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.
As Walter dances, he appears to glow; the narrator compares his presence to the warmth and light from a candle's flame. This warmth and expression of sexuality—a "sensuous flame of life"—causes Gertrude to experience a sexual and romantic awakening. Walter's physical, earthy nature attracts Gertrude to him, in part due to how different it is from her own.
The motif of fire appears again in Chapter 1 as Gertrude ruminates on a fight with Walter, and takes on a different meaning:
Mechanically she went over the last scene, then over it again, certain phrases, certain moments coming each time like a brand red-hot down on her soul; and each time she enacted again the past hour, each time the brand came down at the same points, till the mark was burnt in, and the pain burnt out, and at last she came to herself.
Fire, in this case, represents the painful memory of Walter's cruelty, as well as the anger Gertrude feels towards him. The simile Lawrence uses, comparing Gertrude's memories of the fight to lit pieces of iron burning her soul, emphasizes the depth of the suffering she feels in that moment. This palpable, physical description allows the reader to imagine her pain more vividly and therefore empathize with her.
In Chapter 7, the image of fire appears before Paul kisses Miriam for the first time:
The whole of [Paul's] blood seemed to burst in to flames and he could scarcely breathe […] His blood was concentrated like a flame in his chest. There were flashes in his blood.
Similarly to the previous passage in which Gertrude's sexual feelings for Walter are symbolized through the image of a flame, the element of fire in the passage is associated with a person that is desired, in this case Miriam. Paul's experience of passion for Miriam is so intense that it takes on a physical quality. Much like the last passage, the novel makes this unlikely comparison to strike the reader's imagination. The vivid image of Paul's blood turning into fire exaggerates and emphasizes the intense nature of his physical attraction.
When Miriam watches Paul swing in Chapter 7, the novel uses the image of a flame again to describe her physical attraction to Paul:
She could never lose herself so, nor could her brothers. It roused a warmth in her. It was almost as if he were a flame that had lit a warmth in her whilst he swung in the middle air.
Like Gertrude watching Walter dance, the sight of Paul swinging awakens feelings of romance and passion in Miriam. Once again, Lawrence uses the specific image of a burning flame to express a character's feelings of sexual passion and desire.
In Chapter 1, the narrator uses a simile when introducing the landscape and inhabitants of Nottinghamshire County, where the majority of the novel takes place:
All over the countryside were these same pits, some of which had been worked in the time of Charles II, the few colliers and the donkeys burrowing down like ants into the earth.
The narrator compares the colliers—or miners—to ants burrowing into the ground, an example of simile. This surprising association importantly introduces the novel's setting to the reader in an evocative way. Ants typically symbolize industriousness and cooperative effort. Mining is an extremely dangerous profession, and like ants in the ground, miners must work together seamlessly in order to make it through their workdays and survive. This striking visual image sparks the reader's imagination and creatively describes what living and working in the mines is like, a reality most readers were not likely to be familiar with. In using this simile, Lawrence also suggests human beings aren't separate from the natural world but are instead extensions of it, an idea he explores all throughout Sons and Lovers.
The narrator also makes an allusion to Charles II, who was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1649 to 1651. The novel takes place in the late 19th century, and so the time of Charles II would have been in the distant past. In referencing Charles II, Lawrence makes it clear that the pits of the mine have existed for a very long time. The narrator's description of The Bottoms is also in keeping with the novel's authoritative tone, as the narrator occasionally makes omniscient statements and provides commentary throughout the novel.
In Chapter 2, the novel uses a simile to describe Walter Morel's emotions after he drunkenly throws a drawer at his wife Gertrude and accidentally wounds her in front of their young son:
Nothing, however, could prevent his inner consciousness inflicting on him the punishment which ate into his spirit like rust, and which he could only alleviate by drinking.
The narrator compares Mr. Morel's soul and spirit to rust, a substance that arises where something has begun to break down or corrode. Lawrence presents this vivid comparison to the reader to underscore the negative change that occurs in Walter once his drunkenness leads to violence. The simile also characterizes the breakdown of Walter's character; like corrosive rust, Mr. Morel's guilt literally consumes him, but rather than owning up to or facing his guilt, he turns to drink. Mr. Morel's drinking is a form of self-destruction, as suggested by the powerful image of rust.
Both William and Paul inherit this trait of self-destruction, although not through drinking. William's death becomes associated with his hedonistic lifestyle in London and Paul feels drawn towards the idea of death and self-obliteration. All in all, Lawrence uses figurative language intentionally here to reveal this particular tendency of Walter's, and its future impact on his family, in an imaginative and unforgettable way.
In Chapter 4, the reader learns Mr. Morel's presence in the family home has become increasingly unwanted. The narrator uses a simile, a figure of speech that compares two unlike things, to describe how other members of the family feel about him:
As soon as the father came in, everything stopped. He was like the scotch in the smooth, happy machinery of the home. And he was always aware of this fall of silence on his entry, the shutting off of life, the unwelcome. But now it was gone too far to alter.
The narrator compares Mr. Morel to a scotch, a wedge placed under a wheel or other rolling object to prevent it from moving or slipping. This striking image describes Mr. Morel as if he were a cog in a smoothly running piece of machinery, the machinery in this case representing a happy and productive family. Lawrence makes this evocative comparison to underscore how Mr. Morel's presence disturbs other members of his family, especially his children; their sense of well-being disappears, and the narrator even uses an implied metaphor to suggest the image of flowing water being "shut off," water in this case representing a healthy family life. Lawrence uses this figurative language to make sure the reader understands the intense nature of life within the Morel family, a dynamic that significantly influences how the Morel children think, feel, and behave.
The psychology of family life interested Lawrence deeply, as evidenced by his use of figurative language in the passage above. The novel at large focuses on Paul's psychological development, which is rooted in his childhood experience of familial conflict. Instead of expressing the impact of these experiences in an obvious manner, Lawrence uses imagery and other forms of figurative language, allowing readers to feel and discover it for themselves.
The narrator uses vivid imagery and a simile in Chapter 5 to describe Paul's long commute from the city to The Bottoms, the mining community where he lives:
Occasionally the black valley space between was traced, violated by a great train rushing south to London or north to Scotland. The trains roared by like projectiles level on the darkness, fuming and burning, making the valley clang with their passage. They were gone, and the lights of the towns and villages glittered in silence.
Lawrence focuses on two senses in particular, sight and sound, to leave a striking impression on the reader. Note how Lawrence presents the two senses; the passage opens with the image of a dark landscape interrupted by the sound of an approaching train. Instead of describing the train using visual details, the narrator focuses on the sounds the train makes. Through the unusual turn of phrase "glittered in silence," Lawrence juxtaposes light and sound in a compelling way to capture the reader's imagination. The train is a loud, intense presence that disrupts the dark, still valley; words like "violated," "fuming," and "burning" make the trains seem like intrusive forces that harm the surrounding landscape, and the narrator even goes so far as to compare them directly to dangerous "projectiles."
Lawrence presents this powerful image to the reader in order to express how rural life is disrupted by the forces of industrialization. As reflected in the events of the novel, the late 1800s was a time of immense economic innovation and transformation, ushering in a new era of human life. However, the modern lifestyle was not without its difficulties, and Lawrence's use of figurative language reflects a deeper fear of industrialization and how that process transformed social and economic life in rural areas.
Chapter 5 closes with a simile that makes an allusion, or reference, to the Arabian Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales:
[Paul's] life story, like an Arabian Nights, was told night after night to his mother. It was almost as if it were her own life.
Arabian Nights is another name for One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales. In the frame narrative of Arabian Nights, Scheherazade, married to the jealous King Shahriyar, must tell him a story every night to delay her execution. The narrator sets up this passage by describing Paul's journey home from Nottingham where he works all day at the factory. When he arrives, Paul's mother greets him with "gladness" and he then relays the events of his day. In comparing Paul to Scheherazade, Lawrence emphasizes the romantic nature of Paul and his mother's relationship, all in all suggesting that the pair act more like lovers than mother and son. By using literary allusions that his readership would have been familiar with, Lawrence is able to suggest the sexual overtones of Paul's and Mrs. Morel's relationship without too directly addressing such controversial theories as Freud's concept of the Oedipal complex, a major interest of Lawrence's that's constantly in the background of the novel.
In Chapter 5, the narrator uses a simile to describe Mrs. Morel and Paul when they arrive in Nottingham, the bustling city where Paul is to begin work at a factory:
The mother and son walked down Station Street, feeling the excitement of lovers having an adventure together.
The narrator likens Mrs. Morel and Paul to happy lovers on a romantic stroll. This unexpected comparison, an example of simile, jolts reader's expectations and emphasizes the romantic nature of their relationship. Lawrence uses this figurative language to suggest to the reader that Mrs. Morel and Paul's bond is Oedipal rather than filial in nature, meaning the two feel sexual attraction towards each other and act more like romantic partners than mother and son. This sexual attraction is never acknowledged explicitly by either character, but Lawrence uses descriptive language and figures of speech to make it obvious to readers.
The incestuous aspect of Paul and his mother's relationship is important to understand because it leads to Paul's emotional and psychological decline. Lawrence, influenced by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's theories of the human subconscious, believed early childhood experiences had a profound impact on one's adult life. According to Freud, every child experiences the Oedipal stage but must learn to overcome it in order to be psychologically and emotionally stable; in Sons and Lovers, Paul forms an unhealthy attachment to his mother, which causes him to feel sexually and romantically confused once he begins a relationship with Miriam and later Clara. All in all, Lawrence uses a jarring simile to suggest that unresolved childhood issues can cause suffering and confusion, as made evident by Paul's eventual neurosis and despair.
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.
As Walter dances, he appears to glow; the narrator compares his presence to the warmth and light from a candle's flame. This warmth and expression of sexuality—a "sensuous flame of life"—causes Gertrude to experience a sexual and romantic awakening. Walter's physical, earthy nature attracts Gertrude to him, in part due to how different it is from her own.
The motif of fire appears again in Chapter 1 as Gertrude ruminates on a fight with Walter, and takes on a different meaning:
Mechanically she went over the last scene, then over it again, certain phrases, certain moments coming each time like a brand red-hot down on her soul; and each time she enacted again the past hour, each time the brand came down at the same points, till the mark was burnt in, and the pain burnt out, and at last she came to herself.
Fire, in this case, represents the painful memory of Walter's cruelty, as well as the anger Gertrude feels towards him. The simile Lawrence uses, comparing Gertrude's memories of the fight to lit pieces of iron burning her soul, emphasizes the depth of the suffering she feels in that moment. This palpable, physical description allows the reader to imagine her pain more vividly and therefore empathize with her.
In Chapter 7, the image of fire appears before Paul kisses Miriam for the first time:
The whole of [Paul's] blood seemed to burst in to flames and he could scarcely breathe […] His blood was concentrated like a flame in his chest. There were flashes in his blood.
Similarly to the previous passage in which Gertrude's sexual feelings for Walter are symbolized through the image of a flame, the element of fire in the passage is associated with a person that is desired, in this case Miriam. Paul's experience of passion for Miriam is so intense that it takes on a physical quality. Much like the last passage, the novel makes this unlikely comparison to strike the reader's imagination. The vivid image of Paul's blood turning into fire exaggerates and emphasizes the intense nature of his physical attraction.
When Miriam watches Paul swing in Chapter 7, the novel uses the image of a flame again to describe her physical attraction to Paul:
She could never lose herself so, nor could her brothers. It roused a warmth in her. It was almost as if he were a flame that had lit a warmth in her whilst he swung in the middle air.
Like Gertrude watching Walter dance, the sight of Paul swinging awakens feelings of romance and passion in Miriam. Once again, Lawrence uses the specific image of a burning flame to express a character's feelings of sexual passion and desire.
An instance of simile, a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things, and personification, a form of figurative language in which non-human things are given human attributes, occurs in Chapter 13 after Paul leaves his lover Clara and ruminates on their relationship on a walk home:
Behind, the houses stood on the brim of the dip, black against the sky like wild beasts glaring curiously with yellow eyes down into the darkness. It was the town that seemed savage and uncouth, glaring on the clouds at the back of him. Some creature stirred under the willows of the farm pond. It was too dark to distinguish anything.
In the passage above, Lawrence uses figurative language to describe the landscape that surrounds Paul. The narrator first compares the houses, illuminated from within, to “wild beasts” with “yellow eyes,” an unlikely comparison that strikes the reader’s imagination and makes the houses appear threatening. The darkness that surrounds Paul creates a sense of foreboding and anxiety, as does the narrator’s use of human attributes to describe the town. The creature Paul imagines lurking beneath the pond represents his unconscious desires, which drive his thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Lawrence’s use of personification and simile, all in all, conveys the emotional distance, restlessness, and frustration Paul feels because of the difficulties in his relationship with Clara and other women.
