Lawrence and His Family

A person's inner sense of worth derives from an identification with valued parents, but Lawrence's parents were on the one hand persons of high ideals and standards while at the same time their actual lives violated fundamentally what they purported to represent. His identification with them includes both elements. He is identified with their ideals, which he accepts, but also with their failure to live up with them. They are, furthermore, deceivers, and he has been made a part of the deception.