Confusional State And Identity Perplexity

Doris Lessing, one of the most influential writers in contemporary times, attracts great attention from her first novel. The changeable writing style brings her both praises and criticisms. Her masterpiece The Golden Notebook is always the point at issue. The Golden Notebook is labeled as a feminist masterpiece makes Lessing quite antipathetic. She has declared her creative motivation openly—writes a novel describing "the intellectual and moral climate of an age" like Anna Kareninia and The Red and the Black. She indeed depicts various characters in the book. Women and some sensitive subjects like racism and homosexuals are all covered. When studied the book, the creative intention of the writer should be respected.The thesis explores the inner world and identity perplexity of all kinds of people in The Golden Notebook. The background of the novel is in the 1950s. It is a period of social unrest and political disillusionment. The former socialistic system is shattered in a split second and many people fall into trouble and confusion. The assassination and the persecution on the communists by America and the Soviet Union bring people much more pressure in spirit. "Free Women" drop into desperation with the political disillusionment, and the failure in career, love, and the misunderstanding of children push them to the brink of breakdown; Men facing the women liberation begin to reconsider the relationship between men and women; The children living in the chaotic world puzzle with their identity; the homosexuals as the marginal group struggle for their own rights in chaos. The thesis mainly probes into the contradiction of inner world and the perplexity towards self-identity of people. Through the analysis, their spiritual experiences in the period are exposed. In a word, the sane awareness and recognition of oneself is the best way to overcome pressure.