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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Fire and Flames:
Fire is a recurring symbol, or motif, in Sons and Lovers. In the novel fire symbolizes passion, warmth, and sexuality. Lawrence first uses fire as a motif to express these qualities to the reader in Chapter 1, when Gertrude meets her future husband Walter at a country dance. The novel uses a simile that presents the image of fire to the reader and relates the element to Walter, the young miner:
The dusky, golden softness of this man’s sensuous flame of life, that glowed off his flesh like the flame from a candle, not baffled and gripped into incandescence by thought and spirit as her life was, seemed something wonderful, beyond her.
As Walter dances, he appears to glow; the narrator compares his presence to the warmth and light from a candle's flame. This warmth and expression of sexuality—a "sensuous flame of life"—causes Gertrude to experience a sexual and romantic awakening. Walter's physical, earthy nature attracts Gertrude to him, in part due to how different it is from her own.
The motif of fire appears again in Chapter 1 as Gertrude ruminates on a fight with Walter, and takes on a different meaning:
Mechanically she went over the last scene, then over it again, certain phrases, certain moments coming each time like a brand red-hot down on her soul; and each time she enacted again the past hour, each time the brand came down at the same points, till the mark was burnt in, and the pain burnt out, and at last she came to herself.
Fire, in this case, represents the painful memory of Walter's cruelty, as well as the anger Gertrude feels towards him. The simile Lawrence uses, comparing Gertrude's memories of the fight to lit pieces of iron burning her soul, emphasizes the depth of the suffering she feels in that moment. This palpable, physical description allows the reader to imagine her pain more vividly and therefore empathize with her.
In Chapter 7, the image of fire appears before Paul kisses Miriam for the first time:
The whole of [Paul's] blood seemed to burst in to flames and he could scarcely breathe […] His blood was concentrated like a flame in his chest. There were flashes in his blood.
Similarly to the previous passage in which Gertrude's sexual feelings for Walter are symbolized through the image of a flame, the element of fire in the passage is associated with a person that is desired, in this case Miriam. Paul's experience of passion for Miriam is so intense that it takes on a physical quality. Much like the last passage, the novel makes this unlikely comparison to strike the reader's imagination. The vivid image of Paul's blood turning into fire exaggerates and emphasizes the intense nature of his physical attraction.
When Miriam watches Paul swing in Chapter 7, the novel uses the image of a flame again to describe her physical attraction to Paul:
She could never lose herself so, nor could her brothers. It roused a warmth in her. It was almost as if he were a flame that had lit a warmth in her whilst he swung in the middle air.
Like Gertrude watching Walter dance, the sight of Paul swinging awakens feelings of romance and passion in Miriam. Once again, Lawrence uses the specific image of a burning flame to express a character's feelings of sexual passion and desire.
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Blood:
Blood is a recurring element, or motif, in Sons and Lovers. Blood first appears in the novel in Chapter 2, after Walter Morel flings a dresser drawer at Mrs. Morel and wounds her brow:
As [Gertrude] glanced down at the child, her brain reeling, some drops of blood soaked into its white shawl; but the baby was at least not hurt. She balanced her head to keep equilibrium, so that the blood ran into her eye.
Note the colors in the passage, particularly the white of the shawl in contrast with the red drops of blood. Blood in literature usually symbolizes danger, violent passion, or impurity. The white shawl covering William symbolizes innocence; the drops of blood staining Gertrude's shawl represents the corruption of said innocence. Lawrence uses this striking image and contrast of colors (red vs. white) to emphasize how horrific and irrevocable Walter's violence is. This violence towards Gertrude causes a profound rift between the wife and husband, a conflict that leads to divisions within the family. As Walter grows increasingly violent towards Gertrude, his children become increasingly estranged from him, aligning and identifying with their mother Gertrude instead of their father. As the novel progresses, it becomes clear to the reader that these complex dynamics have a negative psychological impact on the members of the Morel family, the Oeidipal nature of the relationship between Paul and his mother being one.
As the passage progresses, Lawrence lingers on the image of Gertrude's blood on William's shawl, underscoring its significance of blood yet again for the reader:
[Walter] saw a drop of blood fall from the averted wound into the baby’s fragile, glistening hair. Fascinated, he watched the heavy dark drop hang in the glistening cloud, and pull down the gossamer.
Lawrence uses the image of blood and an implicit metaphor to emphasize the grotesque nature of Mrs. Morel's injury. The narrator emphasizes the color and visual quality of the blood and compares the shawl to a bright, white cloud to leave a dramatic impression on the reader. This heightens the emotional intensity and horror of the moment.
In Chapter 4, the motif of blood appears again as the narrator describes the Morel children's fear of their father:
There was a feeling of horror, a kind of bristling in the darkness, and a sense of blood. They lay with their hearts in the grip of an intense anguish. [...] And then came the horror of the sudden silence, silence everywhere, outside and downstairs. What was it? Was it a silence of blood? What had he done?
In the above passage, blood represents the fear the Morel children feel in anticipation of their father's violence. Lawrence emphasizes the chaotic nature of the Morel household through vivid visual and auditory imagery, presenting it as a physical a force that takes over the entire home.
Blood also has religious connotations. Later in Chapter 4, for example, Paul witnesses a lunar eclipse after his parents fight and thinks of blood:
Paul never forgot, after one of these fierce internecine fights, seeing a big red moon life itself up, slowly, between the waste road over the hilltop, steadily, like a great bird. And he thought of the Bible, that the moon should be turned to blood.
The blood moon, another name for a lunar eclipse, alludes to the red moon referenced multiple times throughout the Bible. In the Bible, the blood moon represents a spiritual prophecy, an omen portending death. In making this allusion, Lawrence makes a connection between this omen to the violence in the Morel home.
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Blood:
Blood is a recurring element, or motif, in Sons and Lovers. Blood first appears in the novel in Chapter 2, after Walter Morel flings a dresser drawer at Mrs. Morel and wounds her brow:
As [Gertrude] glanced down at the child, her brain reeling, some drops of blood soaked into its white shawl; but the baby was at least not hurt. She balanced her head to keep equilibrium, so that the blood ran into her eye.
Note the colors in the passage, particularly the white of the shawl in contrast with the red drops of blood. Blood in literature usually symbolizes danger, violent passion, or impurity. The white shawl covering William symbolizes innocence; the drops of blood staining Gertrude's shawl represents the corruption of said innocence. Lawrence uses this striking image and contrast of colors (red vs. white) to emphasize how horrific and irrevocable Walter's violence is. This violence towards Gertrude causes a profound rift between the wife and husband, a conflict that leads to divisions within the family. As Walter grows increasingly violent towards Gertrude, his children become increasingly estranged from him, aligning and identifying with their mother Gertrude instead of their father. As the novel progresses, it becomes clear to the reader that these complex dynamics have a negative psychological impact on the members of the Morel family, the Oeidipal nature of the relationship between Paul and his mother being one.
As the passage progresses, Lawrence lingers on the image of Gertrude's blood on William's shawl, underscoring its significance of blood yet again for the reader:
[Walter] saw a drop of blood fall from the averted wound into the baby’s fragile, glistening hair. Fascinated, he watched the heavy dark drop hang in the glistening cloud, and pull down the gossamer.
Lawrence uses the image of blood and an implicit metaphor to emphasize the grotesque nature of Mrs. Morel's injury. The narrator emphasizes the color and visual quality of the blood and compares the shawl to a bright, white cloud to leave a dramatic impression on the reader. This heightens the emotional intensity and horror of the moment.
In Chapter 4, the motif of blood appears again as the narrator describes the Morel children's fear of their father:
There was a feeling of horror, a kind of bristling in the darkness, and a sense of blood. They lay with their hearts in the grip of an intense anguish. [...] And then came the horror of the sudden silence, silence everywhere, outside and downstairs. What was it? Was it a silence of blood? What had he done?
In the above passage, blood represents the fear the Morel children feel in anticipation of their father's violence. Lawrence emphasizes the chaotic nature of the Morel household through vivid visual and auditory imagery, presenting it as a physical a force that takes over the entire home.
Blood also has religious connotations. Later in Chapter 4, for example, Paul witnesses a lunar eclipse after his parents fight and thinks of blood:
Paul never forgot, after one of these fierce internecine fights, seeing a big red moon life itself up, slowly, between the waste road over the hilltop, steadily, like a great bird. And he thought of the Bible, that the moon should be turned to blood.
The blood moon, another name for a lunar eclipse, alludes to the red moon referenced multiple times throughout the Bible. In the Bible, the blood moon represents a spiritual prophecy, an omen portending death. In making this allusion, Lawrence makes a connection between this omen to the violence in the Morel home.
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Fire and Flames:
Fire is a recurring symbol, or motif, in Sons and Lovers. In the novel fire symbolizes passion, warmth, and sexuality. Lawrence first uses fire as a motif to express these qualities to the reader in Chapter 1, when Gertrude meets her future husband Walter at a country dance. The novel uses a simile that presents the image of fire to the reader and relates the element to Walter, the young miner:
The dusky, golden softness of this man’s sensuous flame of life, that glowed off his flesh like the flame from a candle, not baffled and gripped into incandescence by thought and spirit as her life was, seemed something wonderful, beyond her.
As Walter dances, he appears to glow; the narrator compares his presence to the warmth and light from a candle's flame. This warmth and expression of sexuality—a "sensuous flame of life"—causes Gertrude to experience a sexual and romantic awakening. Walter's physical, earthy nature attracts Gertrude to him, in part due to how different it is from her own.
The motif of fire appears again in Chapter 1 as Gertrude ruminates on a fight with Walter, and takes on a different meaning:
Mechanically she went over the last scene, then over it again, certain phrases, certain moments coming each time like a brand red-hot down on her soul; and each time she enacted again the past hour, each time the brand came down at the same points, till the mark was burnt in, and the pain burnt out, and at last she came to herself.
Fire, in this case, represents the painful memory of Walter's cruelty, as well as the anger Gertrude feels towards him. The simile Lawrence uses, comparing Gertrude's memories of the fight to lit pieces of iron burning her soul, emphasizes the depth of the suffering she feels in that moment. This palpable, physical description allows the reader to imagine her pain more vividly and therefore empathize with her.
In Chapter 7, the image of fire appears before Paul kisses Miriam for the first time:
The whole of [Paul's] blood seemed to burst in to flames and he could scarcely breathe […] His blood was concentrated like a flame in his chest. There were flashes in his blood.
Similarly to the previous passage in which Gertrude's sexual feelings for Walter are symbolized through the image of a flame, the element of fire in the passage is associated with a person that is desired, in this case Miriam. Paul's experience of passion for Miriam is so intense that it takes on a physical quality. Much like the last passage, the novel makes this unlikely comparison to strike the reader's imagination. The vivid image of Paul's blood turning into fire exaggerates and emphasizes the intense nature of his physical attraction.
When Miriam watches Paul swing in Chapter 7, the novel uses the image of a flame again to describe her physical attraction to Paul:
She could never lose herself so, nor could her brothers. It roused a warmth in her. It was almost as if he were a flame that had lit a warmth in her whilst he swung in the middle air.
Like Gertrude watching Walter dance, the sight of Paul swinging awakens feelings of romance and passion in Miriam. Once again, Lawrence uses the specific image of a burning flame to express a character's feelings of sexual passion and desire.
Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—Darkness and Lightness:
The presence of darkness and light in contrast with one another is a recurring motif, or repeated element, in Sons and Lovers. In the novel, darkness tends to symbolize hidden, unconscious desires, as well as death and suffering. Light, on the other hand, typically represents knowledge, wisdom, purity, and life. The presence of both elements often represents a conflict or opposition, for example good and evil, or hope and despair. Lawrence uses detailed visual language to express this motif, notably in descriptions of the novel's settings and landscapes.
The motif of darkness and light is also how Lawrence establishes mood and conflict in the novel. In Chapter 15, Lawrence employs the motif to great effect in a moment of heightened emotion and drama at the end of Sons and Lovers, as Paul walks through the English countryside after his mother's death:
On every side the immense dark silence seemed to be pressing him, so tiny a spark, into extinction, and yet, almost nothing, he could not be extinct. Night in which everything was lost, went reaching out, beyond stars and sun. Stars and sun, a few bright grains, went spinning around for terror. And holding each other in embrace, here in a darkness that out passed them all, and left them tiny and daunted. So much, and himself, infinitesimal, at the core a nothingness, and yet not nothing. Mother! He whispered, Mother! He would not take that direction, to the darkness to follow her. He walked towards the faintly humming glowing town, quickly.
The passage is full of references to darkness and light. The juxtaposition of the two elements represents Paul's internal struggle to live as he grieves for his mother. The intensity of the two's bond, and the severing of that bond due to Mrs. Morel's death, causes Paul to wish to die himself. Lawrence expresses this unconscious, but forceful, desire in the passage through the image of darkness, which represents death, nothingness, or a lack of life. In the beginning of the passage, the darkness seems to overwhelm and nearly blot Paul out. This image represents Paul's internal state; the chasm of grief he feels threatens to destroy him. Yet the light of the stars and sun breaks up the darkness, an image Lawrence presents as a way to symbolize a feeling of hope and possibility despite Paul's despair. Paul's physical movement away from the dark country landscape to the warm, glittering lights of home at the end of the passage represents, at least for the time being, a rejection of death and an acceptance of life.
Related Themes:
