An Interpretation Of Doris Lessing’s The Summer Before The Dark By Lacan’s Theory Of Mirror Stage

Doris Lessing is a prolific and prominent female writer in English literature. Sheis so productive that her works cover various subjects. Lessing is awarded the NobelPrize for Literature in2007. Nobel Prize Committee praises her as “that epicist of thefemale experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected adivided civilization to scrutiny”. From The Grass Is Singing to The Golden Notebookto The Summer before the Dark, Lessing is concerned about woman’s position andsituation. Especially, when she is in middle age, Lessing focuses on the livingsituation and spiritual crisis of middle-aged women, depicting their inner worlds andbewilderment of marriage, family and self. There are many researches focusing onLessing’s works, but few on The Summer before the Dark. This thesis employsLacan’s theory of mirror stage to interpret Kate’s mirror image, its causes and itsdestruction, Kate’s self-recognition and self-discovery in order to disclose herspiritual journey from confusion and agony to awakening and rebirth. Moreover,through Kate’s story, Lessing not only expresses her sympathy for the dilemma of themiddle-aged women, but also helps them find a way to deal with the relationship withmale, with marriage and with family properly.This thesis is made up of three parts which are introduction, the main body andconclusion.Introduction deals with the general information and background of DorisLessing, the general introduction to The Summer before the Dark, literature reviewand the introduction of Lacan’s theory of mirror stage.Chapter One describes an angel in the house. The angel refers to a good wifeand mother in the family. But in fact, the angel image is an “other”. Kate regards themirror image as her self-identity and takes the desires of others as hers. So, in thetwenty five years marriage, Kate takes being a faithful wife and a perfect mother forgranted. Until one day her youngest son screams at her, that breaks her illusion of a good housewife and awakens her self consciousness.Chapter Two depicts the process of Kate’s discovery in four places. In the mirrorstage, the baby senses that he is an integrated being, a whole person. But when hetouches the image in the mirror, the mirror image does not exist. Just like Kate, whenshe is faced with her husband’s betrayal and her children’s indifferent attitudes, sherealizes herself in the state of “others”, trying to escape from the male-dominatedfamily and seeking for her self. Through the summer real journey and dream journey,Kate is trying to find the reasons of conflicts with family, marriage and children.Eventually Kate destructs her mirror image and redefines herself. Kate expresses herdissatisfaction to her marriage and her effort to self-discovery respectively by the sealdream.Chapter Three discusses Kate’s return. In the post-mirror stage, the baby canrecognize the “father”, which means he has conformed to the social rules andaccepted the social status. Self-identity is supported by its role in the society. Usually,A woman chooses to return to her original life after self-discovery. Returning homeseems to be a helpless behavior conforming to the society, but in fact, it is a happyend after mature thinking. Kate experiences the spiritual crisis for middle-agedwomen, and then she chooses to return home and be a new Kate.Finally, conclusion is drawn that this novel sketches the growth of a woman:from awakening to loss, loss to escape, escape to retreat, finally to return. This circlesymbolizes the process of her psychological growth.