D.H. Lawrence Essay (In class)

      "It was not money nor power nor position" says D.H. Lawrence in reference to what puts one human over another, its knowledge. In his 1915 novel, The Rainbow, Lawrence gives us insight on one of the Brangwen woman's thoughts and inner contemplations. D.H. Lawrence's portrayal of the woman, conveyed primarily through imagery relating to bodily stances and oxymoron, is reminiscent of Adam and Eve and their associated conflict revolving around knowledge. Creation began, consciously with Adam and Eve.
       The woman's position on male gender roles is taken in literal stance, "She faced outwards to where men moved dominant and creative" (Lawrence 23). The topic of creation is shown to be multifaceted for the woman through the oxymoron in which men are said to have, "turned their back on the pulsing heat of creation..." (Lawrence 24). The physicality of these actions, rather than simply the thoughts or mentality behind them emphasizes the influence of being woman or man and their bodily creations in actuality. This becomes the idea that even in the physical "facing outward" of women and "turned back" of men, the female's movement has more to do with her mental developments while the male's actions are closer to a single simple decision.
       Males within this text are generally conceptualized to be rugged and senseless, an oxymoron when given the quote "they lived full and surcharged, their senses full fed..." (Lawrence 11).