The first chapter connotes of an expository piece of ‘The Bottoms’; the miners’ dwellings. The scene begins a month after the Morels have moved. The reader meets a very enthused William who is anxious to attend ‘The Wakes’; a village festival. William goes to the wakes and Mrs. Morel and Annie follow minutes afterwards. Mrs. Morel thence meets up with William who shows his mother around to the different exhibits. She leaves and to William’s dismay he returns home displeased with the turn of events as a result of his mother’s leave. Mrs. Morel, after the children have gone to bed, waits for her husband’s return. She laments on her situation; that is according to the text, one in which “she despised her husband but was tied to him and did not want the last child”. Whilst cleaning the house, however, her husband arrives and she confronts him about his drunken state.
The action moves to that past where the young Mrs. Morel, Gertrude Coppard is seen with John Field, a childhood friend who gave her The Bible she now holds dear to her.
The scene continues to a young Gertrude meeting Walter at a Christmas party and there is an instant connection ending with a marriage the following Christmas day.
Several months into the marriage, however, Gertrude finds unpaid furniture bills and to her despair, after visiting her mother-in-law in hopes that she would be able to account for the reason the bills were unpaid, discovers that the household is not theirs, rather it is their mother-in-law’s and they are merely tenants. As a result, Mrs. Morel begins to develop a cold indifference towards Mr. Morel and a quarrel erupts.
Again, the novel moves to a flashback where Mr. Morel cuts William’s hair. After seeing the golden locks splayed across the table, Mrs. Morel is resentful towards her husband. Mr. Morel senses the contempt although Gertrude made several comments accepting the haircut.
The narrative returns to the present once more, which is coincidentally another Wakes holiday. Morel and Jerry Purdy walk to Nottingham. Morel starts feeling ill and goes back home and as a result locks Mrs. Morel out of the house after a fight. Mrs. Morel, after an hour of wandering in the yard, knocks on the door and awakens Mr. Morel who opens the door regretfully.
