D.H Lawrence

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  • D.H Lawrence-Short stories
    • Adolf
      • Form
        • This might be considered and autobiographical sketch but it also includes some philosophical speculations about man and nature
        • Lawrence creates humour by emphasising the rabbits apparent willfulness.
          • Lawrence anthropomorphises the rabbit ascribing all kinds of rational motivations to it's behaviour
        • Lawrence finds defiance and insolence where others might have seen cuteness and fear
          • The white tail to Lawrence says merde! to the world
            • The fact that lawrence censors himself by hiding behind french terms is his ironic acknowledgement that he is bound by the conventions of politeness just as the rabbit is not
      • Structure
        • The story appears loose and anecdotal
          • Lawrence tells the story of the rabbit in a chronological order
        • At the end of the story Lawrence gives a twist to his argument up until this point has seemed to represent natural indifference to prissy human fussiness
        • But Lawrence calls him meek and seems to twist this concept into a Nietzschean concept of christianity
          • The weak self-righteous lording over the spiritually strong
            • However he fails to develop this idea and leaves the sketch as a suggestive piece rather than a finished rounded argument this could be seen to reflect the natural indifference of the rabbit as he leaves the family whether they like it or not
      • Language
        • The language is conversational and not as intense as the language in other stories
          • It features some colloquialisms in reference to the characters and in general refrences to working class life
            • The father in the story may be thought to represent Lawrence's own father who makes his family uneasy with his "black face"-here the term "black can be seen 2 ways black as in physically black from the coal in the pit or emotionally black which portrays his bad mood
            • Lawrence suggests that the rabbit knows himself and is in some sort of "buddhist meditation"
              • Lawrence sees power in the rabbit and describes him as a "mad nebulous inferno" when entangled with the "lace curtains"
                • The lace curtains are a symbol of artificial refinement and the mother feels she has the right to never forgive the rabbit and the rabbit feels he has the right to never forgive the mother from rescuing him from his diminishing independance
                • The rabbit is described as all "heartlessness and wildness" when the rabbit is released he becomes "contemptuous" of the "tame" family
              • The mother in the story a version of Lawrence's own forceful dissatisfied mother
          • Some french expressions are used which could have been added as a sign of education and middle class respectability except that the words lawrence uses are potentially offensive
    • The blind man
    • The white stocking
    • Odour of chrysanthemums
    • The prussian officer
    • The rocking horse winner

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