Sons and Lovers Analysis

When you first sit down with Sons and Lovers, you might believe you've gotta hunker down for a long book about the darkness of coal mines and company housing: The brook ran under the alder trees, s...

It's always nice when a writer establishes his or her narrative perspective in the very first line of a story. It's like, so considerate to us readers, you know? In Sons and Lovers, Lawrence does t...

If you're the kind of dude or dudette who likes math, we'd suggest that you could split this book nearly 50/50 between the categories of Family Drama and Coming-Of-Age. On the one hand, the book's...

We're the first to admit that Sons and Lovers has some less-than-admirable characters in it. But throughout the text, the narrator manages to present these characters with a sympathetic tone. This...

The basic rule of thumb for this book is that Lawrence writes pretty straightforwardly until he starts describing people's passions and/or the natural world—then he bugs out with florid enthusias...

Believe it or not, D.H. Lawrence rewrote this entire novel four times before he was happy with it. In most of the original drafts, he named the book Paul Morel. The shift to Sons and Lovers, though...

But no, he would not give in. 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 foll...

We love D.H. Lawrence for his short sentences and clearly expressed thoughts. The guy talks a lot about flowers, but his language never gets overly flowery. But don't let the transparent language t...

One Kid Too Many and a Deadbeat DadWelcome to The Bottoms. With a name like that, this neighborhood can't be too nice, can it? The opening three chapters of the book give us some background on the...

When it comes to standard tragedy, this book gives us a total fake-out in its Anticipation Stage. The narration makes us think that William Morel is going to be the book's main character. And we e...

Luckily for us Shmoopers, D.H. Lawrence makes a tidy division between Part I and Part II of this book at the end of Chapter 6, and this division corresponds neatly with the end of Act I. Act I of t...

Do those descriptions of the Morels' family life sound a little familiar? That's probably because Lawrence's own father was a miner. Nope, he didn't respect his dad all that much, either.True to hi...

If you're comparing Sons and Lovers to Lawrence's later book, Lady Chatterley's Lover, then you'll think it's pretty tame. But if you understand just how creepy all the Mrs. Morel-Paul romanticism...

Colonel John Hutchinson (1.62)Sarah Bernhardt (12.571)