Reading Sons and Lovers through Object Relations Theory

Abstract:

This paper dissects Paul Morel’s various female and male relationships portrayed in Sons and Lovers by dint of object relations theory. In the course of the investigation, it is gradually revealed that the paradigms of son-mother and son-father relationships reverberate throughout Paul’s life, from which none of his other relationships can be freed. In the final analysis, Paul is only a symbiotic infant caught up in the smothering repetitions of a rash of unsuccessful relationships which he fails to see through till the bitter end. Yet, the vicious cycle in Paul Morel’s life does remind us how repetition can serve as a game-changer at the same time---identifying it alone is the springboard for freedom---that is the ultimate significance of repetition.