Naked == Free/Mad

Something I think we didn't spend a lot of time talking about during the repetition theme in the novel is the characters' obsession with nudity. They love being naked! They describe everything they can as naked!

The characters equate nudity to freedom. Furthermore, with that association, they later lead readers to the conclusion that the mountains they ski are a place of freedom.

The instants that the characters appear the most free, they are naked. Birkin says that he is happy and fulfilled while roaming about the vegetation naked. Ursula and Gudrun, during their naked swim, feel equally happy and fulfilled and free. In "Fetish," the men sit by the fire naked and discuss how lovely it would be to be in a place where nudity is accepted. They say that to be naked is to be able to truly experience the world. To be naked is to be free.

Other times, nudity is referenced in terms of speech. When Ursula yells at Gerald to stop torturing his mare, she is said to be naked. What is this nakedness? Is it freedom of expression, freedom of speech? Ursula is said to be naked and powerful, so being naked is some kind of force or freedom, definitely. Hermione also has some naked action going on in "Woman to Woman," when she speaks to Ursula about Birkin. When Hermione asks if Ursula and Birkin will marry, the question is both bare and wicked, and the text says Hermione has a naked quality to her. The question itself is naked because there was no pretense to it, but Hermione is naked in asking it because she feels free to do so.

All of these instances show us that nudity brings about a state of freedom. The ski slopes later in the novel are also called naked, so readers can infer that the snowy slopes bring about a sense of liberation to the characters. Many of the instances listed are also times where the characters question their sanity. Does this mean that nudity brings on madness? Does it cause freedom? Or is nudity a symptom of freedom and madness? Must one be mad to be free? The characters definitely have an obsession with being naked, so we as readers should ask... Is Lawrence commenting on something to us? Perhaps nakedness is the key to happiness.

P.S. I know I left out all the citations in this post. Feel free to ask me where a certain quote is if you need it! I was using Google Books to search for naked, so the page numbers did not coincide with the ones for the Penguin edition. And my posts will rarely be this lengthy, promise.