Part I:
In The Rainbow, D.H. Lawrence describes two contrasting worlds, one in which the woman lives, and one where the woman aspires to be. Lawrence characterizes the woman as unhappy in her current situation and her want for "knowledge" through the use of polysyndeton, imager and metaphors; however, the world she desires to be a part of depends on the world she is trying to leave.
The woman's current situation isolates her from the rest of the world. Not only is her physical location far from the "world of cities and governments' her mental capabilities are dwarfed by the "dominant and creative men" that live in these cities (Lawrence 20,23). Lawrence uses polysyndeton to describe her world as having "so much warmth and generating and pain and death" to contrast both the negatives and positives of where the woman is (Lawrence 7-8).
She is also isolated in her own family as the men are content that the "earth heaved and opened its furrow to them" and needed no extra explanation. The woman, on the other hand, needs more. She is not happy with where she is and what she is doing. By describing her feelings of others in contrast with her own, Lawrence characterizes the woman as both isolated and unsatisfied.
The woman knows there are "worlds beyond" her own and she envies the "vicar" who has more understanding (Lawrence 40, 43-44). Lawrence's use of imagery shows the vicar's true power because although it is "dark and dry and small" it sill has dominion over the Brangwen's no because of its physical prowess, but because of its "knowledge" (Lawrence 48, 66).
This, the woman realizes, is the difference between their two worlds. The two worlds, however, cannot live independently of each other. Even though it may seem to the woman that the knowledge others possess give them more power, without the woman, the vicar would not have the things it needed to survive. Without the physical actions of the woman and her family, there would be no knowledge to gain. The "life of creation, which poured unresolved into their veins" is equally as important as the knowledge she wants to achieve.
Lawrence's use of literary devices in The Rainbow shows that although the woman's own knowledge and actions are important, she fails to recognize this fact, aspiring to have the knowledge of others.
(Edited by: Katie Carr)
Part II:
1. My initial essay score was a seven. My essay provided a "reasonable analysis of how Lawrence employs literary devices" and it touched on some of the complexity of the piece. I examined the contrasting views of the woman and the men around her and how their complacency and the woman's desire to gain more knowledge isolated her. I presented my ideas with "clarity and control and refer to the text" for my evidence to support my claims and my thesis. Although I had these components to my essay, I would disagree with this score and give my essay a six. Although I touched on some of the complexity of the piece, I did not recognize the overall theme of the piece. Also, my support and analysis examined literary devices for their meaning within certain parts of the text but failed to connect back to the meaning of the passage as a whole. I had the "consistent command of the elements of effective composition", but I believe my essay lacked a "better developed analysis" that is required to receive a score of a seven.
2. One of the areas which I could improve upon in my essay is the analysis of the complex relationship between the men and women in the passage. Through class discussion, we learned that D.H. Lawrence believed that there was a clear distinction between the "spirit of purpose" of men in contrast with the "sacredness of feeling" in women. By incorporating this aspect of Lawrence's philosophy in my essay, I could offer a more in depth analysis of how he portrays the two groups in the passage. In the third paragraph of my essay, I reference this relationship, but fail to offer a complex analysis of the topic. More textual evidence is needed in my essay to prove that the woman is the one that desires something more than what she has while the men are complacent with their current situation. Not only does the quantity of the evidence need to increase, the quality needs to as well. The quotes I used in my original essay were long and did not fully support my claim. Shorter and higher quality evidence would improve my essay by providing support from the text while also keeping the focus on my own analysis instead of the words of the passage. This analysis would help to explain Lawrence's characterization of the woman which I also feel that I did not adequately analyze in my essay.
A huge part of the complexity I missed in the essay was D.H. Lawrence's belief that the body was just as important, if not more, than the mind. This belief, called Blood Knowledge, was an important influence of Lawrence's works so the incorporation of this topic in my essay would add to my analysis of the complexity of the passage. In my essay, I talked about the separation of the two worlds in the passage but I did not define these two worlds. Defining the two worlds in the context of the Blood Knowledge, opens up more avenues of analysis and proves to readers that I understand the influences on Lawrence's work and how he incorporates them to create meaning. This relationship between physicality and mental ability is important in the second section of the text with the descriptions of the vicar. My analysis of the power that the vicar has over her husband should have been more in depth because this is one of the most important aspects of the piece.
The paradoxical relationship I found in the piece is not necessarily incorrect but is based on assumptions and is not well supported by evidence from the text. The actual complexity lies in the fact that Lawrence believed that the body was more powerful than the mind, yet, the woman desired to have the knowledge of the vicar instead of staying in the current situation she was in, being a farmer, which is a physically dependent profession. I acknowledged the difference between the physical and mental aspects of the two worlds but I did not talk about the irony of the way Lawrence portrays it in this passage. This ironic relationship should be the thesis of my essay because all of the previously mentioned arguments relate back to this. The use of more textual evidence that relates specific literary devices to this complexity would have improved the overall analysis of my essay.
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