest that leaned against the stile, his hands<br />
on the wooden bar... On every side of the immense<br />
dark silence seemed pressing him, so tiny a spark,<br />
into extinction, and yet, almost nothing, he could<br />
not be extinct... So much, and himself, infinitesimal,<br />
at the core a nothingness, and yet not nothing...<br />
She was the only thing that held him up, amid all<br />
this... He wanted her to touch him, have him<br />
alongside with her... (p.510).<br />
All these contradictory remarks<br />
imply Paul's 'drift towards<br />
death'.<br />
Yet finally in the last paragraph of the novel there is<br />
an imposition of a 'happy ending':<br />
But no, he would not give m . Turning sharply,<br />
he walked towards the city's gold phosphorescence.<br />
His fists were shut, his mouth set fast. He would<br />
not take that direction, to the darkness, to<br />
follow her. He walked towards the faintly humming,<br />
glowing town, quickly (p.511).<br />
Lawrence holds in abeyance Paul's impulse to commit suicide. This<br />
above quotation has several negative implications.<br />
First,<br />
'phosphorescence' is a word with definitively negative connotation<br />
in Lawrence and it usually implies the woman's destructive power<br />
of will.<br />
Second, the idea of city does not normally imply rebirth<br />
in Lawrence. It implies corruption, degeneration. Third, going<br />
to the city is. what Paul's brother William did and it destroyed
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