Sons and Lovers (English Edition‪)‬

Sons and Lovers is the first novel of Lawrence with an autobiographical character and his first well-known piece. The basic plot structure is: Father, Morel, is a miner, and his long years of heavy labor and coal mine accidents made him lame and rude; Mother was born in a middle-class family and has a certain degree of education. After marriage, the couples were at odds, and the mother began to hate her husband and poured all her affection to her children, resulting in abnormal maternal love. The mother encouraged the two sons to leave the mining area and find another way to survive. The eldest son William worked as a clerk for a London lawyer, but died of exhaustion for money. From then on, the mother had high hopes for the youngest son, Paul. Paul is unable to choose his own life in the shadow of his mother. It was not until the death of his mother that he broke away from the past life and became a real adult. He left his hometown and lover to start a new life. The two themes in the book are basically intertwined: the negative impact of maternal love on Paul’s affection and his attitude towards two women in love. The first half of the novel focuses on the Oedipus relationship between Paul and his mother, and the second half focuses on the two different loves between Paul and his two lovers Clara and Miriam. Clara is the representative of erotic lover and Miriam is the embodiment of spiritual love.