A Multi-perspective Analysis Of The Others’ World In The Grass Is Singing

Doris Lessing(1919-2013), who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in2007, is granted as the Grandmother and the Evergreen Tree in British LiteratureWorld. Many of her works have been translated into different languages and theseworks have won her an international fame.Her debut novel,The Grass Is Singing, which brought her immediaterecognition, was extolled by reviewers as the most promising novel since the SecondWorld War. The novel was set in South Africa, which mainly describes the life andfate of the white woman (Mary) in the colonial background. Critics have madeextensive researches from different angles since it was first published. The criticaltheories are mainly focused on “feminism”,“post-colonialism”,“Marxism”,“Psychoanalysis” etc. When analyzing the novel from the angle of post-colonialtheory, critics mainly focused their attention on the cruel racial discrimination, and theauthor’s sympathy to the marginalized Others-the black natives. However, criticsseldom observe that the marginalized people in this novel not just refer to the blackpeople. The “Self” may flow into “the other” when analyzing the novel from differentangles.Based on the theories of post-colonism, femininism and the concept of“personalistic Others” as well, this paper mainly tries to explore “the Others’ world”from a multi-perspective. The “Others” in this thesis include not only the usual“colonial Others”, but also includes the “female Others” and “personalistic Others.”Through the analysis of the comparatively overall Others’ world, this thesisdemonstrates the Others’ survival predicament and Lessing’s sympathy for all themarginalized groups. At the same time, this thesis also attempts to show that one cannot always live in an absolute position of “Self”. The “Self” may also reduce to the“Other” in different condition. Moreover, this thesis can help readers have a betterunderstanding of both “the Others’ world” and Doris Lessing, to attract people’sattention to the marginalized vulnerable group in the modern society.