RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

137
stronger than the men. However, it may be fair to say that
despite their eager wish to go 'beyond1 the limits of the Marsh
farm, they are never able to see beyond the church-tower because
"Whenever one of the Brangwens... lifted his head from his work,
he saw the church-tower at Ilkeston in the empty sky" (p.7).
This 'beyond' is then left to the future generations.
Although I have said that the Brangwen men are 'inwardfacing'
men, there is at least one Brangwen who is slightly
different from his predecessors.
This man is Tom Brangwen.
Despite his inability to face school and learning, he wants to
know something different from the ordinary Brangwens."He dreamed
of foreign parts" (p.87) and this is perhaps what makes him
different from the others.
It is this desire to go into the
unknown ("foreign" here may be a synonym for "unknown") that
makes him different.
Tom does not really know what he wants but,
for him, this wish is enough.
The atmosphere of Tom Brangwen's upbringing reflects rural
society changing into a more urbanized one.
The Marsh farm of
his parents is no longer a place where the only external agent
is the church. In Tom's time progress starts its invasion. The
urbanization of the town replaces the life of nature:
The Brangwens received a fair sum of money from
this trespasser. Then, a short time afterwards, a
colliery was sunk on the other side of the canal,
and in a while the Midland Railway came down the
valley at the foot of Ilkeston hill, and the
invasion was complete. The town grew rapidly... (p. 12)
The Brangwens also begin to change their way of life.
They turn
away from the intercourse with the land and become tradesmen.
Tom is brought up, then, in a changing society. However, nature
is not yet completely spoilt.
The Marsh farm looks at progress
from over the garden gate.
Hence, Tom still has a close