Comments on The Horse Dealer's Daughter by D.H. Lawrence

ENG 113

Instructor Risch

Donna Stevens

January 30, 2011

Comments on “The House Dealer’s Daughter” by D.H. Lawrence

My initial response to the reading is that the two are headed for heartache. Mabel again does not know what she is going to do. In an attempt to save a life, the good doctor has cast himself into a huge misunderstanding. The conflict in this story is that Mabel does not have anywhere to go after her family loses their estate. She has been the caretaker of the home and now with everything gone and the older brothers going their own way, she is left alone. The conflict is resolved somewhat because she has found a new life direction in the good doctor. However, the conflict will once again appear because the two are very unsure if marriage is the right thing to do. In the time that the story takes place, the right thing to do socially after seeing someone naked and proclaiming your love for them was to marry them. They both knew the customs of the day. However, both knew in their hearts this was not wise.

Mabel is the central dynamic character in the story. She begins as the out of place little sister who has the face of a “bull-dog” (701). As the story progresses, she shows the dynamic as a depressed child grieving for her mother. Later in the story, she becomes a clumsy lover who constantly describes her shortcomings to the doctor. As her character changes, the theme of “poor old Mabel what is she going to do with herself” stays the same.

The style of the writing is expressed in the word choices the author makes such as how he describes Mabel. She had the face of a “bull-dog,” and how Mabel “began putting the dishes together” and how the “young doctor looked at her, but did not address her” (703). The writing has an old southern estate style. The women took care of the home and this woman was hardly noticed by men. The irony of the story is that Mabel finally found a life to look forward to just like her brothers had. Her life could continue on like her siblings. She could take care of the home that she and the good doctor had together and raise their family if they got married. Yet, the two were too afraid to tell each other they thought they were making a mistake.

The tone of the story is ironic, sad and a little depressing. It is ironic that she finally found purpose in her life. It is sad and depressing that it will probably not work out and she will still be left with a life just like the first lines of the story, “Well, Mabel, and what are you going to do with yourself?”(701).

Works Cited

Lawrence, D.H. "The Horse Dealer’s Daughter." The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Michael Meyer. Massachuttes: Bedford, 2011. Print.