Calls For Love And For Family Happiness

Doris Lessing is widely regarded as one of the most famous post-war writers in England. Also, she is the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in2007. Doris Lessing, with legendary and colorful experience, devotes to concentrating on social life all her lifelong time. She explores social issues with deep thoughts and enriches her artistic creations with the enthusiasm and imagination of the artists, so the numerous works properly interpret her unique discoveries and insights on society and life.The Fifth Child (1988) is one of her excellent works which is recognized as a "minor classic". In The Fifth Child, Lessing describes problems in the family daily life to reflect the loss of family ethics in the waste land of modern civilization. Meanwhile, she expresses her anxiety on the balance of the loss of family ethics at present indirectly.Goldbeerg (1993) thinks literature is kind of necessary moral thinking form with its own feature no matter in the past or at present. Literature has its moral duty and responsibility to society and human. Some literature scholars in China under the leading of Professor Nie make many active attempts to find a new criticism on the basis of traditional ethical criticism and have gained creative achievements. Though a lot of scholars have applied ethical literary criticism to the interpretation of specific literary works, few of them have studied Lessing’s The Fifth Child. Based on the theory of family ethics, this thesis attempts to analyze ethical relationship among family members (the relationship between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters) in The Fifth Child from the perspective of modern woman. The indifferent relationship among family members reveals the loss of family ethics in Britain1960s—1980s, Lessing’s’ moral intention and deep ethical significance. The author tries to point out the loss of family ethics in the novel and brings some ethical inspiration to people nowadays.This thesis falls into six chapters.Chapter One offers a brief account of research background, purpose and organization of this thesis; meanwhile, offers a brief introduction of Lessing and her The Fifth Child.Chapter Two includes theoretical basis and literature review. It illustrates the theoretical basis--ethical literary criticism thoroughly. And also it makes a detailed review on The Fifth Child both at home and abroad. Chapter Three, according to the theory of family ethics, makes a study of relationship between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters in The Fifth Child to explore the tragedy caused by the loss of family ethics on a textual level. At the same time, it explores Lessing’s writing purpose and points out the theme of the novel:calling for love in family and longing for harmony in society.Chapter Four investigates the factors contributing to the loss of family ethics from two aspects. Firstly, the influence of social and economic situation:post-war Britain is attacked by three severe economic crises. The economic crisis must have led to changes in people’s morality and values. Secondly, the influence of personal experiences:Both David’s misery childhood and Harriet’s blindly loved growing experience have great effects on the loss of family ethics.Chapter Five explores the perfect union between the theme of family ethics and Lessing’s writing technique. Lessing’s full use of narrative devices, including reliable narrator and the implicit rhetoric of narrative, enhances the thematic concerns of the novel. Reliable narrator is more persuasive and objective; it gradually leads readers to evaluate the ethical purposes and values in family implied in the novel. Implicit rhetoric of narrative offers readers more freedom to imagine and understand the implied deep meaningsChapter Six, as the conclusion, summarizes the main points of the thesis in brief. After a comprehensive on the loss of family ethics in The Fifth Child, the author thinks Lessing embodies her family ethical purpose in the novel:only the relationship between husband and wife is harmonious, parents and children are sufficient love, brothers and sisters are tightly united can a family achieve lasting happiness and a society gain enduring harmony.