Women in Love is one of my favourite books, but I read it 10 years ago. From time to time, I often go through the passages that I marked. I really liked the characters of Rupert Birkin & Gerald. Although Birkin is confused & contradictory, but he still has some charm. It has been said that Birkin’s confusion actually mirrors Lawrence’s own. At one point, Rupert even has doubts about sex & he was unsure about almost everything else. However, I’ve never liked that scene in which he was lying naked amidst the daisies. Somehow it reminds me of the desperate stories in which people just cannot find proper place to make love.
D. H. Lawrence hasn’t used terms such as moral or immoral or merely amoral in his book, but his critics couldn’t help using these words. He is just trying to tell us that marriage is the key to meaningful existence & he was pointing out to the potential dangers of mechanized society with its mechanically thinking individuals (Gerald & Gudrun). D. H. Lawrence is criticizing Gerald & praising Birkin without any reason. We don’t find any answer. How else could we expect Gerald to behave?
‘You have never worked for hunger, or you would know what god governs us.’
Gerald
He is no doubt a mechanically thinking individual, but is he wrong? I don’t think so.
‘If you’re doing a thing, do it properly, & if you’re not going to do it properly, leave it alone.’
Gerald
This is just an opinion, but I agree with him. People make a mess. It’s better to stay away than to turn everything into a rotten piece of shit.
‘People only do what they want to do - & what they are capable of doing. If they were capable of anything else, there would be something else.’
Rupert Birkin
‘One must throw everything away, everything – let everything go, to get the one last thing one wants.’
Birkin
This is actually very reckless, but fascinating. I have done this & believe it or not there’s nothing like it.
‘We are materialistic because we haven’t the power to be anything else – try as we may, we can’t bring off anything but materialism: mechanism, the very soul of materialism.’
Birkin
There are countless passages & lines in this book that are too deep & meaningful. One just goes on thinking. I think it’s one of his best novels. I didn’t like Sons & Lovers as such. Everyone was in love with Sons & Lovers, & it seemed a bit over-rated to me. I wasn’t inspired by Paul, Miriam or Clara. The Rainbow & Mr. Noon are just fine, but they do make for a good reading. Lady Chatterley’s Lover is good but you have to have an open mind to admire it. Anyhow, I do find a lot of repetition in Lawrence’s writings. I guess it happens with most writers. I’m reading The Trespasser at the moment. It ain’t that good.
When I read this particular passage, it seemed as if Gerald was talking about our family.
‘There’s one thing about our family, you know. Once anything goes wrong, it can never be put right again – not with us. I’ve noticed it all my life – you can’t put a thing right once it has gone wrong?’
I don’t want my conclusion to be gloomy. Gerald also said, when you’re not at work you should be in love. It can work for many, & if it can’t then Birkin too has a mind blowing suggestion: Life has all kinds of things. There isn’t only one road.
