Understanding And Tolerating

Doris Lessing (1919-) is a controversial British female writer in the20th century. Her works have extensive themes and diverse genres which reflect Lessing’s consideration and thought of various social issues in each period. The consistent subject among the numerous works is her concern about human fate. The Diaries of Jane Somers is a representative of Lessing’s works to return to realism, expressing moderns’perplexity for present lives and the writer’s exploration of humanity.This thesis probes into Lessing’s expectation of humanity in The Diaries of Jane Somers, through analyzing the heroine’s experiences about reclaiming the life meaning from understanding the old and tolerating the young. This thesis contains three chapters. Chapter one analyzes the living predicaments of the old through Maudie’s life. Jane realizes the tenacity and value of life from Maudie which has transformed her indifferent character and discovers the goodness in human nature. Chapter two discusses contradiction and discomposure of the young represented by several young people in the novel. They are ambitious and fickle who are puzzled by reality while overwhelmed. Lessing shows such a group in need of love and tolerance to the readers with depicting some young characters in The Diaries. Chapter three does a research on Lessing’s reflection of humanity in the novel. In the course of interacting with the two generations, Jane finally achieves the return to human nature that inspires her to speculate on the meaning of life.The Diaries of Jane Somers interprets Lessing’s creative concepts:respecting life and pursuing humanity. The thesis holds that Jane’s change emphasizes the importance of understanding and tolerance to establishing a harmonious society. Lessing attempts to direct the public to break the chain of hypocrisy and seek the goodness in their deep hearts.