In Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence, Paul's nature is embodied in a particular scene in which he sacrifices Annie's doll after accidentally breaking it. Lawrence here reveals a central idea about Paul that not only parallels Walter's character, but also foreshadows Paul's eventual treatment of Miriam as well as her mother. Ultimately, Paul's inability to accept things that are broken, especially those that he himself breaks, reveals the reason why he is unable to contribute to society as a functioning, functioning human being. healthy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay After breaking the Arabella doll, it seems that Paul is upset that he hurt his sister, who cries upon realizing what Paul accidentally did. However, a short time later, she continues on her way as young children usually do. What is strange is that Paul is still upset: for him, the doll remains a memory of the distress he caused his sister. Paul's inability to recover from the doll's breaking can be seen when Lawrence writes: "As long as Annie cried for the doll, he remained helpless in the face of misery. His sorrow was exhausted. She forgave her brother, he was so upset” (66). Rather than let her go, Paul does not find peace of mind until he physically destroys the doll by sacrificially burning it. Ironically, however, what he calls a sacrifice is actually a way to soothe his own tormented mind. The scene itself parallels an earlier scene in which Paul's father, Walter Morel, throws a drawer at Gertrude out of anger. Just as Paul despises the doll after breaking it, Morel comes to despise his wife for having hurt him, which is seen when we say: “He feared his wife. After hurting her, he hated her” (48). The difference is that while Paul heals his own suffering by destroying the things that cause that suffering, Morel destroys himself through drinking and repairs other things to relieve his suffering. In Lawrence's description of Walter, we learn that his constant bad mood and need to get drunk disappears whenever he has work to do around the house. “He always sang when he was repairing boots because of the happy sound of the hammering. And he was quite happy when he sat down to put big patches on his moleskin pants” (72). This contrast between father and son represents one of the main reasons why Walter remains static and unchanging throughout the novel while Paul eventually grows up. As Walter's guilt consumes him like a cancer, Paul finds relief in the destruction of the things that remind him of that guilt, namely his mother. Besides its parallelism with the scene with Walter, Paul's sacrifice of Arabella can also be paralleled with his treatment of Myriam, his lover and spiritual confidante. After realizing that his sexual desires and his inability to give himself completely to her are causing him pain, Paul rejects her. This is seen after their first sexual encounter and he realizes how hurt Myriam is by his need for physical intimacy, describing: "Now he realized... that his soul had separated, in a kind of horror... very dreary at that time. heart, very sad and very tender, his fingers wandered pitifully over his face” (314). He literally breaks a part of her when they make love and afterwards he sees the pain and sacrifice she endured because of him. Shortly after, he ended his relationship with her.