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Metaphor
Explanation and Analysis—Stream of Life:
Though Tom and Lydia remain distant during the early days of their marriage, Tom grows increasingly close to his step-daughter, Anna, as they seek emotional support in each other. In his depiction of this growing closeness, Lawrence employs a metaphor that imagines affection as a stream of water:
[Tom]wanted to give [Lydia] all his love, all his passion, all his essential energy. But it could not be. He must find other things than her, other centres of living. She sat close and impregnable with the child [...] But he loved her, and time came to give some sort of course to his troublesome current of life, so that it did not foam and flood and make misery. He formed another centre of love in her child, Anna. Gradually a part of his stream of life was diverted to the child, relieving the main flood to his wife.
Though Tom and Lydia are occasionally close and treat each other with tenderness, Lydia often falls into a state of depression and detachment. Though Tom would be happy to give his wife "all his love, all his passion, all his essential energy," she is not yet open to this kind of emotional and physical closeness. In order to give "some sort of course to his troublesome current of life," Tom diverts "a part of his stream of life" to Anna, "relieving the main flood to his wife."
In this metaphor, then, Lawrence imagines Tom's capacity for love and affection as an overflowing river. Just as the strength and volume of a river might be reduced by creating channels or alternate routes for water, so too is Tom able to channel his energy and emotions to Anna. Ultimately, Tom develops a closer relationship to Anna than to his own sons with Lydia, though she later hurts him deeply by suggesting that she does not truly view him as her father.
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