Previous
Mood
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.
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:
Unlock with LitCharts A+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.
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:
Unlock with LitCharts A+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.
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:
Unlock with LitCharts A+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.
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:
Unlock with LitCharts A+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.
Related Themes:
