Autobiography:: The Novel, Which Began As " ," Was Sparked by The Death of Lawrence's Mother, Lydia

AUTOBIOGRAPHY: An autobiography is a self-written life story.
Some people
may have their life story written by another person because they don’t believe they
can write well, but they are still considered an author because they are providing
the information. The protagonist might be modeled after the author and do at least
some of the things the author has actually done in his or her life.
The novel, which began as "Paul Morel," was sparked by the death of Lawrence's
mother, Lydia. Sons and Lovers is an autobiographical novel, much of which is
taken from Lawrence's own early life in the midland coal-mining village of
Eastwood. The experience of Lawrence and Paul overlaps a lot.
LAWRENCE IN PAUL:
If we make a comparative study we find, Paul Morel- the protagonist bears a clear
and close resemblance with his own creator. Like Paul, Lawrence was also a weak
and sickly boy and was brought very close to his mother when he suffered from
pneumonia. The persistent atmosphere of disharmony and the regular bickering of
the parents laid a great strain on Lawrence. Like Paul, Lawrence too was an
introvert. He too had fits of depression and melancholy and a nameless horror
filled his soul. A striking similarity is found between the parents of Paul and those
of Lawrence.
SETTING:
The story is set in Bestwood which is a close replica of Lawrencs’s native village
Eastwood. The setting presented with a most powerful sense of atmosphere and of
physical detail of the rhythm of work and life of miners is a realistic depiction of
that of Eastwood. It also gives us the relation between an industrial future and
agricultural past of the early 19th century England by presenting the very quality
and reality of living. Lawrence was born at a mining village in Nottinghamshire. In
the novel, Lawrence also showed us the pen picture of coal-miners' life in the
English Midlands according to his life experience. His father, a coal miner with
little education was a heavy drunkard. The miners did terrible hard labour in the
dark and damp pits day and night, thus they risked their life. Here are some
mentions of the Bestwood:
“Mrs. Morel was not anxious to move into the Bottoms, which was already twelve
years old and on the downward path, when she descended to it from Bestwood.”
“When Walter Morel and Jerry arrived at Bestwood they felt a load off their
minds; a railway journey no longer impended, so they could put the finishing
touches to a glorious day.”
FAMILY:
Walter Morel was modeled on Lawrence's hard-drinking, irresponsible collier
father, Arthur. Lydia became Gertrude Morel, the intellectually stifled, unhappy
mother who lives through her sons. The death by erysipelas of one of Lawrence's
elder brothers, Ernest, and Lydia's grief and eventual obsession with Lawrence,
seems hardly changed in the novel. Both Ernest and his fictional counterpart,
William, were engaged to London stenographers named Louisa "Gipsy" Denys.
LYDIA LAWRENCE > GERTRUDE MOREL

ARTHUR LAWRENCE > MR. MOREL
ERNEST LAWRENCE > WILLIAM MOREL
CONFLICT:
Considering the letter written by Lawrence in 1910, he describes his family life
which echoes in the present novel. According to him, he was born hating his father
and there developed a bond between his mother and him which was more than a
relation between mother and son. Similarly, Paul Morel hates his father and shares
a relationship with his mother more than that of a son. Moreover, the love triangle
of Paul, his mother and father and then the triangle formed by Paul, his mother and
Miriam can also be seen in Lawrence’s own life. Lawrence in the novel says:
“Being the sons of mothers whose husbands had blundered rather brutally through
their feminine sanctities, they were themselves to different and shy.”
This line put light on how Lawrence feels about his father.
PAUL AND HIS AFFAIRS:

The affair between Paul and Miriam has its roots in the affair between Lawrence
and Jessie Chambers. Even Clara who is called as adaptation by many critics
stands for a real human who came in contact with Lawrence and Jessie Chambers.
Lausie Burrows is the model of Clara. She bears strong physical and mental
resemblance. Lawrence writes about her in the letter,
“When I think of her, I feel happy with a sort of warm relations.”
His mother and family disapproved of their relationship, which always seemed on
the brink of romance. Nevertheless, Chambers was Lawrence's greatest literary
supporter in his early years, and he frequently showed her drafts of what he was
working on, including Sons and Lovers .Lawrence's future wife, Frieda von
Richtofen Weekly, partially inspired the portrait of Clara Dawes, the older, sensual
woman with whom Paul has an affair. To be fair, Lawrence met Frieda only in
1912 at Nottingham University College, and he started "Paul Morel" in 1910.
If Lawrence is incapable of writing straight autobiography he is also incapable
of keeping himself and his friends out of his book. Sons and Lovers is so much
representative of Lawrence that it may be taken as a disguised autobiography.

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY: An autobiography is a self-written life story.

LYDIA LAWRENCE > GERTRUDE MOREL

PAUL AND HIS AFFAIRS:

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