The Horse Dealer?s Daughter Essay, Research Paper

In D.H. Lawrence?s ?The Horse Dealer?s Daughter,?

Mabel ?did not share the same life as her brothers ?(195).

Mabel Pervin was not close to her brothers, because there

were personal and physical separations. Mabel was a plain,

uninteresting woman. She seldom showed emotion on her

face. In fact her face usually remained impassive and

unchanged. Her brothers could be described as three

handsome and well-spoken men. Mabel was independent,

having taken care of the house for ten years without a

servant. Even though they depended upon her, they

seemed to have control over her. The Pervin brothers ?did

not care about anything? (195). They were poised and felt

secure about themselves. Her brothers felt superior to her.

?They had talked at her and round her for so many years,

that she hardly heard them at all? (196). She would either

give a neutral response to her brothers, or remain quiet

when they talked to her. Instead of giving her

encouragement, they teased her. This treatment could have

led to her insecurity. They would tease her about becoming

a maid or about her ?bulldog? face. Her brothers were full

of energy and very talkative. Mabel also seemed to be

alone in the world. Unlike her brothers who had many

companions, she had had no friends of her own sex.

Sometimes it seemed that Mabel wanted to escape her life.

One place Mabel felt secure and immune from the world

was at her mother?s grave. ?There she always felt secure,

as if no one could see her? (200). Mabel was extremely

devoted to her deceased parents, especially her mother.

She was mindless and persistent. At the graveside, she had

many different feelings. She seemed to be coming nearer to

her own glorification. Also she would become remote and

intent. She seemed to feel contact with the world that

mother had lived. Her brothers, however, were the

opposite of her. The memory of their parents faded away in

their minds. They never spoke or showed emotion dealing

with their parents. They had left the past behind them and

waited for the future would bring. Mabel?s devotion led to

an immense personal separation between the Pervin

brothers and Mable. Mainly, because Mabel wanted to live

her life just like her mother did, and her brothers had

moved on with theirs.