Summary of Sons And Lovers (pages 1-25)

Sons And Lovers

The book was set in a village called 'The Bottoms' where The Morels; consisted of Mr.and Mrs.Morel, along with their son William (age seven), daughter Annie (age  five)and an expecting child.
     The Morels moved into their new home on the day of the wakes (which was a name given to a kind of fair). The eldest child William, returned from the wake for dinner, where he hurried his mother so that he may return quickly. Mrs. Morel later took Annie to the wakes and William won her a prize before she left with Annie.
     Later that night after the children went to bed, Mrs. Morels reflected on past situations while waiting for her husband to get home. It is revealed that she cannot afford her coming child and despises her husband's drinking habit. As a result she focused all her love into her two children. Her husband finally returns home and they both argued about whether or not he is drunk but he  brushed  her off by showing her that he brought gingerbread and coconut for the children. She then surrendered to bed.
     The book went on to foreshadow the lives of the couple before marriage. It is written that Mrs.  Morels was once Gertrude Coppard who was a member of a poor family. She had interest in a named John Feild until she met Walter Morel at a Christmas party and married him the following Christmas. 
       After seven months of marriage Mrs. Morel found unpaid bills and learnt about Mr. Morel's debts, which changes her mentality towards him. Another incident which made her despise him more was the cutting of William's hair when she was asleep in which she felt very betrayed.
         However, it does not end there. Mrs. Morel disgust for her husband continued when he went out with Jerry Purdy (who she hated) to a wakes. He fell ill on the journey and upon his return home they had a fight and he locked her out the house and happen to fall asleep. After an hour of trying, she finally woke him and gained access to the house.
           In the latter part of the book, Mr. ¡Morel started to feel ashamed of the way he treats his wife and embraced the news that his wife conceived a baby boy, however, fell ill during the process. Mr. Heaton (Congregational Clergyman) comes to visit Mrs. Morel daily. It so happened that one day during his visit Mr. Morel started to make himself a  fool and in the process embarass his wife, by seeking sympathy complaining about his place of employment.
             One evening after a quarrel with her husband, Mrs. Morel took Annie and the baby and went for a walk near the cricket field where she named the baby Paul.
        The Morels got into another altercation when Walter came home drunk one night and accidentally pulls the kitchen drawer to get something to eat. When Mrs. Morel remarked she won't wait on him, he flings the drawer at her cutting her forehead. He found comfort by lying in bed for a few days and layer resorted to his favorite bar for several nights.
         After spending all his money one night, he stole sixpence from his wife's purse. When she realized it was missing she confronted him and he got angered to the point that he packed a bundle and left. Mrs. Morel, who was confident he would return that night, got worried when time passed and he was still absent. She later found his bundle hidden behind the door of the coal-shed and thought it hilarious. Morel finally returned home that night and Mrs. Morel jokingly tells him to fetch his bundle before going to bed.

Literature assignment #2

Have you ever been betrayed?

Ÿ  Yes

Give an example

Ÿ  It was quite a few years back, when I was about thirteen or fourteen years of age. It so happened that my Dad was dating this woman who I have grown to love. At times I would spend the day or sleep over by her because she had a daughter who was the only child. One evening my father had to work late so he decided to send me by this lady to spend the night because he did not want me staying home alone. Unlike the other fun sleepovers I realized this sleepover was a little tense. Reason being that before time we use to like watch television, cook, do our nails and stuff like that together but this time I realized that every time I enter the room the place is silent and they would like direct their questions to each other ignoring me and stuff like that.

Me as a little girl didn’t think much of it because they were much older so I thought it was grown people business. The other day came now and it was time for me to return home. Upon returning home now I noticed my dad was highly upset with me, dragging me in the room and stuff like that to speak to me. Now this lady told my father about for the whole stay I was rude to her, giving her back-chat, and cutting my eyes to her. Not only that, she went on to tell him about how when she tell me to do chores I refuse to do them and a whole heap of lie! Reminding you that this lady and her daughter hadn’t communicated with me since I stepped foot in the house.

While my father was telling about it, I was there feeling like I little wimp denying all the false accusations brought against me. In the end it all got resolve because we have this general meeting like a mediation where we sorted out what really went down. I never felt so betrayed in my life!

Have you ever felt that u were betrayed and misunderstood the situation?

Ÿ  There was this time when I was living in Montserrat with my mother when I felt I was betrayed but in the end misunderstood the situation.

It was a weekend and my friend was suppose to have a party that I got invited to but my mother told me I couldn’t go because I asked her when she was in her “bad mood”. Anyway I decided that I have to attend that party so I sat down and thought of a plan. My plan was to sleep over by my aunt that weekend and go to the party which I did.  The party ended like three in the morning so since everyone was tired and I could not have gotten a ride back home my friend told me to sleep over and I called my aunt who said it was fine with her. That same night before going to the party, my cousin and I got into an argument over some trivial matter, I cant even remember but my mother called the other morning for me and she told her that I didn’t sleep there so now my mother was pissed. So when I finally returned by my aunt and she told me what my cousin did I felt betrayed because I thought that was her payback because of the argument we had that night before. Then my aunt explained to my cousin what really happened and she said she didn’t know. I personally find that dumb because if my mother asked if I woke up already obviously I was to be sleeping there the night. In the end my cousin called back my mother and told her that she didn’t see me when she got up but I did spend the night there and it was a misunderstanding on her path. Up to this day I don’t know if my mother believed it or not because she hasn’t mentioned it since.

Look at the various William Shakespeare plays you have studied. Why do the characters always resort to violence, trickery or evilness?

Ÿ  In studying the various Shakespearean plays over the years such as The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet and so forth, it is quite evident that in all of the Shakespearean novels, the main characters always result to some kind of foul play namely, violence, trickery or evilness.

Personally, I believe the characters lean towards the acts of foul play because they fail to get what their hearts desire. For example, in the novel Much Ado About Nothing, violence, trickery and evilness was used by Don John because he hated his brother so much and wanted to attain everything his brother did, but because he could not have things his way, he turned to the acts of violence, trickery and widely speaking, evilness.

The strange thing about it is that these character who turn to the acts of violence, trickery and evilness, in the end still did not get what they yearned because they were always caught for the act and faced corresponding penalties.

Look at the background of the text and explain what is going on in the era of the year of that book.

Ÿ  The background or era of the text Winter’s Tale is similar to that of The Merchant Of Venice, in that the religious views always conflicted with each other and because of that someone or people suffers. In The Merchant Of Venice, there is an ongoing war between the Christians and the Jews similar to that of Winter’s Tale where the Christians and the Pagans have their internal strife occurring between each other.  However, in the novel the Winter’s Tale, because of this internal strife between both religious parties namely the Catholics and the Protestants, England suffered great damage such as the decline in the economy, the uncertainty of leadership and they were also now vulnerable to stronger rivals which were living in the continent because of the disunity among the people.

However, the war between both religious parties (Bohemia Europe and Catholic Habsburgs) continued up to the 1600’s. Although Rudolf II and Ferdinand II tried to restore the power of the Catholic church, the Bohemians revolted which lead to the overthrow or Ferdinand and a thirty years war which ended with “The Peace of Westphalia” which basically clarified or stated the religious authority Habsburg had over Bohemia.

What is the Elizabethan Era?

Ÿ   The Elizabethan Era was a time associated with Queen 1’s reign and is often depicted as the globe age in the English history. The symbol of Britannia was first used in 1572 and often there after to mark the Elizabethan age as a renaissance that inspired national pride through classical ideals, international expansion and naval triumph over the hated Spanish foe.

It is the height of English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry , music and literature. The era is most famous for theatre, as William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England’s past style of theatre.

English drama came of age during the reign of Elizabeth1, developing into a sophisticated and very popular art form. Although plays like Shakespeare were mainly responsible for the great theatrical achievements of the time, the importance of actors, audiences, and theatre building should not be underestimated. In 1597, the city fathers closed down The Theatre. In late 1598, Richard Burbage and his men dismantled it and hauled it in pieces across the Thames to Southwark. It took them six months to rebuild it, and when they did they renamed it the Globe. The first Globe met its demise in 1613, and was rebuilt almost four centuries later with the production of Henry V.

Pictures of The Globe Theatre

   

The theatre of the Absurd

Ÿ  The is a theatrical style originating in France in the late 1940’s. It relates heavily on existential philosophy and is a category for plays of absurdist fiction, written by a number of playwrights from the late 1940’s - 1960’s, as well as the theatre which has evolved from their work. It expresses the belief that, in a godless universe, human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down. Logical construction and argument give way to irrational and illogical speech and its ultimate conclusion, silence.  The theatrical style aims to show a world where man is born with only himself and nothing else (no God), and must earn his place in the metaphysical world.

Pictures of the Theater of the Absurd

     

      

Synopsis of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, a successful glover and alderman originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowning farmer.

William Shakespeare  who was baptized 26 April 1564 and  died on the 23^rd of April 1616, was a respected poet and playwright widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet. His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. Some of Shakespear's famous plays includes Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth.

Shakespeare was born and raise in Stratford-upon- Avon. At the age of eighteen, Shakespeare married twenty six year old Anne Hathaway, and six months after the marriage Anne gave birth to a daughter, Susanna, baptised 26 May 1583. Twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585.Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596.

              Shakespeare divided his time between London and Stratford during his career. In 1596, the year before he bought New Place as his family home in Stratford, Shakespeare was living in the of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, north of the River Thames. He moved across the river to Southwark by 1599, the year his company constructed the Globe Theatre there. By 1604, he had moved north of the river again, to an area north of St Paul's Cathedral with many fine houses.

Shakespeare was buried in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church two days after his death. The epitaph carved into the stone slab covering his grave includes a curse against moving his bones, which was carefully avoided during restoration of the church in 2008:

Shakespeare's grave.

Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare,

To digg the dvst encloased heare.

Bleste be ye man yt spares thes stones,

And cvrst be he yt moves my bones.

Some scholars claim that members of Shakespeare's family were Catholics, at a time when Catholic practice was against the law. Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, certainly came from a pious Catholic family. The strongest evidence might be a Catholic statement of faith signed by John Shakespeare, found in 1757 in the rafters of his former house in Henley Street. The document is now lost, however, and scholars differ on its authenticity. In 1591, the authorities reported that John had missed church "for fear of process for debt", a common Catholic excuse. In 1606, William's daughter Susanna was listed among those who failed to attend Easter communion in Stratford. Scholars find evidence both for and against Shakespeare's Catholicism in his plays, but the truth may be impossible to prove either way.

Literary Terms and Meanings

Literary Devices

Imagery- the “word pictures” that writers create to help evoke an emotional response

Symbolism- an object, person, place or experience that means more than what it is

Allusion- a reference in a work of literature to a character, place or situation from history or from another work of literature, music or art

Juxtaposition- the placement of two things near each other

Motif- a dominant idea or central theme

Dramatic Irony- the words or actions of the character of a work of literature have a different meaning for the readers than they do for the characters

Tragic Irony- the use of dramatic irony and tragedy so that the audience is aware that the character’s words or actions will bring about a tragic or fatal result while the character himself is not

Elements of Drama

Act- to perform on the stage

Scene- the setting or locale of the action of a play, story etc. A division of a play, usually part of an act, in which the action is continuous and there is no shift of place

Exposition- that part of a play which reveals what has happened before, who the characters are etc

Conflict- the struggle between the characters forces or ideas at the centre of the story

Complication- a confused situation, something that makes the situation more difficult

Climax- the outcome of the main conflict of a play or novel

Subplot- a secondary or subordinate plot in a play, novel etc

Denouement- the solution or unraveling of the plot in a story or play

Peripetia- a sudden change in circumstances or fortune

Characterization- the methods of a writer, used to reveal the personality of a character

Protagonist- the hero or main character of the story

Antagonist- the character who usually opposes the protagonist

Main Plot- the main event of the story

Forms of Drama

Comedy- a funny play, or television show that has a happy ending

History- all recorded events of the past

Tragedy- a serious play having an unhappy or disastrous ending brought about by the characters or central characters impelled

Romance- a type of novel in which the emphasis is on love

Farce- an exaggerated comedy based on broadly humorous situations

Satire- writing that exposes and redicules the follies of people or societies; like parody, holds its objects up to ridicule, object may be a person or institution

Tragicomedy- a play or other literary work combining tragic and comic elements

Theatre of the Absurd- designated for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940’s

Modern Drama- the western development of drama beginning in the late 19^th century

Melodrama- a dramatic work which exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to emotions

Features of Drama

Monologue- when the character may be speaking his or her thoughts aloud, directly addressing another character, or speaking to the audience

Dialogue- a spoken conversation between two or more people

Soliloquy- often used in drama whereby a character relates his or her thoughts and feelings to himself and to the audience, without addressing any of the other characters, and is delivered often when they are alone or think they are alone

Aside- a dramatic device in which a character speaks to the audience

Set- to place in a sitting position

Stage Direction- an instruction written as part of the script of a play

Stage Convention- something that in normal life seems weird but on stage seems real

Chorus- a number of people singing or speaking simultaneously

Dramatic Unities- the unities of time, place, and action that are observed in classical drama

Disguise- to change the customary dress or appearance of; to furnish with a false appearance or an assumed identity

Children and Difficult Marriages

               Marriage is said to be one of the major themes portrayed in Pride and Prejudice. However, Elizabeth Bennet feels that there are disadvantages for children of marriage such as her parents'.
             Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, were not portrayed as the typical married couple. In the book Pride and Prejudice, we see that they are not in love but are just tolerated by each other. Mr. Bennet shows no form of affection towards his wife, neither does he communicate with her often. In marriages, the main substance that keeps marriages alive is the art of communication that The Bennets clearly did not possess.
             Also, it is evident that Mr. Bennet finds it difficult to  co-operate and comply with his wife, when asked to do simply matters. This can be seen at the very beginning of the book when Mr. Bennet refused to do his wife the favor of speaking to the new neighbors but later, because of his level of tolerance, he decided to do himself the favor of speaking to the neighbors without her knowing.
           Furthermore, what made the marriage even  more difficult, is Mrs. Bennet’s constant bickering over trivial matters. Mrs. Bennet speaks a great deal and acts more elite than she really is. She also has this push over attitude that she believes everyone should abide by what she says and if not, she wants to hear nothing about it. Mrs. Bennet was also a bossy character and there was no evidence in the book that said she showed an inch of affection towards Mr. Bennet.
            These two are clearly end products of difficult marriages that Elizabeth made reference to. She never once saw the love portrayed in her parents that should be happening between married couple.
             However, marriages do not only affect the couple but it also has an impact on the children. Difficult marriages, such as the aforementioned one has both positive but more of a negative effect on children. The positive side of it is that when children see conflict arises between their parents and see how they parents work together to adress these issues, children may learn the importance of teamwork. However if this constant stream continues, later on in life children may believe that it is the norm and they also may become by products of difficult marriages. Also children may display violent behaviors towards other children and may also suffer with emotional issues because parents are so consumed in adding oil to their fire that they are least concerned about the children.
              Moreover, the question has been asked if it is acceptable today to stay in the marriage just for the children. Today, it is seen that couple with difficult marriages either continue or discontinue with their marriages for the children’s sake. This decision can be weighed fifty fifty because there are arguments for and against this decision.
               Some may say that couples should stay in marriages for the sake of the children because children may not cope well with the separation of marriages. Also, it is believed that children deriving from single parent homes are likely to become agents of juvenile delinquency because of the lack of factors such as attention, love, surveillance etc. Also children may feel that this is the right procedure of marriage and their marriage may also result in separation.
                Contrastingly, there are reasons against couples staying in difficult marriages. These reasons vary from children portraying similar behavioral patterns to children’s emotional impact. Some believe that if couples continue in this manner children may adapt and practice these procedures. Also it is believed that it would be better for children not to grow up with this much tension for it may have a negative impact on their future.
                In closing it is believed that difficult marriages are the end product of lack of basic essentials such as communication, love and factors of that sort. Also some believe that children are better growing up in these difficult marriages while some believe that these difficult marriages may have a negative impact on the children’s lives.

Getting To Know The Characters in Pride and Prejudice...

Mr. Bennet: Mr. Bennet can be described as an easy going type of guy. He seldom took on all the drama that was occurring around him and substitutes them for spending time by himself, reading in the house library. Even though one of the major concerns for parents, were that their daughters be married, it seemed as if Mr. Bennet didn’t really cared if this happened or not.


Mrs. Bennet: Mrs. Bennet on the other hand had one major priority and that was to get her daughters married and she went to any extent to see that this happens. She was also talkative and acting more elite than she really is. She also possessed a temper that she displays when things are not going her way.


Mr. Bingley: Mr. Bingley is said to be a charming gentleman. He had wealth and a friendly character that draw women to him especially Jane. He was also polite and easily persuaded.


Mr. Darcy:  Prideful and arrogant are two words that would best describe Mr. Darcy’s character. He was boastful and felt that everyone was inferior to him.


Jane: Jane was the eldest of the Bennet sisters and she was said to be beautiful. She was kind hearted and also very mindful of people’s feelings.


Elizabeth: Elizabeth on the other hand was the quick temper one of the Bennet sisters and the second eldest. She is quite intelligent and knows what to say when to say. Unlike the other women in the book, Elizabeth wasn’t as concerned in getting a husband. She was also a genuine person and cared very much for her sisters.


Mary: An anti-social Bennet. She is mostly found reading books and had no interest in the happenings of Netherfield.


Lydia and Kitty: The youngest of the Bennet sisters. They were both fund of soldiers and spoke a great deal about them.


Bingley Sisters: The Bingley sisters can be described as prideful and they were also prejudice to persons who were not as wealthy as they were. They also had a hint of hatred in their hearts for Elizabeth and showed compassion towards Jane.


Mr. Wickham: Wickham had a high self esteem in believing that he was this “ladies man“ and tried working his charm on ladies such as Elizabeth. He was also a clever speaker, trying to persuade people into thinking that he was helplessly innocent and speaking ill of Mr. Darcy. 


Mr. Collins: He was the cousin of Mr. Bennet and also the recipient of the Bennet’s estate if Mr. Bennet was to ever pass away. He was also a gentleman that spoke a great deal of nothing.