D. H. Lawrence Group

Prompts: Sons and Lovers (1913)
pagination from ______ Penguin edition
edited by _________

“That's what one must have, I think . . . the real, real flame of feeling through another
person -- once, only once . . . the something big and intense
that changes you . . . (386-87).

Guidelines

Responses to Path 2 prompts should deliver a structured, narrow argument in only 400-500 words, one you publish on Blackboard by 11:59 p.m. on Friday. Arguments should evince creativity and organization, support their claims with detailed evidence ( incl. page citations), and show signs of careful revision. Remember too that whether I happen to agree or not with your thesis matters little, as long as it is sufficiently supported and logically, persuasively rendered.

Some of the strongest essays will incorporate ideas from path 2 essays written by your peers and/or pertinent path 1 discussions and topics, though neither is required.

Week Five: chps 9-10

• option one: in chapter six, William critically compared his girlfriend with his mother, noting that Miss Louisa Lily Denys Western is “‘not serious, and she can’t think’” (148). In the chapters that follow, does Miriam exhibit these same two qualities that Paul and William so value in Mrs. Morel—seriousness and intelligence?
• option two: driven a bit crazy by sexual desire, a frustrated Paul tells Miriam that she can “never like things without clutching them as if you wanted to pull the heart out of them? Why don’t you have a bit more restraint, or reserve, or something?” (267-68). The narrator explains that Paul barely knows what he’s saying (268). Is he, however, correct in his estimation of Miriam? In your response, draw on the rest of chapter nine.
• option three: what does Miriam love about Paul? Why does she want to be with him?
• option four: recall the Leivers boys’ mixed response to Miriam’s and Mrs. Leivers’s way of mystically “exalt[ing] everything . . . to the plane of a religious trust” (182, and see 182-84). Does Paul himself eventually share this same attitude towards these two women, or not?
• option five: why does Mrs. Morel not like Miriam? With what type of woman would she like Paul to settle down?
• option six: recall why Paul felt so conflicted towards Miriam earlier in their relationship (307-308), and attempt to explain why the desired change only temporarily improves matters, and may actually hasten that crisis in their relationship with which chapter ten ends.

Week Six: chps 11-12

• option one: at the conclusion of chapter ten, Clara told Paul “[Miriam] doesn’t want any of your soul communion. That’s your own imagination. She wants you” (339). Do the events of chapter eleven prove Clara correct? Does Paul make frequent, erroneous conclusions about what Miriam wants from him, or is he, in the main, correct about her?
• option two: personal response: here is a (rare) chance to use the first-person singular and directly express your own thoughts about an issue. Support or undercut Paul’s claim about sex in the following passage: “‘Don’t you think we have been too fierce in our what they call purity? Don’t you think that to be so much afraid and averse is a sort of dirtiness?’” (343).
• option three: what exactly does Miriam’s gaze “not let [Paul] forget” whenever they are kissing (347)? Do her efforts remain efficacious in the more intimate form of intimacy that follows?
• option four: take a single passage (paragraph?) of free indirect discourse—one that tracks the rapid and seemingly haphazard movement of a character’s mind—and dissect it. Analyze how that character’s mind is moving. Possible passages: Miriam (264-65), Paul (340), Miriam (347). Miriam (361-62), Paul (363).
• option five: explain what the narrator likely intends in one of the following, enigmatic phrases:
  • his description of Paul’s difficulty uniting “the living self” with “the shell” (372).
  • Paul’s response to Clara: “‘If they knew, they’d cease to understand. As it is, they do understand, and they like it’” (381).
  • Paul’s claim that “‘That’s what one must have, I think . . . the real, real flame of feeling through another person – once, only once, if it only lasts three months . . . the something big and intense that changes you when you really come together with somebody else. It almost seems to fertilize your soul and make it that you can go on and mature’” (386-87)

Week Seven: chps 13-15

• option one: consider closely the very different after-the-fact reactions of Paul and Miriam to their sexual experiences together. Does Lawrence seem to be suggesting that the experience of sex is a profoundly different thing for men and for women, or are the differences here evident more a product of two different personalities?
• option two: explore a few possible answers to the question of what exactly Paul has come into contact with through sex: what is this “tremendous living flood” and “magnificent power” (430)? Is it fundamentally different from the “something great” which Clara wishes to permanently hold (431)?
• option three: why does it irritate Clara “to see [Paul] standing gazing at the sea, like a solitary and poetic person” (434)?
• option four: discuss the symbolic importance of Paul’s comparisons between Clara and various elements in Nature (435)
• option five: in what ways does the narrator subtly critique Paul in this chapter?
• option six: with whom does Paul ultimately achieve greater intimacy, Miriam or Clara? Be sure to provide an operational definition of “intimacy” in your response.
• option seven: what motivates Clara to visit Dawes? Is this a moral, practical, or emotional decision?
• option eight: discuss the irony in Paul’s reflection that his father, Walter Morel, “never thought of [his wife] personally” (488).
• option nine: does Paul think equally well of men and women? Do his sharply diverging assumptions about the nature of men and the nature of women constitute sexism?

"The Kiss" (1895)
Edvard Munch

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu