Read the Sons and Lovers summary, key information, characters, and themes here.
Key Information
- Title: Sons and Lovers
- Writer: D.H.Lawrence
- Published: 1913
- Genre: Literary fiction
Characters
- Paul: The protagonist of the novel. He is very confused about his relationships.
- William: Paul’s brother and Mrs. Morel’s firstborn. William died of pneumonia.
- Mrs. Morel: Mother of Paul. She is not happy with his marriage. Mrs. Morel is obsessed with her sons, especially Paul.
- Walter Morel: Husband of Mrs. Morel who is a miner. He is a drunk person.
- Miriam: Daughter of a farmer. Miriam is very intelligent and religious. She truly loves Paul, but cannot be physical with Paul because of her religious belief.
- Clara: Friend of Miriam. She is already married to Baxter. But they’re separated.
- Baxter: Clara’s husband. Later he becomes Paul’s friend.
Theme: Family, Psychology, and the Oedipus Complex, Christianity, Propriety, and Physicality, Women’s Work, and Women’s Rights.
English Summary
Gertrude is a daughter of a middle-class English family. He is very intelligent. Once he met a miner named Walter Morel. Gertrude falls in love with Walter Morel’s personality and they marry. A few months later, Gertrude, aka Mrs. Morel, became pregnant. The first few months of the marriage went well, but gradually trouble arose between them. Mrs. Morel notices that Walter Morel is not as wealthy as she thought. He doesn’t even have his own house. He doesn’t like his life at all. Meanwhile, Mrs. Morel gave birth to a son named William. Although Mr. and Mrs. Morel had a friendly relationship, Mrs. Morel lost interest in Mr. Morel. Thus Mrs. Morel gave birth to her second child, Annie, and became pregnant for the third time. One day Mrs. Morel takes William to a regional fair. There he saw Mr. Morel drunk. A few weeks later Mr. Morel returns home drunk and the two fight a lot.
Mrs. Morel gave birth to another son. He named his son Paul. She feels very guilty about little Paul because she didn’t want this baby. Paul grew up slowly. Paul is a very serious thinker, while William is always very cheerful. The Morell couple had another son named Arthur. Mr. Arthur Love morel very much. William grew up and got a job as a clerk and moved to London. Leaving Willian’s house to go somewhere else hurts Mrs. Morel. At first, William sometimes came home and gave money to his mother. But now he’s settling into urban life and blowing all his money on his future wife, Louisa. One day William brings Louisa to their home. But Louisa treats William’s family like servants, which upsets William. Soon after, William succumbed to pneumonia. Mrs. Morel was very upset.
In the meantime, Paul becomes an intelligent man and joins a clerk’s job in Nottingham. He enjoys his work a lot. Meanwhile, Mrs. Morel continues to mourn for William. Paul loves his mother very much. He wants his mother to love him like before. The day Paul gets pneumonia, Mrs. Morel realizes that she has neglected Paul. Mrs. Morel serves Paul with all her might and heals him and vows not to dwell on the past anymore. Paul visited Mr. Lever’s farm occasionally after his illness. There, Paul befriends Mr. Liver’s daughter Miriam. Miriam is very religious and intelligent. But Mrs. Morel doesn’t like him. He wants their friendship to end. Meanwhile, Miriam realizes that she loves Paul, but is shy about having a physical relationship because of her religious beliefs. Miriam does not tell Paul about her feelings.
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Paul then won an award for painting at the Nottingham Exhibition. It was at the exhibition that Paul met another girl who was with Miriam. Her name is Clara. Clara is married to a man named Baxter who works in Paul’s factory. Clara and Baxter live separately. One day Paul tells Miriam that Miriam is too religious. Because of his intense religious feelings, a physical need is not created between them. So Paul doesn’t want to keep this relationship anymore. Meanwhile, Mrs. Morel suddenly fell ill. One day Miriam invites Paul and Clara to her house for tea. Although Paul doesn’t like Clara very much, today he finds Clara quite attractive.
A few days later, Paul sends a parcel to Clara’s home. He learns that Clara lives with her mother, Mrs. Radford, and she is not happy at all. Paul arranges a job for Clara in the same factory. In the summer of that year, Paul and Miriam became engaged. A few weeks later Paul broke off the engagement. Because Paul gets into a relationship with Clara. Yet Paul visits Miriam occasionally. One day Paul and Baxter got into quite a fight.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Morel’s health deteriorated. He is suffering from cancer. Paul worries about his mother. Paul learns that Baxter has recently recovered from typhoid. Paul visits her in the hospital and the two become friends. A few days later, Mrs. Morel returns home but realizes that she will not live much longer. Paul keeps in touch with both Miriam and Clara. But he noticed that he was not attracted to any of them. Rather he is always busy serving his mother. Mrs. Morel died soon after. He was buried next to William. Paul could not bear this pain and started taking painkillers. Paul and his father rent another house. Because the memory of Mrs. Morel in that house was giving them a lot of trouble.
Baxter invites Paul and Clara to the beach one day. Paul finds no interest in Clara. He is devastated by his mother’s death. Only thoughts of suicide swirl in his head. Paul believes Clara wants to reunite with Baxter. So he also arranges a cottage for them. This makes Clara very angry with Paul. But he is going back to Baxter. Then she decided to go back to Baxter. Now there is no hope in Paul’s life. He just waits for death. One day Paul saw Miriam coming out of the church. He asks Miriam to come to his house. But Miriam tells him about marriage. Hearing this, Paul rejected her. Miriam also swears that she will never see Paul’s face again. Paul walks into a dark field and thinks about his mother. But he decides not to commit suicide and walks back to town.
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