The Rainbow

Abstract

The Rainbow has a wider historical scope than Sons and Lovers, taking us back in time to 1840, to the newly constructed site of the Erewash canal and spanning three generations through Tom and Lydia, their daughter Anna and in turn, her daughter Ursula; each generation representing quite specific historical socio-sexual struggles. Once again, the crises for the women are acute, although, in the second generation in particular, the text also demonstrates how the effects of women’s rediscovered matriarchal voice can visibly upset patriarchal relations, driving Will Brangwen almost to despair over his wife’s behaviour and beliefs. The rural mentalities of the earlier generation of Brangwens are quite different from the ideological problems besetting the new industrial era expressed in Sons and Lovers through the developing town of Bestwood and specifically in the Morel household. A difference registered in the aspirations of the women who rationalise that the route to personal fulfilment and social success if not for themselves then at least for their children, lies not in the unspoken discourse of farm life from which their roles are largely assigned, but in the dialogue of the changing world beyond. Women, therefore, who perceive as Miriam before the political potential of educational success.