John Thomas and his love for Lady Jane
That's what the characters call their boy and girl parts in Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence.
From one of my old livejournal posts way back in 2006
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence is all about penetration. In an England after WWI, the author paints an industrialized country with split classes, views and persons unable to make physical or even mental contact with another creature. In fact, it is the latter contact which Lawrence appears most contemptuous of, often having his characters feel that a spiritual bond leads to meaninglessness.
The most obvious example of how a spiritual bond is really a creation of words and custom rather than a deep connection with another human is the marriage of the protagonist to her husband. Before the war, Constance married into the "leisure classes" and became one lord, Clifford Chatterley's, lady. They share a married life briefly before Clifford goes to fight. Due to an accident, he is returned to Connie paralyzed from the waist down and impotent. A mental connection is all that is left for them, and it is not more than a few years that pass before Connie comes to realize she can't stand the tripe of philosophy her spouse seems to think is so important.
In a lot of ways, I found myself thinking of Addie Bundren from Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. Constance, like Addie, seems to be drowning in words that sound intellectual but have no depth, feelings that appear passionate but have no penetration, and people that try to have agency but are in fact helpless. They are both looking for someone/thing to rip into their flesh and bring it to life. Clifford constantly tells Connie that eventually people will disregard the flesh, but it is this lack of consideration for the physicality of being human that attracts her so strongly to Mellors, the lover.
Mellors lives in a world without penetration either; in fact it seems as if he has rejected it completely. The Chatterley's live in Wragby, an estate that borders Tevershall, a mining town, and ne'er the two worlds will ever meet or interact. Ne'er the two classes mesh and react of each other either. Clifford will always be lordly despite his childishness, and the miners will always be lowly despite their humanity. In between these two worlds is a forest, an entity to itself, where Mellors is the game-keeper and prefers his solitude from everything that has to do with human civilization. It is in this natural world where he and Connie meet and love, but their love is not immediately cataclysmic. Lawrence has painted a bleak and lonely world and even when Mellors is physically inside Connie, they seem separate and untouchable. However, there is a hope at the end when Lawrence allows his two characters to make contact not only with each other but to reenter the world from the isolation of Wragby.
Final thoughts: I was disappointed in the ending, I felt Lawrence wrapped it up with a quickness and finality that belied the worth of an ambiguous ending. Nor was I too impressed with the language. It was neatly written but sparse and strained, perhaps to fit into his empty England. And lastly, I can see why the love scenes caused such a scandal (for 30 years the novel was never published in its entirety due to its explicit material); they're very graphic but not pulpy because, in this novel the characters actions and interactions are far more important than their words or the even the reader's imagination.
Author’s Note
I watched the latest adaptation of this book on Netflix with Emma Corrin as Constance. It’s beautifully filmed, and it definitely explores the themes above. I don’t know if I liked it; maybe it will be one of those films that stays with me longer than expected. I appreciated this review by Sheila O’Malley about it.
I read the book while living in Japan in my mid-twenties. I wonder what I would think of it now?