Abstract:D. H. Lawrence is one of the most influential writers in the twentieth century of English literature, and, perhaps, the greatest from a working-class family. Most of his works express his strong opposition to the mechanical civilization. 

The White Peak is Lawrence’s first novel. It tells a story of triangle love among three young people to show all kinds of contradictions between man and nature, man and man. In this novel, there are a lot of privative phenomena, including three main pairs of opposites — man and nature, male and female, rationality and sensuality which to express conflicts between nature and civilization. 

At the moment, many people study The White Peacock from gender relations. This thesis studies it with the principle of binary opposition is to interpret Lawrence’s ideas about conflicts between nature and civilization and study how to achieve harmony between them which provide current era with very beneficial enlightenment.

Keywords:  D.H. Lawrence  The White Peacock  Conflicts between Nature and Civilization

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Introduction to D. H. Lawrence-1

1.2 Introduction to The White Peacock-1

1.3 Literature Review-1

1.4 Structure of the Thesis-2

Chapter two Binary Opposition-3

2.1 Definition of Binary Opposition-3

2.2 Its Origin and Development-3

Chapter Three Conflicts between Nature and Civilization-4

3.1 Conflicts between Man and Nature-4

3.2 Conflicts between Male and Female-4

3.3 Conflicts between Rationality and Sensuality-5

Chapter Four Solutions of Dealing with Conflicts between Nature and Civilization-7

4.1 Return to Nature-7

4.2 Keeping harmonious relationship between nature and man-7

4.3 Keeping harmonious relationship between male and female-8

4.4 Keeping harmonious relationship between rationality and sensuality-8

Chapter Five Conclusion-9

References-11