This Wednesday we talked about D. H. Lawrence's project of cultural regeneration, which involves a re-evaluation of our relationship with nature and with our own bodies. His attack on technological and industrial modernity works alongside his advocacy of organic ways of living which will help us to recapture a pre-modern, or even "primitive," relationship with nature and with sexuality. It is an awareness of a new self that stays away from the contamination of the cerebral-analytical-rational consciousness. Creative imagination and a sensual communion with the natural world can only be obtained when we trust the power of our instincts and reconnect with our primeval sources.
Questions for your assignment (choose one from the following questions and answer it with 200-250 words):
1) In "Why the Novel Matters," Lawrence argues that the novel is valuable because it can reveal "life" to us. What does he mean by the word "life"?
2)In "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," the pond is an ambiguous symbol which hovers between life and death, rebirth and destruction. What does this symbolism have to do with the changing relationship between Mabel and Dr. Fergusson?
56 comments:
Before Mabel and Ferguson met at the pond and changed their destinies afterwards, Mabel was a zombie-like person living on earth. She lives among the strange air of ineffectuality of her three bothers, fearing that their lives would have collapsed. “It was that this is the end, and there was no way out.” Such life has entrapped her and made her suicidal. When Ferguson saw her at their house, her eyes are steady and dangerous. Later he saw her again at the church, he found her intent and remote, as if looking into another world. Doctor Ferguson lives a better life than the horse dealer’s family. However, his life was nothing but drudgery works among the colliers and workers. He was tired of his job, but “the contact with the rough, strongly feeling people was a stimulant applied direct to his nerves.” Doctor Ferguson was frightened by Mabel’s desperation revealed by her eyes, but he ran into the pond just to save her in spite of the fact that he could not swim. The pond was the place where the two characters were mingled together with the rotten clay and dead coldness. It was a metaphor of taking the risk and the test of love. After Mabel’s restored, she immediately fell in love with the doctor because of saving her life. “She kissed his knee passionately and indiscriminately, as if unaware of anything. He was powerless.” Although it seemed cliché, it was a way of depicting the power of love and rebirth of Mabel if we consider the pond as a religious symbol of baptism. At the end of the story, D. H. Laurence has reached the common theme of most of his works, which is, the mixture of class and gaining passion by reconnecting the intellectual self and the physical self both in Mabel and Ferguson.
Hi teacher, I'm Vera (49807003)
I want to answer second question.
Ferguson lived a very busy and boring life, for some reasons that he was living dead. He didn’t have his goal, kept doing the same thing every day. As a doctor, his patient came from working class like colliers and iron-workers. Only contacting with these rough, inarticulate, powerfully emotional men and women could give him the sense of vigorous ‘‘Life’’. In other words, Mr. Ferguson didn’t have spirit. On the other hand, Mabel was mindless because of her three ineffective brothers. They didn’t help Mabel to relief her pain for this poor situation, instead to tease at her. When she went to the churchyard, she felt in immediate contact with the world of her mother which gave us a connotation of her suicide. When they first met each other at her house, her eyes are steady and dangerous, which showed that ‘love is the relationship about hunting and to be hunted. And she determined to fight for herself’. The pond was dark and dirty, in winter, it was full of depression. Also the pond represented the battle of lovers, there ego and selfhood. After ‘’saving’’ by Ferguson, Mabel was immediately falling in love with him. it seemed an unknown power forced them to rebirth at the same time. However, they shared the same experience including soulless life(represented the life). He couldn’t swim, jumped into the pond could kill him easily (represented the death). They have been destruction by the pond, but ended up rebirthing again. At the end of the story, D.H Lawrence deal with complicated issue like religion and love and live or death into an open ending, that was very impressive to me.
D.H Lawrence takes emphasize on “life” of novel. It is not about physical “life” but spiritual. Lawrence prefers every character has its particular existence, which means, the one has soul is the one alive. Consider that, the main part of the Bible is not the existence of God, but is the living men like Adam, Eve, Sarai, Abraham…In all kinds of existence; he is especially in favor of primitive spirit. Take the arrangement of the horse-dealer’s daughter as example, the refine mother of Mabel, the sign of the civil culture, is lifeless and brings little attention on the daughter’s mind; on the other side, representative of the crude paternal part, has greater influence on Mabel. For Lawrence, one has its own personality, is the one who alive. In another word, if you live in your regulation without thoughts, or love someone without feeling passionate, you are a zombie to Lawrence. He is not only against static life but also social directions. For he thinks that one is socialized and lives under a certain track, the planed route leads the person into cul-de-sac. The person would become numb to the unchanging world, and that is death to Lawrence. He believes that if you feel things, even a small one like grass responding to rain can bring you in life. In short, ones have mind and soul, rather than being numb to the world is life to Lawrence.
I think the pond represents a purified place—make human beings back to their primitive and pure conditions. Just like the amniotic fluid of pregnant women, it gives birth to a new life. After Mabel and Dr. Ferguson fell in the pond, something strong and emotional stirred in both their minds. Mabel seemed to be reborn after going under in the pond. Instead of being like a living dead like before, she started to express her passion and feeling straightly and confidently like a honest child. She was not that dull, lifeless and sad girl anymore. And so did Dr. Ferguson. His life was dim and nothing else but boring works. He just lived a life aimlessly. After going through the pond, he began to conflict with his inner mind. He struggled to get out the monotone circle he was in since something burned in his heart. It was just like a larva finally got rid of its pupa and became a beautiful butterfly. Undoubtedly, he expected a vigorous life. Mabel and Dr. Ferguson both had some changes in their thoughts and attitudes toward their own lives and also faced the relationships between each others after falling in the pond.
The relationship between Mabel and Dr. Fergusson was cold, dead and emotionless before they got into the pond. After Mabel’s mother died and her family collapsed, only one thing could make her feel better was to take care of her mother’s grave. This is a clue that she wanted to commit suicide by drowning herself. Furthermore, before Dr. Fergusson saved Mabel from the pond, he lived a busy but pointless life and he didn’t have any feeling to Mabel then. However, the pond is the turning point of their lives and relationship, and the water symbolizes baptism and rebirth. When Mabel was rescued from the pond, she revived and became an aggressive person who was ready to start a new life. In addition, Dr. Fergusson was afraid of going deeper into the pond, because he was afraid of drowning. The other symbolic meaning is that he was afraid of falling in love which never existed in his senseless life. There are many conflicts inside between their convictions and the new ideas, but finally they accepted new selves. The pond carries death and life, and it also gives them love and sensibility back. In the end of the story, the two protagonists dramatically fell in love with each other.
Before sinking in the pond, Mabel is a woman forced to bear the stress of taking care of her family. Under the condition of facing her three irresponsible brothers, she needs to potent herself as a severe lady. So, she has poker face on the sight of her brothers. As to Dr. Fergusson, he is interested in Mabel at the time he went to her house.
The pond is not clean one, it is dark and muddy, which represents it is mysterious and having certain kind of power in it. Under the observation of Dr. Fergusson, who standing on the hill, he saw Mabel walking in the pond. Ignoring his illness and landlubber, he slowly ventured into the pond and tried to save her. The water works to make the two dying people have a chance to reborn themselves and express their affection to each other when they both are inside the same pond.
Their characters change while they awake. Mabel is no longer rationality and thirst for love from the male to make sure her sense of presence. She murmured he loves her for many times and looked at him all the time. However, Dr. Fergusson thought the behavior he saved Mabel came from the duty of being Doctors. He had no choice but to kissing her and saying he loves her to calm her down.
In my opinion, I think Mabel and Dr. Fergusson are like water. Because their lives were as calm as water before they met each other. And, after they met each other their life became different just like the rippling of water.
Mabel lived a hopeless life with her three ruthless brothers and Dr. Fergusson who lived a boring life only did nothing but working. When Mabel met Dr. Fergusson at her house first, she looked at him with her steady and dangerous eyes, it made Dr. Fergusson uncomfortable and unsettling. And, I think in the moment there was something rippling their hearts, but they were not aware of it. Afterwards, they met each other again, when Mabel was walking into the pond and wanted to suicide. At this time, Dr. Fergusson’s heart was full of contradictions, but as a doctor he decided to save her even if he was afraid. After this event, Mabel was rebirth like another person, she thinks her life is full of hope again rather than desperation, because there was someone loving her. And, Dr. Fergusson never thought he will love her, but in the same time he was attracted by the woman. With the struggles of the heart contradictory, Dr. Fergusson knew he loved Mabel. It seemed that there was a kind of power to force them filling in love. Therefore, they was destructed and rebirth by the pond.
Question 1
I think the word “life” in this article represent the vitality of changeable life. According to this article, the author thought that the scientist or the philosopher only produced the formula and technique of life which was repeated, lifeless and similar to others. The contents they produced were motionless, uninteresting and without vitality. The novelist, on the other hand, create energetic and unique novel which is about human nature. Because they are writing about human’s life, the content can change according to the character’s personalities and their environment. Not only the plot and the background of the novel, but also the characters and the meaning can be determined by the author, just like the meaning of our life can be determined by ourselves. Everyone’s life can be different due to the way they experience it. From our life, we can learn, experience, enjoy, think and create our own story. We also can review our life, just as the novelist do. However, although the scientists also create some miracle and delicate formulas or the machines, it is so cold that doesn’t reveal the meanings of our life. It only show that how advanced our technique are. This is what I think the word ”life’ in this article.
Avril 49802028
Before Mabel tried to kill herself in the pond, she was a character that didn’t talk too much, and she was kind of live under her brothers’ pressure, male dominated world. This made her become an impassive, emotionless person. As for Dr. Ferguson, he was a workaholic, robot like person. He only cared about surgeries, and always looked tired. He seemed like not very interested in a relationship with women. In the beginning, he didn’t put too much attention on Mabel when they were in her brothers’ house. And when he asked Mabel a question, she just simply answered “No.” Base on these, they seemed like didn’t have much connection with each other. But, after Dr. Ferguson saved Mabel from the pond, something linked them together. They both just got rid of the pond and the doctor saved Mabel’s life. Mabel turned into talkative, keep asking Dr. Ferguson “Do you love me?” Dr. Ferguson was afraid of falling in love at first, or he just afraid to admit that. But his mind, he struggled a lot about how he felt. He had never thought of loving her, but somehow this woman had the power to melt him. Making him reflected that he might love her. Finally, he came to admit the fact that he was totally crazy about Mabel. They both experienced “death” to “life”.
In D. H. Lawrence’s “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,” nothing is exuberant. Green fields are grey, saddened, and dark and an atmosphere is blackened by the smoke of foundries. The pond is also described as a cold, dead, callous place. Two characters, Mabel and Dr. Fergusson, gave an image of zombie before an accident happening at the pond. Mabel took a responsibility for taking care of her three feeble brothers. Actually, she had already been sick of it. On the other hand, a tedious and dull work dwelling among the lower class wore Dr. Fergusson out. Therefore, Mabel decides to commit a suicide in order to get close to her deeply-missed mother by drowning herself. At the same time, being a doctor, Dr. Fergusson has an obligation to rescue her. Before going in this pond, their relationship between them is as cold and lifeless as it, and they had no passion for one another. He is afraid to go in because he is afraid of getting drowned, which means his fear of falling in love. In literature, water represents as an object of rebirth and destruction. The pond destroys their inherent belongings and regenerates new things. After going in, they seem to accept baptism and change. Mabel becomes irrational and eager to marriage. Dr. Fergusson extricates himself from his drudgery although he resists at first. Finally, the story reaches D. H. Lawrence’s project of cultural regeneration. Dr. Fergusson accepts her proposal when Mabel is naked, in a primitive way.
Before Ferguson saved Mabel from the pond, they had no close relationship even conversation. We could only see the doctor was attracted to Mabel. “Mabel looked at him with her steady eyes, that always made him uncomfortable, unsettling his superficial ease” The pond is the symbolic of destruction that Mabel and Ferguson destroyed their alienation and zombie-like lives. In order to save Mabel, the Ferguson had to touch her to drag her out of the pond. And then, Ferguson brought her to his home and changed her clothes. The love between them somehow stimulated by the physically touch. Ferguson and Mabel had a similarity that they both lived in zombie-like lives. T Ferguson filled his life with busy work, and Mabel needed to do domestic-affairs to maintain her family. In my opinion, love has the symbolism of vitality and creativeness. We can see that in the following description “Now the life came back into him, he felt delivered from his own fretted, daily self”. In addition, love makes the doctor’s life reborn. It is obvious that he had a conversation with himself to make sure his love. He had to inspect himself about his formal live and emotion. For Mabel, if they married, Mabel could get rid of her original family. Also, they may have a new family. In conclusion, the pond links their zombie-like lives and new lives, and changed Ferguson and Mabel’s lives.
In“the Horse Dealer’s Daughter,”the pond is the symbol of death and tomb. The process of submerging in the pond symbolizes rebirth like baptism by immersion. Mabel and Dr. Ferguson let their past die in the pond. However, their personalities are similar even though they don’t know much about each other. I think both of them feel lonely and afraid of their future. They can’t image their future so they stop walking forward and live aimlessly. In their mind, they want someone to save he/her. Therefore, Dr. Ferguson ignores that he can’t swim and save Mabel who wants to commit suicide. Even though Dr. Ferguson thinks he saves her just because he is a doctor. Still, there is something changed between Mabel and Dr. Ferguson when they first met each other. Although Dr. Ferguson confuses about his feeling toward Mabel, he eventually confesses that he loves her because he looks Mabel as himself and is scared to lose her if he doesn’t confess his feeling. So, in my opinion, they eagerly need someone to accompany because they can’t face the future alone. They view each other as their support and the only hope. Or maybe their relationship is not love but family. Through rebirth, they are like a baby and will grip the one that they see at the first sight. But, now, they are not alone. They can face future together.
I would prefer to answer the first question. In “Why the Novel Maters”, the writer think that the novel is so fantastic that can reveal the “life” to us. Life is to catch the right now moment, not later or after. D.H Lawrence mentioned that “Paradise is after life and I for one am not keen on anything that is after life.” He think that the saint or the parsons always talk about the soul in heaven is far away than certain life. Moreover, life consists of the whole things. “Now I absolutely flatly deny that I am a soul, or a boy, or a mind, or an intelligence, or a brain, or a nervous system, or a bunch of glands, or any of the rest of these bits of me. The whole is greater than apart.” In his thought, he could not lose any part of him, and that is called alive. In my words, I think that is the way he want to inspire us we would not do anything against your original desire or thought. In the class time, we mentioned that doing some work that you are not very like for living also against your initial will. That is the purpose of writer wants us to avoid. The will just like soul in our body, and body usually suffer the torture in reality. You can’t lose anyone, and the greater thing that is you could make them in harmony. How to make them both comfortable is the most important thing we have to complete.
Mabel attempts to become more connected with her dead mother by walking into the pond that is deep, soft clay based, and full of cold elements, which suggests the door to where her mother is – the other side of the world. She doesn’t want to carry on living the life that seems to have no meaning left. As she walks towards the pond, it’s like Death is welcomingly waving at Mabel. When the doctor sees this, he instinctively wants to save her life, as if there’s a tug of war: Life and Death pulling on the opposite ends of the rope, both trying so hard to get Mabel.
After saving the girl, the Doctor takes off her wet clothes and put a blanket over her body. When Mabel wakes up, she’s thankful, in a way, for being saved; but she’s also in shock for being naked in front of a man. A few moments later, she realizes that she loves him and keeps on assuring the doctor that he loves her as well. At first the doc knows he doesn’t love her and that he has never looked at her that way. He’s very sure of it. And yet, there’s a strength inside of him, holding him back when he wants to leave the scene. But then when he realizes revolting isn’t working, and that he is mesmerized, or rather, convinced, he begins to kiss her.
Just when everything seems to be alright, Mabel starts acting strange; she thinks she is horrible for him and that he can’t love her. I think this is where the “rebirth” and the “destruction” appear: Saving Mabel from drowning means the rebirth the doctor offers, but it’s also destruction for Mabel because this is the life she’s s given up on. When the doctor says he loves her, Mabel seems to feel guilty. She thinks she’s too awful; it’s become some sort of pressure for her. Being saved could be a precious rebirth, but it could also be a frightening destruction.
I think that the life in this “declaration” is not the literal meaning of life, the thing which he wanted to say was mentioned in this article, we think of ourselves as a body with a spirit in it, or a body with a soul in it, or a body with a mind in it. Every novel he wrote had its own treasure. We can aware that every character has their unique characteristic. Due to these characterful descriptions all of us can sense the value and the skills in the novel. Because the characters in novel, it can not only reveal the characteristic but also show us the culture in that period. For instance, I can understand what the culture or every character in The Horse Dealer’s Daughter, and it also makes me feel sick of that time. Most of all, we can dig out what the author try to express his thought about some incident, I think it is the true life what D.H. Laurence wants to express.
Cleon
Answers to question no.2:
I still remember that when professor was asking me, that I answered I think the part that Marbel was saved by Mr. Fergusson is not too "sentimental," and feeling a little embarassed myself (laugh). And yet...I still consider it romantic. Why? As a turning point in the short fiction, the pond is the place that changed Mabel's destiny and personality. Before she decided to suicide herself, she already set her mind to left nothing behind and is ready to end her life. So it is understandable that when she was saved from the pond, she no longer has any burdens to take. And it is understandable that the first thing she asked is "love" that she is lacked for about her entire life. Personaly, I think she is quite naive in this part of human nature, that is what makes it romantic, because in here, the ugly part of love are absent. The only remains are pure primitive and naive.
As for Mr. Fergusson, he is more like a shining lighthouse to Mabel. And had taken charge in the character who continues mabel's naive personality after she was saved. His turning point is the pond, yes, or to be more precise, actually it should be Mabel herself to be his turning point. It is she who made him change, the pond only gives the chance.
The pond, which was a symbol of both death and life, buried Mabel and Dr. Fergusson’s past and gave them a new life.
Mabel lived a dreary life. Her life seemed worse than a zombie. Impassive and inscrutable, she just lived without emotions. She lived with her three brothers and they just got used to her deathly stillness. She wandered in her own wonderland, remote and lonely.
Dr. Fergusson was kind of like Mabel. He found no interest in his life. He did same things day after day, without finding his goal. He met Mabel, finding her remoteness. He somehow knew they were alike.
When they both were in the pond, there was change between their relationships and themselves. Their past died in the pond and they were reborn. They shared their dreary past and abandoned it together. Mabel kept asking Dr. Fergusson that did he love her. She finally found her way out of her loneliness. She kept asking because he was the last hope.
Their rebirth in the pond was like baptism. Their old selves were killed so that they could truly have their soul and mind.
D. H. Lawrence well used the ambiguous symbol of the pond to reach his intention.
In “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,” D. H. Lawrence uses the symbol of the pond to let Mabel and Dr. Fergusson have a different mood after they fall into the pond. Mabel is the only female in her family after her mother died, and her three brothers always ignore her feelings. No one really understands Mabel, so she is unhappy and always has an impassive face. As for Dr. Fergusson, he has a tedious and busy life. He works day and night just like a robot. After Mabel and Dr. Fergusson falling in the pond, everything changes. When Mabel wants to commit suicide, Dr. Fergusson ventures into the pond to save her. The pond is cold and dirty; the bottom of the pond is deep and soft clay. Once they fall in the pond, they may die. However, Dr. Fergusson saves Mabel from the pond, and both of them have a rebirth. Mabel starts to talk voluntarily and she experiences the concern that she does not have before. Also, Dr. Fergusson cannot resist her dangerous eyes and he falls in love with Mabel. Through the baptism of the pond, they realize the value of existence of themselves and the yearning of love and happiness. The symbol of the pond means that the two main characters have a new start and it also changes the relationship between Mabel and Dr. Fergusson.
In “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,” it is an atavism that Mabel falls in love with Dr. Fergusson after him saving her life. Before that, Mabel is depressed to live with her rash brothers. Mabel does the housework as a servant in the family, but her brothers just idle away. During her 27 years of life, Mabel lives in an environment that is lack of care, love, and friendship. In desperation she chooses to end her life by drowning in pond; fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), Dr. Fergusson rescues her, and then she survives. The pond is symbolic of rebirth, which wash out Mabel’s depressed past. The rebirth from the pond stirs Mabel’s atavistic feeling of love, hence she falls in love with Dr. Fergusson without reasons.
Clare(49788036)
In my opinion, I think that Dr. Ferguson does not love Mabel. Because of Mabel`s brothers, she wants to be loved. His brothers treat her like she is mindless. But she is not. So when she met Dr. Ferguson, that encourages her to chase her own love. Later in the story, Mabel tries to drown herself in a pond but her attempt fails when saved by the young doctor, Jack Ferguson. This drowning in the pond represents the summit of Mabel's depression and confusion. The rescue, on the other hand, represents a second chance to her. The kiss and sex mean marriage to Mabel, but to Dr. Ferguson, it is just sex. Mabel asked him "Do you love me?" And finally Dr. Ferguson answered her "Yes" because his desire is more powerful than intellect. After all, he fears of falling in love. And this love also stands for the pond. It is dangerous, damp and hard to bear. Maybe this love would not bring the redemption instead more problems.
D. H. Lawrence thinks our body with a soul in it. Nothing is important but life. All things that are alive are amazing. And all things that are dead are subsidiary to the living. The novel is the book of life. He can absolutely see life nowhere but in the living. He think Life with a capital L is only man alive. He wants people to get his idea of life so he thinks that his novel is valuable. He likes all these bits very much of him to be set trembling with life and the wisdom of life. He thinks alive is greater than his soul, or spirit, or body, or mind, or consciousness, or anything else that is merely a part of him. He is a man, and alive as long as he can. He intends to go on being man alive. The novel is the one bright book of life. But the novel is a tremulation can make the whole man alive tremble. Which is more than poetry, philosophy, science, or any other book-tremulation can do. He thinks that when we realize that life itself, and not inert safety, is the reason for living. We also can develop an instinct for life.
The symbol of the pond for rebirth well illustrates the changes in the relationship between Mabel and Dr. Fergusson. Mabel, before the suicide, used to be impassive and lived in the oppressing ambiance among her ineffectual brothers. It was the grief over her mother’s death that drew her into the idea of committing suicide. Dr. Fergusson, on the other hand, led a pointless life with constant works to be done in a hurry. Seeing Mabel, the doctor was somehow attracted but their worlds still seem to be disconnected; however, after the doctor saved her from the pond, they get to have a close contact. Mabel was suddenly full of unreserved and uninhibited passion for love and asked for his in return, and Fergussion, after some struggling, became determined in loving her. The symbolisms of the pond are rebirth and baptism as the event signals the changes in their spirits. It was after baptized in the pond that they were to remove the burdensome cloth of constraining civilization and in nakedness of their bodies discovered their true selves.
Mabel was a mindless woman because her three brothers were “ineffectual”. Her brothers could not solve their father’s debt and one of them even got his work with the help of his next marriage. The story once mentioned that the sense of money had kept Mabel’s proud. However, after her father had died, they were in debt. I thought maybe Mabel was afraid of her future because they did not have money to maintain their lives. Therefore, she committed a suicide. On the other hand, Dr. Fergusson was attracted by Mabel’s dangerous eyes because his mind was worn out by the daily life just like a robot. When he saw Mabel passed the church and they had the eye contact, Dr. Fergusson saw Mabel was remote as she was going to another world. I thought the connection between this world (civilization and modernization) and the other world (primitivism and instinct) was the “pond”.
The Pond was a dramatic transformation. After Dr. Fergusson saved Mabel, their relationship changed. First, Dr. Fergusson could not swim and was afraid, but he still ventured into the pond. Second, this was a turning point to Dr. Fergusson because he did not obey his rational mind. He followed his instinct and released from his restricted mind. Third, to save Mabel, he also ventured his life in danger because he had a cold and his cold might get worse. Therefore, their relation changed because he fell in love with Mabel even though he did not have this thought before.
In this novel, the female character, Mabel, lives with her three brothers. Although she is the only daughter in her family, her family numbers don’t care about her. It seems ironic. At the beginning of this novel, Mabel looks like a half-corpse. Basically, Mabel’s life is full of darkness. After her mother passed away, she is in despair and wants to commit suicide. Most importantly, Mabel is described as a dying person when Dr. Fergusson sees Mabel at church. On the other hand, Dr. Fergusson, a Doctor, is a significant character. Saving people’s life is what a doctor has to do, but Dr. Fergusson is tired of his job in this novel. Furthermore, he seems numb with his life until saving Mabel’s life.
Moreover, the pond is a symbol of changing relationship between Dr. Fergusson and Mabel. In the Genesis, life begins in the sea. Therefore water symbolizes rebirth not only in the bible but also in novels and poems. Besides, the pond in this novel also symbolizes death. When Mabel walks into the pond and commits suicide, the pond is like a gate of the underworld. Nevertheless, the death of the pond turn into the rebirth of water when Dr. Fergusson save her life in spite of swimming is his Achilles’ heel. Furthermore, when Dr. Fergusson saves Mabel’s life, she falls in love with him. And love is often described as an image of rebirth especially after experiencing people forlorn life. Consequently, the readers can seem the pond as the changing relationship between Mabel and Dr. Fergusson.
Ethan(49902015)
choose question NO.2 to answer
After reading the whole novel of ‘’ The horse dealer’s daughter’’, we can compare the behaviors of Mabel. At the start of this novel, Mabel was living like a zombie. She rarely talks in the family not even to mention sharing her thoughts to her family. She was looked down by her brothers. Her life was misery. As a human being, people must have feeling and emotion. Looked downed and disliked by her family members must be really frustrated. This is also the main reason why she wanted to commit suicide. After jumping into the pond, Mabel must have thought it would the end of her life. She thought this must be a relief to her.
However, she was saved by Dr. Fergusson. The heroic rescue changed Mabel’s life forever. I personally think, after experiencing the feeling of death must inspired Mabel something that she might wanted to do deep down in her heart, like running away of her family. After death, Mabel was reborn. I think the pond is like a message deliver by God. Mabel wouldn’t reborn if Dr. Fergusson didn’t save her. He didn’t even know how to swim! I think D.H. Lawrence was telling us that God exists and also love does.
In "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," the pond is an ambiguous symbol which hovers between life and death, rebirth and destruction. In addition, I consider water or pond can transmit one’s feeling. At the first scene, they address each other like air. Ferguson didn’t greet with her, and Mabel remained to clean up those dishes with unchanged face. Gradually, Ferguson was interesting in her. After Dr. Ferguson saved Mabel from the cold and earthy pond, it changed the relationship between them. To get the connection with her loving mother, she planned to suicide. In the same time, Dr. Ferguson saved her, on the one hand, it just like destruction and rebirth. As we know, we were in our mom’s amniotic fluid when we were born. She was dead then she reborn like a child. She became dependent on Dr. Ferguson as a chicken’s first sight on a mother hen, and it’s normal to a child to ask for love as Mabel. Dr. Ferguson just symbols the final straw to Mabel. On the other hand, as I said that water can transmit one’s feeling, Mabel was failed to transmit her feeling to her mom (she didn’t suicide successfully). In this way, she delivered this absolute, strong love to Dr. Ferguson. I think that is what water changes and makes the different relationship between them.
Before they sink in the pond, Mabel is a woman with sullen-looking and the attitude that she holds to life is passive and cold because of her three ineffectual brothers. The only thing that can relieve her desperation is to clean her mother’s grave. Over there, she can feel the connection with her mother. In addition, she also feels the world she lives is much worse than her mothers’. And it is a clue that she wants to commit suicide. On the other hand, Dr. Fergusson is a man who is very busy. And his body and soul seems like separated. He is just like an outsider to see the city which he lives. Maybe he doesn’t’ want to have any relationship with others, including Mabel.
And the word “winter” appears many times, it indicates that life is dark and gray to both of them.
When Dr. Fergusson sees Mable walking slowly to the center of the pond, he wonders to save her or not. Because he can’t swim and the most important reason is if he steps out, it means he will also sink to the “love” this pond. Finally, he chooses to save her and says goodbye to his boring life. After Mabel awakes, she seems to be reborn because she is willing to love and the relationship between Mabel and Dr. Fergusson is totally different just like the original parallel line because of this pond becomes the cross.
Question 2
In D.H. Lawrence’s The Horse Dealer’s Daughter, the pond is an important place for the major characters, Mabel and Mr. Fergusson. It is a turning point not only for their mind but also for their destiny.
Mabel, a woman who always has an impassive face, is hopeless after the corruption of her family. Also, living under the control of her three brothers makes her mindless. Because of her hopelessness, she decides to commit suicide. After she saved from Mr. Fergusson, she gains a rebirth life. She finds that Mr. Fergusson saves and undresses her, so she asks him whether he loves her or not. After the quietness of Mr. Fergusson, Mabel insures the love of Mr. Fergusson toward her. It is just like the almost drowning person who suddenly crabs a drifting wood. She regains the hope of life.
On the other hand, Mr. Fergusson is a doctor who lives a busy, aimless, and robot-like life. However, Mabel stirs the deep passion in his mind after their little connection at Pervin’s house. After he knows that the Pervin family is going to leave, he goes to find Mabel under the uncontrolled desire of seeing her. When he sees Mabel is walking into the pond, he goes to save her. After drowning in the water, the desire toward Mabel has become clear and no longer can be hidden. He finally capitulates and tells Mabel that he wants her. I think the pond in the story is the turning point for Mabel’s death to rebirth and for Mr. Fergusson’s empty to possession. They both gain the new life after the event.
Lawrence had been always claiming the unity of mind and body. He thinks that the word "life" is something we can really feel about physically but also spiritual things inside our mind. We usually call things that we've seen, heard, and encountered are part of our lives. However in Lawrence's view, even some emotional things like feeling sad, happy, excited and falling in love with somebody are also called life. This short story shows us what the form of life should be. Since Lawrence was a writer, he wanted the novel to be a vehicle for learning. Lawrence embraces solicitude for life. Life is more than the journey itself, but being alive–touching, feeling, contact awareness; these were what mattered to Lawrence. To Lawrence, the novel, especially long one, is the only literary form that can motive people to think about the meaning of a real life. Those characters’ in the novel have their own emotions and stories and these are all trifle things around us and are truly the way life is.
(49701224 Debbie Chiang)
Before Mabel and Dr. Fergusson get into the pond, both of them do not know how to love and what is love. Mabel’s mother died when she was a very young girl, and her father married other woman, also no longer lived. Her three brothers treated her cruel and rude. So, basically she could not find any love in home. Dr. Fergusson is a doctor who did not know how to enjoy the life but work all the time, he did not know about love, either. But somehow they noticed each other; maybe it was because they have same atmosphere to attract each other. That was why Dr. Fergusson would track Mabel when she went to the pond. Therefore, when they came out of the pond, the water seemed had magic power and changed both of them. At the beginning, Dr. Fergusson did not know if they have love between them, because he did not know what love is. After they touched ad kissed each other, he finally confirmed that their love is real. Thus, they found love on each other and lighted the passionate to life. Just like baptism, they were reborn and found hope to the world eventually.
At the beginning of the story, Mabel is a cold and emotionless girl. I think she is not mean to be emotionless. She has to bare too many things so that she doesn’t want anyone to feel sorry or sympathize with her situation. She was lived a life without vitality. Dr. Fergusson he was not cared about everything happened in his life. He always kept himself busy. I think that’s because he doesn’t want to face his heart and feelings. Not until he met Mabel and saw her eyes, he realized that he couldn’t ignore his heart anymore. When Mabel went into the pond, she wanted to die; because she thought the only way she could feel relieved is died. From some aspect, Dr. Fergusson also lived a dead life. However, Dr. Fergusson hesitated whether he should save Mabel or not. If he saved Mabel, that means he is in love with her and he would say goodbye to his past. The water can mix everything together, even the two people’s heart. When they go into the pond they had already dead. However, they received “baptism” in the pond and reborn. They are no longer who they were. Although the pond can make people die, it totally changed the relationship between two people. It can melt two cold and emotionless hearts and make them blend together. Finally, the pond help these two “dead” people reborn and found the meaning and vitality in their life.
Mabel and Dr. Fergusson are totally different two persons. Mabel is a woman who finds her family goes bankrupt. As a woman who lives in the period which treats women unfairly, she feels helpless when her mother passes by. On the other hand, Dr. Fergusson is a busy doctor who can’t find what he want in his own heart. However, the pond makes these two different kinds of people meet and get entangled. I think the pond as a door. People seeking something will go through the door and get rebirth. Mabel wants to approach the world of her deeply loved mother. When she is saved by Fergusson, on the surface she discover that there is still someone loves her. For a despairing woman finding a man loves and takes care of her is a symbol of redemption, through the pond which is like a door she finds rebirth there. Besides, Dr. Fergusson needs change, too. So, he gets close to the pond and saves a woman. In the beginning, he saves her as his regular work. However, something starts to change in the process. He wants to love the woman he saved, when the woman asking his love suddenly. Unfortunately, he fails in the end because he just becomes a living person from a dead machine which is an irony for the industrial revolution.
I think the world "life" here means man alive. By reading the novel and from the reflection of the characters, we can distinguish wherein we are man alive or wherein we are dead man in life. The novel reveals life in this way to us. Lawrence put emphasis on to be whole man in life and nothing is important than it. And the novel can help us not to be dead man in life. Lawrence mentioned that novels, more than other form of literature, is the one bright book of life and is a tremulation can make the whole man alive tremble. The novel is the book of life. In the opening part of "Why the Novel Matters", Lawrence said that we can feel we are man alive by watching the movement of our own hands, they delivers our thoughts and even have their own rudiments of thought. The hands are alive, but however, the "me alive" ends in our finger tips. So I think maybe the feeling of writing can have a link with the novel. When we are reading a novel, we not only have to analysis the characters, but also need to have the ability of thinking and writing. Only in this way can the novel make sense to us.
I think the world "life" here means man alive. By reading the novel and from the reflection of the characters, we can distinguish wherein we are man alive or wherein we are dead man in life. The novel reveals life in this way to us. Lawrence put emphasis on to be whole man in life and nothing is important than it. And the novel can help us not to be dead man in life. Lawrence mentioned that novels, more than other form of literature, is the one bright book of life and is a tremulation can make the whole man alive tremble. The novel is the book of life. In the opening part of "Why the Novel Matters", Lawrence said that we can feel we are man alive by watching the movement of our own hands, they delivers our thoughts and even have their own rudiments of thought. The hands are alive, but however, the "me alive" ends in our finger tips. So I think maybe the feeling of writing can have a link with the novel. When we are reading a novel, we not only have to analysis the characters, but also need to have the ability of thinking and writing. Only in this way can the novel make sense to us.
In the beginning of the story,we knew that Mabel was an emotionless person because her brothers didn’t care her so much and the important person, her mother died. Without her mother, Mabel thought there is nothing happy in her life. Therefore, she wanted to suicide by drowning herself in the pond. On the other hand, another character, Dr. Ferguson, his life was full of work, he had a humdrum life. However, he had complex feelings in his deep mind but he hid them. When Dr. Ferguson saw Mabel was in the pond, he went to rescue her. He entered the pond. After they left the pond, they seemed to be different. Although the pond was regarded as death and cold, I thought it was also a symbol of rebirth. During the progress, Dr. Ferguson overcame his fear for water and love. He fell in love with Mabel .When Mabel woke up and she asked him “Do you love me?” He answered “Yes.” I thought it meant that they found their love in their mind. They found different feelings for lives.
In "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," Mabel is the only woman and also a pillar in the family after his father’s dead because his ineffectual brothers do nothing to remain the family’s costs. They decided to separate to live their own life. However, Mabel had no choice, only one choice she could think of is that let everything is over. She need not demean herself anymore and live mindlessly, so she tried to drown herself in the pond. Mabel’s drowning represented her deep depression and confusion of life but also a rebirth for her. Dr. Fergusson rescued her even though he couldn’t swim. (I think this means he was afraid of falling in love.) However, Mabel was saved from death and felt she was regenerating. In daily life, there’s not much connection between Mabel and Dr. Fergusson. Mabel had no company and goal in her life and seems to be live again just like getting a pillar in his mindless life. On the other hand, Dr. Fergusson had a fixed life and also got rebirth. He jumped into the pond to save Marbel who desperately live. I think drown is a baptism to both of them, and they get a different life afterward.
49902033 Jim
In "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," the pond is an ambiguous symbol which hovers between life and death, rebirth and destruction. In this novel beginning paragraph, Mabel is described as a dead person. Her face always is impassive. She would have been good looking but his brother call her bull-dog. These all appear Mable feel disappointed in her life. On the other hand, Dr. Fergusson is described a busy man. He always saves other’s life but there is a void in his mind. He desires someone save his life. It is irony to be a doctor. Mabel and Dr. Fergusson’s life should not have any relationship until they meet in this pond. Both feel that their lives are helpless until they meet in the pond. I think the pond symbol life like death and life. Mabel tries to kill herself in this pond. This part symbols death. However, she is also saved in this pond. This pat symbols life. I think the water also symbol rebirth like amniotic fluid in mother’s womb. When Dr. Fergusson saves Mable from suicide, he also saves himself. After this event, Dr. Fergusson and Mabel’ life begin to cross and their relationship begin to change because this pond.
In D. H. Lawrence’s “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,” the pond means the Christian baptism by immersion and pass through this ceremony to rebirth, and maybe the pond can be symbolized epiphany of love and life. Before the event happened in the pond, Mabel and Ferguson represent rationality and sensibility, but after they suffered from the death and got back to life, they changed their position about rationality and sensibility. We can read that in this navel, in the very beginning both of them live in a terrible and unchangeable life. For Mabel, her life she lives is not as real as the death of the life which she had inherited from mother. After commemorating her mother’s grave, she decided to follow her mother to the underworld, and never want to seek a bright way to her life. In the other hand, Ferguson lived in an enslaved life in the foreign country; he also lived in drinking and whoring life. In this hopeless time, both of them sink into the water and it symbolized that they pass through the ceremony of Christian baptism by immersion, so they can revive. The choices of their destination have two: the first is death and the other is love after rebirth.
Mabel is a girl who living under her brothers’ shadow. She couldn’t bare her brothers’ ineffectuality. In fact, they did nothing but teased at her when she felt her world was hopeless. When she had decided to sunk herself by stepping in a cold, deep and dirty water pound, a doctor, Ferguson saved her.
Dr. Ferguson has to deal with his “vulgar” patients all day long. He set no goal, live same life day after day until he met Mabel in her house first time.
As in the same hopeless situation, they met again at the pond. The girl tried to commit a suicide, sunk herself into an endless hopeless pool. In the other hand, when Dr. Ferguson saved her from the depressive pond, this pool suddenly changed into a pond of vivid water, celebrating the rebirth of this two hopeless people, and also congratulating the new born of their romance.
D.H. Lawrence loves to play the twist between life and death in “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter.” Like the pond was dead before the doctor saving that girl, but was alive after the girl was falling in love with that doctor, and also the scenery when the story was beginning.
The pond represents the destruction and rebuilt. D.H. Lawrence’s technique is impressed me a lot!
For D.H. Lawrence, life comes from the elemental and primitive spirit. However, in the reality, people are socialized and civilized. They can not be themselves; they are limited by the mechanical and artificial world.
D.H. Lawrence considers a parson, a philosopher, or a scientist as the stupid persons because they only talk about things which they think important and believe that they can make people’s lives better. Nevertheless, what they do obeys the instinctual self. They are rational but forget the elemental spirit.
Moreover, people suffer from the reality. It is quite hard to live without sustenance. They can not do things they want because they have to earn money to live or they dare not violate the rules of the society. That is to say, they are confined by the reality but lose their mind.
“The novel is the book of life. In this sense, the Bible is a great confused novel. You may say, it is about God. But it is really about man alive.” In “Why the Novel Matters,” D.H. Lawrence also symbols that people have to live the instinctive and primitive life. He wants people follow the inner self and back to the nature, being themselves.
I want to answer the first question.
In "Why the Novel Matters," Lawrence says that there isn’t anything is totally absolute, and everything is an assembly of apparently incongruous parts. Therefore, he disagrees with a parson, a philosopher or a scientist. They all talk things about absolute. He likes the thing which is always changing, and also startles him into change by this changing thing. He does not want to grow in particular direction to make unchangeableness, and does not believe the Word of the Lord. They all prove what he says, “we should ask for no absolutes, or absolute.” These changes make man alive, and if the tremulations reach this man alive, it will stimulate his life to be more colorful and get the wholeness. And these tremulations are from the novel. Lawrence thinks the novel is only tremulations on the ether but not life, however, tremulations can make the whole man alive tremble, which is more than any other book-tremulation and even poetry can do. And simultaneously, the novel is the only book given full play. He can reveal the realities of characters himself, and explain them with his own words. This tremulation is just a bit to his life, but the shiver can tremble with the wholeness of life, and it is also the reason for living.
Revision
I would like to answer the first question.
For D.H. Lawrence, life comes from the elemental and primitive spirit. However, in the reality, people are socialized and civilized. They can not be themselves; they are limited by the mechanical and artificial world.
D.H. Lawrence considers a parson, a philosopher, or a scientist as the stupid persons because they only talk about things which they think important and believe that they can make people’s lives better. Nevertheless, what they do obeys the instinctual self. They are rational but forget the elemental spirit.
Moreover, people suffer from the reality. It is quite hard to live without sustenance and morality. They can not do things they want because they have to earn money to live or they dare not violate the rules of the society. That is to say, they are confined by the reality and lose their mind.
“The novel is the book of life. In this sense, the Bible is a great confused novel. You may say, it is about God. But it is really about man alive.” In “Why the Novel Matters,” D.H. Lawrence also mentions about that people should live the instinctive and primitive life. He wants people to follow the inner self and back to the nature, being themselves.
The paragraph which describes the Fergusson rushs into the pond. Full of the words like “desoplate”, “dreary”, “infectuality”, “collapse” and so forth. It not only describes the pond’s dark scenes but also says that main character’s life are invariable and monotony. For instance: Mabel’s family is broken and her brothers are lack of passions of future. Mabel even wants to follow her mother’s step to death. Fergusson’s life is also terrible: inflicted with alcoholism, go to wench, forced to make a new life without any relationship circumstances.
But after the rescue and dangerous event, they have the new life of love. They understand and know each other deeply. Mabel finds a reason that gives her the courage to live. That is “love”. “Do you love me, then”. At first time, I see the sentence and think it is ridiculous. But later I can realize that why the Mabel will ask like that due to the fact that she almost dead. She thinks that nothing she can lost again. So she can open her mind to accept this new world as same as the Dr.Fergusson. the contrast between the period of this event is so huge. That is the most interesting part of this story.
The pond in The Horse Dealer's Daughter changes the relationship between Mabel and Dr. Fergusson because of the symbolism of the water. Water represents life, birth, love and wholeness. The author expresses that people at that time are incomplete, blinded and scheduled by this way, so when Mabel and Dr. Fergusson are "schemed" to fall into the pond, their primitive souls inside are reborn with the symbolism "water".
The pond is described as "a hideous cold element", which might represent the silent cold still pointless life of the Dr. Fergusson. However the pond also reflects on the doctor’s life and heart. Rescuing others' lives is Dr. Fergusson's job but he is afraid of stepping into the water too deep and afraid of drowning just as his fear of falling in love. His inability to swim indicates he doesn’t know how to love. The water in the pond however gives him redemption on another level.
The author delivered an essential message by putting protagonists into the dead and cold pond that life might be an emptiness without passionate feelings, and that dull lives blinded up hearts and the souls. As mentioned, the author thought the souls of the people at his time were broken. He hoped to awake their minds and their passion for lives and loves.
adFrom my perspective, the earthy water in the pond symbolizes the opposite of holy water, and the process of the two characters going into it symbolizes the opposite of baptism. In common belief, baptism is a sacred event for people to rise into a spiritually pure state; on the contrary, the pond brings Mabel and Dr. Fergusson into a state that is closer to the physical and life. Before going into the pond, Mabel always appears an impassive face without emotions, and Dr. Fergusson also hides his true feelings under his façade. After going into the clayey, foul water, both Mabel and Dr. Fergusson acquire the ability to love. What’s more, there is definitely some physical passion pervading between them (e.g. “But there is another desire in him”) although at this time, Dr. Fergusson suffers from hesitation of whether he should “fall” into such a new state or not. He still wants to go upstairs to get into dry clothing, but he just cannot leave her. He is astonished by the idea that he loves her; he later accepts it though. They both do not get changed, and the smell of the water is still there, which implies that the feeling of “life” starts to exist on them and will not fade soon. In this sense, we get the idea that the old emotionless Mabel and Dr. Fergusson have got destroyed in the pond, and the new powerfully emotional Mabel and Dr. Fergusson are reborn after the opposite of baptism.
According to the vivid portrayal of D. H. Lawrence, we know the personalities of two protagonists. Mabel was a girl with impassive face, who felt immune from the world and yearned for connection with her departed mother. Dr. Ferguson was a so-called workaholic, who cares nothing but the patients
In my opinion, the movement which Dr. Ferguson ventured into the pond indicates that he was about to go into other’s world and it would be a turning point of his life. The phrase “he had never intended to love” was repeated over and over again, shows Dr. Ferguson’s hesitation about love. However, his attitude had changed as the story went on. In the beginning, he had a fear of falling in love and did not know how to reply to Mabel’s question. In the end of the story, he voluntarily told his innermost feeling to Mabel. I like the description “with soft, low vibrating voice, unlike himself” when Dr. Ferguson expressed his love to Mabel. Because it means Dr. Ferguson was conscious of his change. That is a progress from passive evasion, facing the feeling, to accept their changing relationship. The pond is the catalyst of their further relationship, they had cross the gap and embraced the upcoming new life.
According to the vivid portrayal of D. H. Lawrence, we know the personalities of two protagonists. Mabel was a girl with impassive face, who felt immune from the world and yearned for connection with her departed mother. Dr. Ferguson was a so-called workaholic, who cares nothing but the patients
In my opinion, the movement which Dr. Ferguson ventured into the pond indicates that he was about to go into other’s world and it would be a turning point of his life. The phrase “he had never intended to love” was repeated over and over again, shows Dr. Ferguson’s hesitation about love. However, his attitude had changed as the story went on. In the beginning, he had a fear of falling in love and did not know how to reply to Mabel’s question. In the end of the story, he voluntarily told his innermost feeling to Mabel. I like the description “with soft, low vibrating voice, unlike himself” when Dr. Ferguson expressed his love to Mabel. Because it means Dr. Ferguson was conscious of his change. That is a progress from passive evasion, facing the feeling, to accept their changing relationship. The pond is the catalyst of their further relationship, they had cross the gap and embraced the upcoming new life.
According to the vivid portrayal of D. H. Lawrence, we know the personalities of two protagonists. Mabel was a girl with impassive face, who felt immune from the world and yearned for connection with her departed mother. Dr. Ferguson was a so-called workaholic, who cares nothing but the patients
In my opinion, the movement which Dr. Ferguson ventured into the pond indicates that he was about to go into other’s world and it would be a turning point of his life. The phrase “he had never intended to love” was repeated over and over again, shows Dr. Ferguson’s hesitation about love. However, his attitude had changed as the story went on. In the beginning, he had a fear of falling in love and did not know how to reply to Mabel’s question. In the end of the story, he voluntarily told his innermost feeling to Mabel. I like the description “with soft, low vibrating voice, unlike himself” when Dr. Ferguson expressed his love to Mabel. Because it means Dr. Ferguson was conscious of his change. That is a progress from passive evasion, facing the feeling, to accept their changing relationship. The pond is the catalyst of their further relationship, they had cross the gap and embraced the upcoming new life.
The novel is valuable because it can reveal "life" to us. In novels, interaction of every character would become one of our experiences, to have successful experiences of others to go by. He writes "Life "to help us overcome any difficult position.
"Life "isn't just means that "living in the world." D.H Lawrence is more focus on your mind then your brain. He emphasizes that your heart "dance with "the world. In the time, people all work inflexible. Instead of that, you have to think, to dream, to plan. Keep your mind running. But not run like machinery. And you could to do, to get, to be and to change. This is the concept I think about what he mean "Life ".
In D.H. Lawrence’s “Why the Novel Matters,” throughout the whole article, he focuses on the words “life,” “living,” “alive,” and so on. And I think what he thinks life is would be “thought.” In the second paragraph, he says that his hand is alive, and the hand has its own rudiments of thought. I think this is an antiphrasis. What he wants to convey is that it is actually our thought makes our hands alive, because we would express our thought by our hands whether in writing or other ways. He also mentions about “the tremulations on the ether” for several times, it is really abstract for this image. While relate it to the “thought,” it seems like an electric wave would tremble in your brain when you are thinking. Then why a novelist is different from other intellectuals? Novels usually can portray the real life. Not just to describe it, novelists should also think about the most touchable content which is more than poetry, philosophy, science, or any other book-tremulation can do. “We should ask for no absolutes, or absolute.” As Lawrence says, in the other word, life has no absoluteness, it changes all the time. As well as our thought, it could be vigorous or deathly, positive or negative, coherent or volatile, etc. too many variations could be. All in all, life and thought are inseparable.
Life means integrity and changes. Lawrence mentioned that the whole is better than the part. There are scientists considering truths to be above everything, and they think they should contribute our life and energy to researches. There are philosophers, likewise, always pondering but never take action. Also, there are saints talking about soul, spirit, or after-life in heaven, rather than what to do in the moment they live. What these people discuss are merely parts of life, not all of it.
Novelists, on the other hand, are alive when they hold their pen, and write. They don’t live the pattern provided by somebody else; instead, they live out who they are no matter they are doing right or doing wrong, being good or being bad. Someone may be seeking absolute truth, while Lawrence think life should be ups and downs, which means to change.
There is nothing absolute. Absolute is like dead, no more changes. Actually everything changes, and evolves. So is life. Life always changes, because something right in one case can be wrong in another case. Likewise, lion’s life can be better than dog’s life, but somehow dog’s life can be better. Because their life is likely to change, they probably will have their way of life, and live brilliantly. To conclude up, life, to Lawrence, includes integrity and changes.
I chose second question as my assignment.
The pond in "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" is the symbol of rebirth, life and death and destruction. In my opinion, water in this story represents the baptism. Mabel tried to walk into the deep pound, showing she is getting into change of her life. Then the Dr. Fergusson follwed by her, walking into the pond, even he can't swim.(maybe hint he was not good at love ) Dr. Fergusson was under spelled of Mabel 's charm. After they both walked into the pond, they are all scour their mind and they became the different person, they were baptism by the love. The relationship between them became lovers, usually, in this situation, people always transform into a different kind of person because they are passionately in love. Therefore, through the power of love(the baptism of love) they change their relationship, before that they are just old friends. After the baptism of pond, they are not the old friends any more, their relationship are leveling up to lovers.
In The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,” before Mabel walked into the pond, Mabel was a cold figure with impressive face and had nothing left to say to Dr. Fergusson and her brothers. Dr. Fergusson was polite and was busy in working. Although he thought Mabel’s eyes are dangerous when looking at him, he only felt uncomfortable. When Mabel walked into the pond, the pond was a symbol of death and destruction in page2596. “He slowly ventured into the pond. The bottom was deep, soft clay, he sank in, and the water clasped dead cold round his legs.” “The dead cold pond swayed upon his chest.”
“He lifted her and staggered on to the bank, out of the horror of wet, grey clay.” After Dr. Ferguson saved Mabel, things changed. When Mabel woke up, she started saying something confusing and being wild. “‘You love me,’” she murmured, in strange transport, yearning and triumphant and confident.” After the event, Dr. Ferguson’s desire emerged and he was much easier attracted to Mabel than before. “He only stood and stared at her, fascinated. His soul seemed to melt” “He looked down at the tangled wet hair, the wild, bare, animal shoulders. He was amazed, bewildered, and afraid.” In this part, the pond changed its symbol to a symbol of life and rebirth.
The pond is a turning point which changed Mabel’s and Dr. Ferguson’s characteristics and their relationship from the doctor and the patient to lovers.
I choice second question.
Mable has a terrible family. That means she doesn't have close relationship with her brothers. She is a upset woman in the house. And Dr. Ferguson is a busy guy. He keeps working everyday. When he met Mable and saw her dangerous eyes, he felt uncomfortable. The "dangerous eyes" is a hint of the story.
One day, he found Mable who was walking down in the pond. He followed her to the pond and saved her. The pond may symbolizes "reborn." In the story, Dr. Ferguson saved Mable's life that expressed Mable will have a new life. An interesting element is that Mable continued asking a question, "Do you love me?" to Dr. Ferguson. In my opinion, she would like to be loved. It's a kind of original nature of human being.
Why the Novel Matters
For D.H. Lawrence, life is the living person as a whole. People’s actions, words, experience and etc. are all, parts of life. He also insists that one cannot separate these parts call them life. And no parts of life are greater than the life as a whole. The novels can reveal life to us because they tell about living people such as Jacob from Bible. And they tell about what they do and how they live, which combined altogether can be called as life. By reading novels, people will be trembled and make them feel alive. In addition, he thinks that there is no absolute in life, and everything is constantly changing and flowing. And according to him, life is also about “to be alive, to be man alive, to be whole man alive”. Therefore, life is about living people, not the dead. But being alive is a combination of your person as a whole. If you lost your mind but your body is still living, you are not being “alive”. Yet, if you lost your body but not the soul, you are still not being “alive”. Then again, wholeness is essential for being “alive”. Losing any part of yourself will make you a “dead” person for D.H. Lawrence. In result, life is a constant changing event about living man and woman, and all together as a whole.
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