读后感(儿子与情人-)sons-and-lovers

The Interpretation of the flowers in Sons and Lovers Abstract Sons and Lovers, written by DH Lawrence, is an earlier works that reflects both penetrating social problem and psychological problem. The theme of the novel is Paul Morel's relationship with his mother and her influence upon his development. This paper will talk about the symbol meanings of the flowers. In this novel, different flowers symbolize the three main different women, and reveal their human qualities, such as white lily symbolizes the pure mother's love; white roses and narcissi imply Miriam's pure spirit, whereas Miriam's intimacy to the flowers indicates that her tendency of possessing objects including Paul's soul; The crimson flowers refer to the passion of Clara. Here, the paper studies the relationship between flowers and main characters, showing that analyzing the meaning of the flowers is important to help us have a better understanding of the theme in the novel. Key words: flowers, relationship, character Introduction Lawrence's novels are always full of vivid descriptions of natural environment to show that human beings need to live in a healthy and natural world. Also the natural objects such as trees, flowers, the moon and evenings imply symbolic meanings to make the novel significant. To understand the novel better, this paper tries to use a Semiotics approach to interpret the main symbols, so as to reveal the theme of the novel. In Classics of Semiotics edited by Martin Krampen, Semiotics is thus defined: As a science of sign processes, semiotics investigates all types of communication and information exchange among human beings, animals, plants, internal systems of organisms. Thus it encompasses most of the subject areas of the arts and the social science, as well as those of biology and medicine. According to this theory, there should be some certain connections between the different flower symbols and the three different kinds of women characters. The Flowers Related to Mrs. Morel Everything Paul does is for his mother. As it is, the flowers he picked can prove us that his mother is his only intimate and his only confidant. We can see this unnatural love at any occasion in the novel: Then Paul fished out a little spray. He always brought her one spray, the best he could find. (63) "Here's a bit of new-mown hay," he said; then, again, he brought her forget-me-nots. And, again, his heart hurt with love, seeing her hand, used with work, holding the little bunch of flowers he gave her. She was perfectly happy." (114) When Paul takes his mother to Lincoln, She was bright and enthusiastic as ever, but as he sat opposite her in the railway carriage, she seemed to look frail. He had a momentary sensation as if she were sleeping away from him. Then he wanted to get hold of her, to fasten, almost to chain her. He felt he must keep hold of her with his hand. And later he bought her some blue violets. (222) We know that the mother's love to the son is abnormal, but they are not aware of it. And even this feeling grows unconsciously just like the scyllas flowers growing quietly when Mrs. Morel doesn't know: Under the fence, in a little bed, was a ravel of poor grassy leaves, such as come from very immature bulbs, and three scyllas in bloom. Mrs. Morel pointed to the deep blue flowers. The white flowers are often related to Mrs. More to express her spiritual features. Let us examine the passage with which the first chapter of Sons and Lovers ends-where Mrs. Morel, pregnant with Paul, wanders deliriously in the garden, shut out of the house by Morel in his drunkenness. In the garden, she stands cold and isolated from the world, with great anguish, feeling the mystery of the nature and sensing the child within her womb: Mrs. Morel leaned on the garden gate, looking out, and she lost herself awhile. She did not know what she thought. Except for a slight feeling of sickness, and her consciousness in the child, herself melted out like scent into the shiny, pale air. After a time the child too, melted with her in the mixing-pot of moonlight, and she rested with the hills and lilies and houses, all swum together in a kind of swoon. (22) After getting back in the house, the moment she notices that her face is smeared with the yellow dust of the lilies, she gets relieved, thinking the overpowering scent of the lilies and strange cold light of the moon. It is such a mystical moment that she finds peace in the sensation of her unborn child. This scene is the first indication of a special bond between the mother and the son. Although it is very ordinary, sunflower in the novel is a symbol, too. It symbolizes the shelter that Paul seeks for. Wherever Paul goes, whatever he meets, he always seeks consolation from his mother, and his mother thinks so. We can see it from the following scenes: There was a lovely yellow ravel of sunflowers in the garden. She looked out of the window. "There are my sunflowers!" she said. (352) She sat propped in her chair, smiling, and so pretty. The gold wedding,ring shone on her white hand; Her hair was carefully brushed. And she watched the tangled sunflowers dying, the chrysanthemums coming out, and the dahlias. Paul and she were afraid of each other. He knew, and she knew, that she was dying. (357) When Mrs. Morel is alive, the sunflower is flourishing, and when she is dying, the sunflowers are dying. The Flowers Related to Miriam Miriam loves flowers, but her love is unnatural. She "caress it with her mouth and cheeks and brow" (201). To her, "flowers appeared with such strength she felt she must make them part of herself" (160). The description of Miriam's love to the flowers indicates two aspects: 1. It is not appreciation of nature, but a sense of possession. 2. A sense of religion. For her, "she was cut off from ordinary life by her religious intensity which made the world for her either a nunnery garden or a paradise, where sin or else are ugly, cruel thing" (138). As a result, the love between Paul and her is doomed to be a failure. We can see this view from the following. Paul passed along a fine row of sweet-peas, gathering a blossom here and there, all cream and pale blue. Miriam followed, breathing the fragrance. To her, flowers appealed with such strength she felt she must make them part of herself. When she bent and breathed a flower, it was, as if she and the flowers were loving each other. Paul hated her for it. There seemed a sort of exposure about the action, something too intimate. (160-1) Miriam loves the flowers in a very intimate way; she always embraces and breathes the flowers, as if they loved each other. It seems that she wants to possess them. Just as Paul said that she wants to “suck them”, it also shows Miriam's unusual love to things including Paul. The narration of Miriam always connects with white roses and Christian figures to show her pure spirit and religious emotions. However, all these behaviors make Paul feel annoyed, believing that she wanted the soul out of his body, and not him. “She wanted to draw all of him into her.” (179) Lawrence uses flowers to objectify the considerably milder sexual attraction of Miriam. In chapter VII: The place was decorated for Easter. In the front hundreds of white narcissi seemed to be growing. The air was dim and thrilled with a subtle scent of lilies and narcissi. In that atmosphere Miriam's soul came into a glow…Miriam turned to him. Her soul expanded into prayer beside him. He felt the strange fascination of shadowy religious places. All his latent mysticism quivered into life. She was drawn to him. He was a prayer along with her. (155) Lilies and narcissi in the scene indicate both Miriam’s virgin and her pure soul. And sex-consciousness always fills her with shame. But Paul is so attractive to her, so she would rather sacrifice herself to get the soul of him. In the book, I believe Miriam may be the most miserable figure. While she has no idea what the religion has influenced her, she fails to get Paul, no matter how hard she tries. The Flowers Related to Clara Clara is a woman different from Mrs. Morel and Miriam. If we say the latter are spiritual, the former is passionate. In the novel, being the symbol of passion, she is always connected with crimson. This is the first time that Paul meets Clara in formal occasion. The crimson nasturtiums that come out from the cool green shadow of their leaves predict the coming of Clara. What is more, it also gives hints that Paul will seek a sort of fire in passion. The flowers in the novel stand for the Clara’s charm without doubt. And Paul is drawn into it completely. When Paul and Clara went out, "He bought her a bunch of scarlet, brick-red carnations. She put them in her coat, flushing. (284) When she arose, he, looking on the ground all the time, saw suddenly sprinkled on the black wet beech-roots many scarlet carnation petals, like splashed drops of blood; and red, small splashes fell from her bosom, streaming down her dress to her feet. (289) In all, Clara's indiscretion makes their first intimacy easy for Paul, despite the hazards. However, they only are able to have sexual connection rather than spiritual words. An old lady in the novel once presents Clara with "three tiny dahlias in full blow, neat as bees, and speckled scarlet and white" (291). And it is clear that their getting together is made "because we were jolly." Conclusion As a writer, Lawrence has a great influence on Modern English literature, for he saw the empty soul of the flourishing society. The sons and loves is one of the great novels, and it is rich of all kinds of flowers between the lines, which, to some extent, is important for readers to understand the characters and the themes. After all, the symbolic interpretation of the main objects described many times in the novel has great benefits, and we should learn the flowers seriously in the future research of the sons and lovers.