The Transformation And Disillusionment Of Dependency Fantasy

Doris Lessing is an eminent contemporary English writer who deserves detailed study and research. Her realistic novel The Good Terrorist was published as early as in 1986, years before September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre brought the issue of terrorism to the whole world on such a great scale. Since the attack, the threat of terrorism has become increasingly serious and severe all around the world. It is not only closely related to politics but also has influenced the thinking style of human beings. Researches on terrorism have flourished, especially in the field of social psychology in America. Arthur Deikman's book Them and Us analyzes the problem of the terrorism and proposes an important concept"dependency fantasy". The fact that Doris Lessing composed the foreword for Them and Us shows that she agrees with Deikman on the issue of terrorism. In fact, Lessing's own novel The Good Terrorist is a vivid demonstration of how one can be both a"good"person and a terrorist at the same time.Since both Them and Us and The Good Terrorist discuss the issue of terrorism, with a focus on psychology rather than on politics, the present research adopts Dekman's concept of"dependency fantasy"for the analysis of the case of Alice Mellings, the"good terrorist". Based on the textual analysis of the novel with the theory of psychoanalysis, this thesis proves that the psychological instinct of the tendency to sink into a"dependency fantasy"is the root of Alice's terrorist thinking. In addition, with the development of the plot in the novel, Alice's dependency fantasy has undergone various transformations. Finally, these changes enable her to break away from the disillusioned fantasy.This thesis is divided into five parts. The first part is the introductory part. It introduces structure of the thesis, the writer Doris Lessing and her novel The Good Terrorist. The basic knowledge of terrorism, more importantly, the psychological impact of terrorism is introduced. The second part analyzes how Alice's images keep changing during the process of her degradation into a terrorist, which facilitates the following psychoanalysis part of Alice. The third part covers the psychological concept of"dependency fantasy"in detail, and analyzes the transformation of the"dependency fantasy"in the development of the plot. The fourth part illustrates the disillusionment of Alice from the transformed dependency fantasy. Once the fantasy cannot exist in reality because of irresistible realistic elements, Alice has to awake and break out of it totally. The fifth part is the conclusion of the thesis. It sums up the analysis of the whole thesis and reaches the conclusion that Alice's degradation from a decent middle-class girl into a terrorist is caused by the dependency fantasy. She keeps searching for such a fantasy to ensure herself to be protected and valued. It functions as a kind of psychological compensation. Once the fantasy is disillusioned, she has to abandon it and awake.A thorough analysis of Alice's changing psychology casts new light on the terrorists, and the causes of terrorism. This is helpful for the harmony of the society.