Suns and Lovers, wrote by D.H. Lawrence, tells a story about a family and its complex relationships: the lack of support from a father who did not cared about the family, the rising of their children, the worrisome process of the children to leave home, the lost of someone cherished and mainly the jealousy of a mother who loves a son in an exaggerated way, leading a young boy to a confused battle of love.
The family Morel lived in Bestwood and had four children in decreased order of birth: William, Annie, Paul and Arthur. At first, Mrs Morel admired her husband because he worked in the mines, risking his life in a daily routine, but as they were poor, money turned itself a really huge problem since Mr. Morel was a father very fond of drinking at pubs. Then, the quarrels were frequent and he did not take part in family’s life.
Paul was the third child and his birth was not in a moment her mother could say she wanted him. Mr Morel only pretended to be interested in the child. By the time Paul was born, William, Mrs Morel’s favourite son was thirteen and started working, giving all his money to his mother. Later, aged twenty, he got a job in London, leaving home and Mrs Morel with sadness. Paul was the one who followed her all around “like a shadow” during his childhood.
Paul was a sensitive young man who felt everything around him, especially what concerned his mother who missed William a lot. Although a little jealous of each other, Paul and William were good friends. As William was away, he sent money to his mother and visited the family occasionally like Christmas. In his first visit, he brought a lot of presents for the family. When he started enjoying his life in London, he stopped sending her any money.
When Paul was fourteen, he started to look for a job. Only four letters wrote and his first interview gave him the chance to get one. By that time, William was engaged to a girl named Lily who was sort of an ‘empty person’, not showing respect to William’s family, asking his sister to wash her clothes. William was not so sure about marrying her, but he felt tied to the commitment.
After his last visit, William got very sick and died. Paul got sick as well, but he knew that he should be strong and recover from the illness. After seven weeks in bed, he was fine and then Mrs Morel gave all the attention and love to Paul. This moment in their lives created a deeper relation between mother and son.
Paul used to go to Willey’s Farm and made new friends, Edgar and Miriam, the children of Mrs Morel’s friend. As time passed, he spent most of it with Miriam, a very romantic girl who was not satisfied with her life. Since Paul knew French and Maths, he offered himself to teach her. He got angry at her because she was slow at learning, then Paul felt pity when he saw her feelings towards the situation though.
He also did improve his painting, having him attended art school which was possible to conciliate due to Jordan’s, his boss, permission. Mrs Morel was very jealous of Paul when he was with Miriam. She did not like her, getting angry and worried with Paul when he got late from the meetings with the girl. Although Miriam and he were friends, they did not assume any type of feeling different from a simple friendship.
Paul was doing very well in the field of arts; after all he even sent two pictures for an exhibition, providing him his first prizes and also making Mrs Morel very proud of him. One day he met Miriam with a young woman, Clara Dawes, who called Paul’s attention at first sight. His mother continued to dislike his proximity to Miriam. He felt angry and decided to tell her he could only be friends, nothing more. Paul had assumed that she loved him more than he did. In his heart, his mother was the ‘strongest tie in his life’.
While Miriam missed him and waited for his return, Paul was more interested in getting close to Clara, an aged thirty woman who was apart from her husband. As time went by, they got closer after some meetings in Miriam’s house and a deliverance by Paul of a letter at Clara’s home. Paul got a job for her where he worked. When Paul talked to Clara about Miriam and his mixed feelings, she encouraged him to take a chance on her; something would not please Mrs Morel again. By this time, his mother had already been sick for a couple of times.
Notwithstanding his feelings towards Miriam, he felt he could not marry her. After having tried a relationship with Miriam, he broke it up. This fact leaded Paul straight back to his last interest: Clara. He had even invited her to take some tea with his mother. He was very much in love with her. Mrs Morel liked Clara, but she told his son that despite this, he would get tired of her, what caused him to feel angry and confused.
Consequently, in his back with Clara, Paul felt she would not be able to keep his spirits high, in spite of the passion and tenderness he could feel for her. Clara had also confirmed she would not divorce her husband. Baxter Dawes was not pleased with their relationship and in one occasion, the man met Paul in the station, hitting him with fierceness. He told his mother the truth, but people were told that he had suffered a bicycle accident.
Sometime after, Paul went to a friend’s house while his mother would stay with Annie in Blackpool. One day, he came to visit her at Annie’s and their mother was ill again. She seemed very weak. She managed to go back home despite her illness after two months away. Then, Paul and Annie helped nursing Mrs Morel. Paul was told she had a lump and it would be impossible to operate her since Mrs Morel’s heart was weak. In one evening, he decided to give her all the sleeping pills through a powder with milk. This overdose accelerated his mother’s death.
After this occasion, as the unique tie to his home was his mother, now her death would take him away from it, leading him to rent a room while his lonely father went to live in a family’s house. He talked to Miriam who asked him about his break up with Clara and wondered marrying him so as not to waste himself. Paul answered that he would not marry her. As Clara had also gone back to her husband after his illness and Paul had lost his last chance with Miriam, he felt deeply lost, making up his mind about not giving in though. Paul wanted to be alive after all.
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