Sons and Lovers

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The Symbolic Significance of the Egg-Cups in Sons and Lovers by David Herbert Lawrence
As a mirror of society, literature seeks to portray issues, events, and individuals in society by creating a world of fiction that borrows its plot and characters from real life situations. Towards this end, the author uses three fronts; answering the questions of whom, what, and how. The first deals with characters, which examines the traits and personalities of the agents that the author uses to develop the plot and thematic concerns. The second aspect focuses on the key message that the author conveys. It covers the themes and lessons that the author intends for the audience to get. The third, the focus of this paper, deals with the means, techniques, and literary strategies that the author employs to pass across the intended message. For instance, a literary work that seeks to portray social inequalities does not state explicitly that there is a big gap between the rich and the poor in such and such a society. On the other hand, the author may elect to use symbolism by portraying characters living in slums and others living in isolated suburban neighborhoods. In this case, the literal distance between slums, where the poor live, and suburban neighborhoods, where the rich stay, symbolizes socio-economic gap between the two. In Sons and Lovers, David Herbert Lawrence uses symbolism to develop the novel’s themes of bondage and fragility of human emotions and feelings. This essay argues that the egg-cups that William gives to her mother in chapter one symbolizes his surrendering of his life to his mother and the delicate nature of human feelings emotions.
In chapter one on page five, the author describes a scene at the wake fair where young William presents his mother with the two eggcups he had won. The act is of symbolic significant because it portrays William’s love for and strong bond to his mother as well as the fragile/short-lived and temporary nature of the relationships the characters experience. The author states that William “would not leave her mother. All the time he stuck close to her, bristling with a small boy’s pride of her. For no other woman looked such a lady as she did…” (Lawrence 5). This incidence not only foreshadows the way in which William’s emotional and love life will be dependent on his mother, but also emphasizes the intensity of his love and as a result, his over-reliance on his mother. This is evidenced when he grows up and starts having relationships with ladies. His relationships fail partly because his mother does not approve of his choices. This is seen when William begins a relationship with Louisa Lily and his mother does not approve of him. William breaks with her because she does not intend to lose her mother because of her relationship. The gift of the egg-cups, therefore, is a symbolic gesture that portrays his willingness to please his mother at all costs.
The offering of the egg-cups does not just foreshadow William’s future dependence on his mother; it also symbolizes the future condition of his younger brother, Paul. After William’s death, Gertrude, his mother, directs her attention and love to Paul. This incidence is significant in two w...