Once there were two girls appeared in Paul’s life, then the wars broke. The first war was between Gertrude and Miriam. Gertrude realized that Miriam was a formidable enemy who would deprive her son from her. As she knew his son had been in love with the girl who was every young and beautiful. The most important thing was that the boy and the girl found each other congenial and held the same idea in common, especially in the art world. They could communicate with each other in their minds, of which Gertrude could not do. So when Paul was late for home because of the data with Miriam, Mr. Morels was every angry and described Miriam as “one of those who will want to suck a man’s soul out till he had none of his own left.” Although she did not fight with Miriam directly, the war was very acute. She inflicted the pressure on her son and shrew her hate of Miriam and afraid of losing her son before Paul. That was a mental war. The pressure really made Paul mad because when his mother was upset he would fell remorse for her and tortured very much. Towards Miriam, she treated her coolly when Miriam came to visit her family sometimes; all the members and friends of the Morel’s family who followed Mrs. Morel kept distance from Miriam and isolated the girl. As to the obstruction, Miriam just sneered at Paul because she did not know why his mother disliked her and Paul just followed his mother. There was no doubt that Miriam would be defeated.
Another war broke in Mrs. Morel and Clara. Mrs. Morel definitely knew that she would be the winner of the war because she was sure that her son would be tied of the Clara. After the first visit Clara to Paul’s family Morel Mrs. found that Clara had something attracted to Paul. Clara was a passionate and sexy woman, of which was most attracted to Paul, a mature woman. But in Mrs. Morel’s mind, Clara could not keep the passion of Paul because she was a vulgar woman without deep thought that she could not master the soul of Paul and Paul should throw away his soul for this flippant traffic of triviality with Clara, even Clara had a husband. She was just waiting her son back. Clara herself also realized this, although Paul’s mother treated her friendly but it was cool in the old woman’s deep hart. She knew that they have to part sooner or later, even if they married, and were faithful to each other, still he would have to leave her, went on alone, and she Would only have to attend to him when he came home. She could not master the hart of Paul because she did not know that Paul’s hart belong to his mother not any other woman. Clara was the loser in the war.
2. Abnormal Love
Gertrude, the pride woman who was from the rich and powerful family married the miner without thinking carefully. The dream of the young girl was to marry a good man, who was elegant, humors and enthusiastic with great ambition. So when she found that Morel was just the opposite her dream was broken and she looked for another people who would realize her dream. The death of her oldest son made her despaired until she rebuilt her hope on her second son, Paul, who won much credit for her. The life of Gertrude was full of sunshine and hope again. She tried her best to praise Paul to be a manly man. Her love just liked a chain locking on the neck of Paul. When Paul fell in love with Miriam Mrs. Morel obstructed the progress of the emotion because she did not allow any other woman to deprive her son from her. Mrs. Morel did not only control the behavior of Paul but also the mentalities of Paul that the boy’s hart only belong to his mother.
In the novel, we can see that Paul deeply loved his mother that he obeys what his mother said and did what his mother wished him to. During his life, all he did were to please his mother. When he was a child, he walked all day, went miles and miles to look for blackberries which his mother liked, rather than own himself beaten and came home to his mother’s empty handed. When he was away from home, he looked forward to get home earlier because he knew that his mother was alone and waiting his back. In Paul’s eyes, his mother was an elegant, undisturbed and beautiful young girl. Every night, he would send his mother to bed and kissed her for good night. After the death of his older brother, William, his family ran into a predicament. The expenditure of the family was larger and larger while the family lived with the wage of 26 ponds of the miner, his father. In order to help his mother to manage the household, Paul got a job in Nottingham and offered his mother his wages.
It was undutiful that Paul was a mourning son, but his main purpose was to help his mother. As to his father, he stood with his mother to be opposed to him, even he hated his father. When his father quarreled with his mother he even wanted to take the place of his father. He believed that his father mismatched his mother and there was no love in their marriage. Once he talked to Clara about love:“love is a dog in the mager”. The situation just liked his parents’ marriage because even if his mother did not love his father anymore or hated him extremely, their marriage still continued and his mother would never leave his father. His words hinted to us that Paul had regarded his father as his rival of love; also we can see that Paul replaced his father and protest his mother. The love of the son and the mother was blameless, but it gradually developed into a kind of abnormal love, mother Fixation. We can get the evidence from the novel, once a time, after quarreling with her husband, Mrs. Morel despaired and complained to his son that she never had a husband, a true husband. After hearing this, Paul detested his father very much even he wanted to kill his father, at the same time, he deeply realized that his mother did not only nee d a good son but also a idea husband, and then he could not help touching the hair of his mother and kissing his mother’s neck, of which was the strong evidence of Mother Fixation.
The abnormal love had affected Paul’s life and thought. Mrs. Morel became the core of his dream and life. His mothers interfered again and again in his love and scold Miriam.
Paul was in a dilemma as to continue to get along with Miriam or separate from her. Once he thought that it would made his mother sad he was full of self-reproach and remorse. Finally, Paul decided to divorce from Miriam. Just as what Miriam said, Paul was a child, a four years old child that Paul did not have his own judgment of thought under the protection of his mother. What he did was to please his mother that once he went against his mother wished he would self-examine and mended his way. Though his second attachment without the direct interference of his mother, it gradually fizzled out because Paul could not concentrate himself on any other person except his mother. Once he said to Clara that he planted to go abroad with his mother and depended on each other from then on. In Paul’s mind, his mother was his companion in the future but not his lover, maybe there was no a love in his lifetime if his mother was still alive. When he got the truth that his mother had a tumor and was being died, the queer feeling went over him, as if the entire sunshine had gone out of him, and it was all shadow. When his mother died, Paul even wanted to go with his mother.
3. Conflicts
In the novel, there were several complicated conflicts in the leading characters. As we knew, the novel was about the love between Gertrude and her son and Paul and his two lovers. The most prominent conflict was in Paul and his mother. With the complicated psychology, Paul had deep feeling with his mother. When his attachment with Miriam led to the objection of his mother, he regretted very much and could not help but obey his mother’s wishes. At the same time, the interference of his mother made him annoyed and detested and sometimes he would do something to hurt to his mother intentionally. Once he was late for home again because he had sent Miriam home and walked long distance, his mother was very angry and scold him. Paul responded that he was old enough to decide what he liked and do what he wanted to. He knew that his words hurt his mother but his hart was delighted because he vented his anger. Maybe it was a kind of reprisal for the controlling of his mother. Another example was that Paul’s mother complained that Paul was absorbed by Miriam and never let him a man. Paul told his mother that he liked to talk to Miriam. His mother could not understand why Paul could not talk to her. Paul said that they were at the same age and his mother was not so young that he could had his thoughts sifted through his mother’s mind and she was not his companionship. He knew that his response was the great revenge to his mother. The contradictable psychology came into the climax. When he got the news that his mother had a tumor he was full of fear that he could not believed that his mother was leaving him. During the last life time of his mother Paul made his mother take an overdose of morphine which accelerated the death of his mother. Although his purpose was to accelerate the suffering of his mother, it was a vicious idea. Had been tied on to his mother for a long time, Paul knew that he could never to be a complete person unless his mother died. So the death of his mother made him free. The abnormal love was inevitably crazy and it led to the abnormal psychology.
The second Conflict was in Paul and Miriam. Miriam was the first love of Paul and their emotion was innocent. Paul loved the girl but sometimes he hated her very much especially when their contact made his mother sad he would do something to raven to Miriam. When his friends and family disliked her and snubbed her, he stood with them .Once his mother and Clara had a vicious talk about Miriam he criticized them and paid his sympathy to Miriam. That was a complicated Conflict. As to Clara, the passionate fascinating woman interested Paul’s attention that he nearly got mad. His mother also treated her friendly, but Paul never belonged to the woman. His hart was only belong to his mother that he was not a complete man and he could not consent rated on other women. He annoyed that Clara did not belong to him and did not loved him completely. How contradictable the abnormal man was.
4. Tragedy
There was no winner at the end of the story .We also can definite that the novel ended with a tragedy. In the novel, the greatest loser was the elegant and arrogant woman Mrs. Morel because the saddest thing for a woman was to marry a wrong man. The broken marriage was her first failure. It was undoubted that Gertrude was loser of marriage. Of course, her husband Mr. Morel was also a loser of marriage and family. The death of the oldest son who won so much credit for her did not brought Mrs. Morel the tremendous will but the broken dream .Although she defeated Miriam and Clara in the wars, Mrs. Morel became mentally and physically exhausted and got a tumor and soon died after continuous confliction. It was the tragedy of Mrs. Morel.
Because of interference and control of his mother, Paul was deep in the wars of soul and sensory feeling that he could not own complete love and gave up his love at last. When he was in love with Miriam and Clara his body and mind were divided into two parts that his mind was fixed on his mother while his body with his lovers. It was undoubted that Paul was a loser of love. The most unlucky thing was that he lost his mother at last. Without his mother, Paul almost lost his goal and led a vagrant life abroad.
Another loser was Miriam; the sensate girl was looked downed upon by her lover Paul and abandoned by him.
The last loser was Clara, the married woman who had a broken marriage, was pensioned in love with Paul and could not escape from the love failure. At the end, Clara came back to her husband and recovered her life.
All the failure was due to the abnormal love, Mother Fixation. It had distorted the emotion of the mothers and sons and breached the moral principle of human being. It did not only harm the body and mind of a person but also destroyed the family. I think we should learn something from it and pursue normal love.
Conclusion
Although Mother Fixation was a sensitive subject in the literature world that people seldom refer to. It exists in the society as a common phenomenon that it has distorted the soul of mothers and sons, even damaged the family, which also obeys the ethics of human being. As to the author of Sons and Lovers, D.H.lawrence, Mother Fixation made him so blind that he did not take care of the moral principles and did not know that he had come to the woman’s family and left it broken. The novel Sons and Lovers also ended with a tragedy with the death of being mentally and physically exhausted of Mrs. Moreland the failure of Paul’s love.
In our daily life, Mother Fixation is a common phenomenon, even if many people do not want to mention it or they do not accept the definition of Mother Fixation. The son who has Mother Fixation is lack of his own thoughts and enterprising spirit because he believes that his mother is his sanctuary and sunshine that never declines. Even when he gets married, his mother is the only person he can rely on not other person. So when there is conflict in his mother and wife he will stand with his mother, go against his wife. As to the mother who has Mother Fixation lavishes her lover upon her son, she controls his behavior and thoughts that she wishes that her son will never go against her. The son is her everything that she is afraid of losing him. As in China, most of the family conflict cause between the mothers and the daughters-in-law. One of the most important reasons is to fight for the domination of the husbands or sons. Once the daughters-in-law come to the family, the mothers will have a sense of tension that the daughters-in-law will take their place to love or control their sons that they are losing their sons. Gradually, the mothers will do something difficult for the daughters-in-law and say something to slander them before their sons, and then the family conflict arouses and the tragedy appears. In order to create a happy life and a harmonious society, we should pay our attention to Mother Fixation and deal with it well because Mother Fixation is a kind of abnormal human beings’ love and we should pursue normal love.
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