"The Other", Individuals, Friends:a Study Of The Animal Image In Doris Lessing’s On Cats

This thesis aims to study the animal image in Doris Lessing’s On Cats with the context of modern Animal Literature, and argues that cats’image in this book has undergone a transformation from "the Other" to individuals and friends, based on which she carries out her deconstruction of the western metaphysical thinking of anthropocentrism and her reconciliation between the human and the animal.In this book, on one hand, Lessing represents cats’image as "the Other" with humans as the center. Human is the one to rule and dominate while animal is the one to be ruled and dominated. Humans stay in power with their voice heard while animals are under control with their voice silenced. And human intervention brings the result that cats’nature is distorted partly. Moreover, "the animal Other" echoes with "the Other" of the marginalized people in the perspectives of sex, race and class in the human world. On the other hand, Lessing makes efforts to deconstruct cats’ image as "the Other" by appreciating cats as individuals and friends. She gradually identifies cats’subjectivity by noticing their different characters and temperaments, acknowledging their language and intelligence, sharing their feelings and penetrating into their psychological activities. In order to make a reconciliation between the human and the animal, she tries to subvert the traditional definition and understanding of the human and the animal in thinking with the point that both human and animal are combination of humanity and animality as well as both humanity and animality are dialectic, to turn from a cat killer to a cat lover in action, and to replace indifference with love, trust and responsibility in affection. With the transformation of cats’image from "the Other" to individuals and friends, and her life philosophy of "reverence for life," "the capacity of suffering," "the call of conscience," "the passion of the animal" and "taking a look at animality itself," Lessing successfully breaks away from the western metaphysical thinking—anthropocentrism, which is the root of "the animal Other," and starts a new possibility of animal-human interaction—friends.Lessing’s On Cats is an important and indispensable part of modern Animal Literature and her reconstruction of cats’ image is a way of reflection and exploration of the 20th century with its significance in humanitarian concern, ecological thinking and cultural introspection. Besides, cats’image functions as a mirror of the human, through which Lessing delivers us a truth: for a long time, we have the wrong thinking of the animals, of ourselves and of this whole world, which effectively accounts for the sympathy and compassion Lessing shows not only for animals, but also for human beings.