Analysis of "The Rainbow"

          In D.H. Lawrence’s novel, The Rainbow, Lawrence utilizes repetition and imagery in order to reveal the fundamental differences in ideology between the Brangwen men and women to show how women, unlike men, are curious and are on a constant hunt for greater knowledge, as well as rhetorical questions to question common Brangwen ideology.

          Lawrence uses repetition in order to depict the woman’s deep curiosity for the world outside of her farming society. As the woman is standing in front of her house, peering in the distance, Lawrence says, “she strained her eyes to see what men had done in fighting outwards to knowledge, she strained to hear how he uttered himself in his conquest.”(Lawrence 33-36). The repetition of the word “strained” clearly shows how the woman is struggling and trying hard “to see… to hear” of what men in this far-off society are like in their conquest. The use of “strained” also reveals an air of intensity around the woman because she did not simply want to look out into the distance, hoping to catch a glimpse of this outward society, but rather, she wanted to put all of her efforts in trying to get an understanding of this other society. Also, after describing a Brangwen man, the Vicar, who had connections with the outside world and seemed to be dominant over the other Brangwen men, Lawrence says, “She craved to know. She craved to achieve this higher being, if not in herself, than in her children.”(Lawrence 56-57). The repetition of the word “craved” emphasizes the large degree to which the woman intensely wanted to be enlightened by what aspects of the outside world were dominant.

          In addition to repetition, Lawrence utilizes imagery in order to describe the differences between the Brangwen men and women in their quest for higher knowledge, as well as rhetorical questions to reveal the mysterious power of outward society.  In the beginning, Lawrence says, “It was enough for the men, that… the young ears of corn [were] wheeling freshly about, [and that they] broke the back of a rabbit with a sharp knock of the hand.”(Lawrence 1-7). The imagery used describes the activities of men that keep them content in their own society. The great detail used in describing these activities reveals the extent to which the men were involved in their own way of life. The men were content with all of the aspects of farming society to which they invested all of their attention. In addition, Lawrence describes the Brangwen men to be “fresh, slow, full-built men, masterful enough, but easy, native to earth, lacking outwardness and range of motion.”(Lawrence 45-47). This imagery clearly shows the nature of Brangwen men as simple, yet strong men that lived in union with the earth and were in a constant routine which they were content with. On the other hand, she described the vicar, a man who had experience the outward society, as a man who was, “dark and dry and small, yet had a quickness and a range of being.”(Lawrence 48-49). This use of imagery clearly establishes the contrasting image of the vicar who was less masculine than the Brangwen men and seemed to be less physically dominant. The woman eventually questioned, “What was it in the vicar that raised him above the common man as man is raised above the beast?”(Lawrence 54-56). The use of this rhetorical question establishes two very important ideas. First, it shows the ideology of Brangwen society and the fact that they base their dominance over much more primal characteristics such as masculinity. Also, it shows the woman’s lack of understanding of the outside world, yet her deep-seated want to know, which is not present in the Brangwen men. From the woman’s perspective, this question reveals a hole within Brangwen ideology.

          In conclusion, Lawrence, through the use of imagery, repetition, and rhetorical questions, shows how Brangwen men are content with their own simple life styles and knowledge, while the Brangwen women are more mentally sophisticated and are very curious to find a higher understanding of far-off societies. Lawrence goes further in her use of imagery and rhetorical questions to, through the perspective of a Brangwen woman, show differences between Brangwen men and outward men and the dominance of the outward men as a result of their knowledge.

Analysis of my Performance:

My table partner gave me a score of 7-8 after reading my essay. One of the reasons that my partner gave me this score is my use of quotations. I used a substantial amount of text directly from the passage in order to support my argument; however, the method in which I embedded the quotes into the essay was not very efficient. I used a lot of big, block quotes, and then afterwards, I explained the quotation and its deeper meaning. I agree with this critique because as I looked through my essay again, it became quite clear that my use of quotations reflected a poor analysis and digestion of the text. Also, my table partner said that I showed a better than adequate understanding of the passage. Much of the focus of my essay revolved around the differences between the quest for knowledge between men and women. A lot of my quotations supported this argument as well. However, I lacked a fluency in my writing because I began to repeat a lot of my points rather than just substantially stating it and moving on. I agree with this criticism because as I looked at my essay again, I have realized that I would often times say the same exact information, except in many different sentence structures. Also, another reason for my score is my emphasis on the complexity of the piece. After understanding the true complexity of this piece, as I looked at my essay again, I have realized that I talked about some of the complexity within the piece, but I discussed some aspects less than I should have and some aspects a lot more than I should have. With my lack of discussing all of the complexity, I was not able to precisely and explicitly establish all of the connections within this piece, especially that between the man and the woman. All in all, I believe that I deserved the score I have received because I believe that I have succeeded in demonstrating my understanding of some of the complexity of the piece, but I had many issues with writing style as well as the complete complexity of the piece.

One thing that I could do in order to improve my essay is to improve the fluency in my writing style. One aspect of this fluency comes from the use of quotations. Rather than using block quotations, I need to seamlessly embed these quotations within my essay so that everything flows together very well. I can achieve this improvement by first choosing the block quotation that I want to use, but then dissecting that quotation further in order to find key parts of the quote that I can use in junction with my own paraphrase. Another aspect of fluency that I really want to improve is that I want to cut down on the repetition of ideas. After I stated many of the block quotations, I would go on to analyze the quotation. Within this analysis I would say the same thing, except in several different sentences. In order to fix the unnecessary repetition of ideas, I can merge all of my analysis of a quotation into a couple of sentences so that I can exhibit a clear and concise analysis, rather than rambling on. In addition, something that I feel will help me tremendously in both the aspects of quotation use and writing efficiency, is to take one minute before I start to write my essay to actually write a small outline. Within this outline, I can just write my thesis, my main points of argument, possible quotations to use, and then a quick note of how the quotations connect to the main point being argued. If I can first create an organized outline of my thoughts, I strongly believe that I will slowly begin to become much more of an efficient writer because I will have an idea of what I am going to write about before I even start the essay so I will subconsciously form my thoughts into an organized manner. This method should definitely help me cut down on unnecessary repetition, as well as the use of block quotations.

Another very important thing that I could do in order to improve my essay is to make sure that all of the points I am stating and supporting are ultimately and effectively supporting the argument I make in my thesis. For example, within my thesis, I had explicitly stated, "to reveal the fundamental differences in ideology between the Brangwen men and women". However, throughout my essay, the differences were always an implication, but I never explicitly contrasted them both. For example, in the paragraph about repetition, I talked about how the repetition of the word "strained" showed how the woman had a deep desire in order to gain knowledge of the outside world. Then in the next paragraph about imagery, I talk about how men were content with their farming lives. The issue is that I talk about both men and women, and it can be inferred from my support that they are different, but I needed to actually focus more on a juxtaposition between men and women in which I contrast them together, rather then describing them as two separate entities that are different. In addition, I also needed to focus less on the comparison and contrast between the Brangwen men and the vicar. I believe that the differences between the men and the vicar are definitely notable in order to show the power of the outside knowledge that the women are trying to attain, but my large focus on this contrast was unnecessary because the true complexity of the piece lied in the juxtaposition between the men and the women. On strategy that I can use to improve this aspect of my writing for future essays is to be constantly looking back at my thesis to make sure that a majority of things that I am writing are both going back to support my actual thesis and targets the true complexity of the text.

Also, another aspect that I would definitely improve upon in this essay is to tackle the theme of "blood-knowledge" and the structure of the text. After doing some research on D.H. Lawrence, I found a quotation on Blurtit by him that follows: "We can go wrong in our minds, but what our blood feels and believes and says, is always true." This is a a major part of his personal philosophy, and this concept of "blood-knowledge" was clearly reflected in the piece because the women, although they were within their own community, their "blood", which exhibited their true desires, showed the large degree to which the woman wanted to attain a higher knowledge about the outside society. I believe that the use of the concept of "blood-knowledge" will improve my essay for two reasons. First of all, it reveals the deep desire of woman to attain higher knowledge, and this evidence can be contrasted by evidence of the complacency of men to show how there are differences in desire between a bender line. Second of all, it truly shows my understanding of not only the passage, but also of the author. If I mentioned in the essay of D.H. Lawrence's specific use of "blood-knowledge", it would show the reader that I am somewhat well-educated in the subject, and through this, I can clearly demonstrate "an understanding of the passage" and identify "sides of the author's attitude toward the subject". Doing so, will help boost my score out of the 6-7 range. In addition, in order to improve my essay, I could have also explained the structure of the passage within my own essay.I could have briefly elaborated about her the women's deep desire in the beginning and "recognition" in the ending and connect this to the complexity of the piece which lies in the juxtapositions of the woman's desire for outside knowledge, and the men's complacency. All in all, I believe that through the analysis of "blood-knowledge" and structure, I would show to the reader that I have some knowledge not only in the aspects of the text, but also through knowledge of the author's beliefs and meaning behind organizational structure.