Metaphors for the Masses: D.H. Lawrence on Stickiness, Insects and Democracy

Abstract

This article considers how Lawrence finds in the dynamics of derogatory imagery the means to express his alienation from the masses. From 1916 onwards, the term “masses” is often paired with the adjective “sticky” in Lawrence’s works, an addition that is shown to relate to Lawrence’s reading of Walt Whitman. The American poet advocated democracy based on brotherly love as a political implementation of the phrenological idea of adhesiveness. The lexical shift from adhesiveness to stickiness, then, voices Lawrence’s ambivalent response to Whitmanesque democracy. Similarly, in a few of his novels, the narrative voice, following the advent of entomology, taps into zoomorphism to find in eusocial insects, such as bees and ants, the tropes to discuss human interactions. Lawrence kept abreast of entomological views, including those of his friend Julian Huxley, and thanks to puns and derogatory imagery, he destabilizes language in order to question contemporary collective assumptions about society and democracy.

Keywords

• masses
• democracy
• phrenology
• entomology
• alienation
• freedom