RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

77
was the marital failure? Who was victim or victimizer?
'But why did you leave him? Was he horrid
to you?...'
'And was he always dirty?' he asked
1... But did you — were you ever — ■did you
ever give him a chance?'...
'I.believe he loves you, 'he said(pp.335-6).
These questions are definitely related to his parents.
The first
three suggest Walter Morel and the other one Mrs Morel.. It seems
that, unconsciously, Paul knows how wrong his parents' marriage
has been.
parents.
He seems to be aware of what has happened to his
However, in his questions, Paul is not so clear up to
the point of presenting his knowledge of who is most guilty.
He
seems to balance between mother and father.
The last statement
'I believe he loves you1 seems exactly what he wants from his
father — to love his mother (it can be said that under Paul's
'hate' for his father is latent love and sympathy). But actually,
there is no balance in the questioning for Paul does not ask if
she — Clara/his mother — loves him — Baxter/his father.
The idea that Clara's marriage is related to his parents'
is also reinforced in another talk Paul has with Clara where he
presents her with his view of what has happened to his father
because of his mother.
He goes back to the first question he
asked her before, but now the tone is not directed to Baxter (his
father) but to Clara (his mother):
'Were you horrid with Baxter Dawes?' he asked
her. It was a thing that seemed to trouble him.
'In what way?'
'Oh, I don’t know. But weren't you horrid with ,
him? Didn't you do something that knocked him to pieces? '
’What, pray?'
'Making him feel as if he were nothing — you
know,' Paul declared (p.338 - My underlining).
I believe that Paul definitely blames his mother for her
marriage's failure. But he still has doubts. His mind does not