I somehow anticipated a worse ending for them, perhaps something in death or the miscarriage of her child. But then again, my expectations are after reading Madame Bovary and The Idiot – two stories that ended tragically.
The amount of background context needed is real though. I finally dared to google 1900s wheelchair, because I simply cannot imagine a motorized wheelchair that isn’t electrically powered. And wow, I’m amazed Clifford can have a stroll in the woods with that thing. Kinda makes that one chapter more hilarious where he insists on the motor doing it’s job trying to go UPHILL. Hilarious chapter.
What’s wrong with Clifford? I get that he’s a biased man and all, but reverting to a child in private with Mrs Bolton at the end? Really? Does that mean he’s not divorcing Connie purely out of childish spite? It is simply baffling and disgusting reading the description of how his relationship with Mrs Bolton ended up.
Then there was that part where Connie somehow lost all sense of shame from sleeping with Mellors? From what I understand in the beginning, Connie’s “love language” is being intellectually connected to the guy, and sex is an afterthought. Hence she’s okay with Clifford. So does it mean she changed her mind? Not to mention, the part where the women start hating the men after sex stops being brought up about halfway through the book…. Other than when discussing Mellors’ ex.
Speaking of Mellors, he seems to be more into physical touch and intimacy? Am I understanding this right? That his “main thing” is being able to show physical affection without worrying about the stigma of sex? Considering the era when the book was written. I understood it as Connie fighting her emotions between rejecting and accepting Mellors – and it skewed heavily towards being with him because he proudly gives her sex and affection. While, and this is just my understanding, compared to Mellors, other men are flawed? Like Duncan or Tommy Dukes, who only want to be platonic to women. Or that greedy gondola guy who just wants money. And perhaps the colliers as well.
I see industrialization and people being more money oriented as something that both Connie and Mellors have in common? Or at the very least just Mellors. Since Connie’s already in high-ish society from birth, and even more so as a Chatterley.
Also, WHERE DID FLOSSIE GO. She stopped being mentioned when Mellors left the cottage 🙁
I think once again, the difference in time period confuses me with this whole thing. Too used to reading classics set in the 1800s. I still enjoyed this book a lot, and would love to read more D H Lawrence. I’ve borrowed a copy of Sons and Lovers from the library, so perhaps I’ll read that next if I don’t get distracted by other titles.
by NommingFood