Sons and Lovers: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

Paul is a quiet child who looks like his mother. As a small boy, he is very close to his older sister, Annie, and follows her around, joining in her games. Annie’s favorite toy is a doll with a china face, which Paul accidentally breaks one day when he lands on it after jumping off the sofa. Annie is heartbroken, but she agrees when Paul suggests they burn the doll as a “sacrifice.” Although Annie does not know why, she is slightly “disturbed” by this, and feels that Paul seems to hate the doll because he had destroyed it.

Although none of the children are close to their father, Paul particularly dislikes Mr. Morel and always sides with his mother. He remembers coming home from school one day and finding his mother with a bruised eye and his father and William about to fight. Mr. Morel tried to taunt William into a brawl and only stopped when Mrs. Morel finally intervened.

When William was a child, the family moved to a new house, and so Paul grows up in a house which overlooks the valley and has an old tree outside. He has an enduring memory of lying in bed in this house, listening to his mother and father fight downstairs and the noise of the wind in the tree branches outside. He was always terrified when the argument fell silent because he wondered what his father had done to his mother and what he would see the next morning. These memories stay with him into adulthood and always torment him.

As a child, Paul prays for his father’s death and hopes Mr. Morel will be killed in a mining accident. If Mr. Morel does not come home on time, however, the evenings in the house are unbearably tense because Mrs. Morel worries, and the children pick up on her anxiety. Usually Mr. Morel comes in late, very drunk and angry, and upsets the atmosphere of the home even more. When Paul wins a prize for his painting, Mrs. Morel encourages him to tell his father, but Paul finds it impossible to connect with Mr. Morel and struggles to hold even a simple conversation with him.

The only time that the children feel comfortable and happy with their father is when he fixes or builds something in the house; he lets them help and tells them stories about the pit and the other miners, which they love. One winter, Paul is ill for several weeks with bronchitis. Although his father tries to soothe him, he is aggravated by Mr. Morel’s presence and will only be comforted by his mother, who often sleeps in the same bed with him. Mrs. Morel feels guilty during Paul’s illness, as she never expected him to live when he was young and didn’t want him when he was a baby.

When the family is short on money, the children love to help by foraging berries for their mother. Paul walks miles to find these berries so that he will not let Mrs. Morel down, because he cannot stand to disappoint her. The children find it very satisfying to find what they need in nature and to use nature to provide for themselves.

Once William and Annie have both found jobs, it becomes Paul’s responsibility to go to the public house and collect Mr. Morel’s wages. Paul hates to do this and feels mortified as he waits for his name to be called, amid the wives, children, and miners who are also squashed in to wait for their pay. When he finally makes it up to the counter, he is too embarrassed to count the money he is given and the “buttys” and the other miners tease him about his education at the “Board school.” He does not feel like himself again until he is on the walk home.

When Paul gets home, he complains to his mother about this and tells her that he will not collect the money anymore; he hates to be among “common” people. Mrs. Morel gently placates her son, but she is surprised by his anger because Paul is generally placid. Paul counts the money for her at home and, through this, Mrs. Morel can see if her husband is keeping money back or not.

On Friday nights, Annie and Arthur go out with their friends, but Paul prefers to stay in and wait for Mrs. Morel to return from the market and show him what she has bought. In the winter, when it gets dark early, the Morel children play with the neighbor’s children under the lamp post at the end of the street, which overlooks the dark valley. Paul likes to see the moon rise and, one night, when he has fought with the other boys, he remembers a Bible story about the moon “turned to blood.”

In the summer months, the mines often close early and the miners are sent home to their wives, who grumble about the closure. Mrs. Morel is frustrated to have Mr. Morel under her feet all day. William, who is away in London, begins to write regularly to his mother and Mrs. Morel delights in these letters. He tells her that he is coming home for Christmas and the family go into a frenzy of preparation as the holiday approaches.

On Christmas Eve, the children walk down to the station to meet William from the train. Mrs. Morel waits at home, excited but tense in case something should prevent William from coming. The trains are late because of the season but, finally, William arrives, with armfuls of presents, to the delight of his siblings. Mrs. Morel is amazed when she sees that William has turned into “such a fine gentleman.” The holiday is a wonderful success, and everyone is heartbroken when William must return to the city.

However, William stays in touch with his family and continues to write to his mother. He has the chance to go on a cruise around the Mediterranean during his two weeks break later that year, but, much to Mrs. Morel’s relief, William returns home for the holiday instead.