Revolt In Absurd World

Doris Lessing is one of the most distinguished modern British women writers, and she is regarded as one of the most inventive, prolific, and many-sided writers. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in2007. As a legendary figure in literature, Lessing has always been concerned about human’s existence in the20th century, when there are great disorders both in ethics and spirit, so human’s existence is one indispensable element in her works. During her lifetime, Lessing has composed large numbers of works. Among them, The Grass Is Singing (1950) is an important novel, which establishes her as one of the most influential writers in the20th century.In The Grass Is Singing, Lessing depicts the existence of the poor white and the black in the context of the apartheid system and the patriarchal system of South Africa. The novel is famous for its description of modern man’s living predicament. Corresponding with Camus’existentialist ideas, the novel reveals the absurdity of the relationship between man and the world, and his attitude to revolt against the absurdity. This paper attempts to analyze the novel from the existential point of view and explores the figures’confrontation of the absurdity in the chaotic world and how they revolt against absurdity to establish their identities.The thesis is composed of the introduction, the body and the conclusion.The introductory part includes Lessing’s life and her works, especially The Grass Is Singing. And it also makes a concise review of the previous studies on The Grass Is Singing.The body is divided into four chapters. Chapter One gives an overview of existentialism, an important philosophical and literary trend in the20th century, and introduces the main ideas of Camus’existentialist thoughts:the relationship between man and the world is absurd, and the attitude man should adopt is revolt. The existence of the characters and the attitude of revolt correspond with Camus’ideas of absurdity and revolt. Chapter Two mainly analyzes how the absurd world affects the existence of the characters. South Africa in20th century is full of chaos. And the apartheid and patriarchal systems are stern and depressing. The poor white are encountered with frustration and setbacks and have lost their sense of security. As a black houseboy, Moses is in the underprivileged condition. As for the poor white Mary, she is shackled by the rigid patriarchal system. Chapter Three makes an analysis that Mary in the absurd world suffers from the absurd interpersonal relationships. And it includes alienation between Mary and her father, abnormality between Mary and Dick, and indifference between Mary and her friends as well as morbid love between Mary and Moses. Chapter Four is intended to analyze that confronted with absurdity, how Dick, Moses and Mary courageously affirm the absurdity and revolt against it to confirm the meaning of their existence.Finally, the paper reaches a conclusion that confronted with the absurdity of the world, the characters still get the courage to revolt against it to seek the meaning of life. By exploring the spiritual crisis and living predicament of human beings in the modern society, Lessing reveals us her understanding and thinking about the existence of the modern man and her affirmation of humanity and dignity.