Write a note on Lawrence’s use of symbols in Sons and Lovers.

Write a note on Lawrence’s use of symbols in Sons and Lovers.

Lawrence probes deep into the consciousness of his characters with a clever use of symbols. Lawrence makes an extensive use of symbols in his works. A proper understanding of these symbols leads to a better understanding of the novel and arises appreciation from the reader. Commenting on Lawrence’s symbolism Jung writes, “A symbol is alive in so far as it is pregnant with meaning…” Symbolism is an essential feature of Lawrence’s art, because a symbol is the expression of a thing not to be characterized in any other better way. Thus, in order to clearly describe the bidden and the concealed, Lawrence makes use of symbols which in their turn also increase the expressiveness of his language.

There is an “abundance of symbols” in “Sons and Lovers”. Here we find a large number of passages of Nature-description in the novel. The descriptions of natural scenery and phenomenon are enjoyable in themselves, but in some cases these descriptions also serve a symbolic purpose. An old-ash tree which grows outside the house of Morel family is a fine example of symbol in this context. When the west wind blows, the tree produces shrieking sounds. Walter Morel loves this sound. In fact, he says that these sounds are like music, and they lull him to sleep. But Paul, Arthur and Annie hate the tree. To Paul especially, the tree seems to produce a demoniacal noise. From Paul’s points of view, the tree symbolizes the discord and the strife going on perpetually between his father and his mother.

Flowers too play a very important role in this Novel. On one occasion, Mrs. Morel, who is pregnant at the time, is pushed out of the house by her husband, and she walks into the garden where she gets smeared with the yellow dust of the lilies. It seems that the dust of these flowers is a kiss of benediction by nature for her and to her unborn child. A similar benediction is revived by Paul and Clara after they rise from their love-making on the river bank. Even the plucking of flowers acquires a symbolic significance in one episode. Paul, Miriam and Clara have gone into the fields where flowers are blooming in great abundance. Both Paul and Miriam pluck the flowers and gather them into bunches, but Clara refuses to pluck flowers on the ground that plucking them means killing them. in this context, a critic tells us that Miriam plucks flowers with a false reverence that Paul plucks them lovingly, but that Clara does not pluck them at all. Clara respects the life in the flowers at this stage, but later when her sexual desire has been fully awakened by Paul, she too begins to pluck flowers and the flowers, in their turn, defend her.......................................................................................................................................

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