ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research
Year : 2014, Volume : 4, Issue : 2
First page : ( 118) Last page : ( 126)
Online ISSN : 2231-5780.

Struggling humanity under ideological traps of gender and race in doris lessing's the grass is singing

Sheokand Anu

Ph.D Scholar, Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa (Haryana)

Online published on 11 April, 2014.

Abstract

Under colonialism whites use race and gender, two inseparable qualifiers, to access their privilege of power in the imperial hierarchy and legitimize their actions in the alien land. They have preserved their own position as patriarch and masters in the center and the natives as inferior and servants in the margin. A deep sense of commitment and social responsibility towards those oppressed by society marks Doris Lessing's fiction about colonial Africa. The Grass is Singing contains the theme of violence and struggle as transference of frustration reflected in white women's victimization of their servants as revenge for their own demoralization in a world dominated by men. The novel is a psychological exploration of the colonizers and the colonized. This is one of the first novels to treat the theme of gender and sexuality especially sexuality across racial lines. The novel not only captures the sordid plight of the blacks, but it also makes explicit the depressing condition of those poor white section of the colonizer who lack the means to survive like the powerful whites.

Top

Keywords

Colonialism, Identity, Othering, Patriarchy, Racism.

Top