An Analysis Of Mary's Growth In The Grass Is Singing From The Perspective Of Female Bildungsroman

This thesis attempts to interpret Doris Lessing's The Grass Is Singing from the perspective of female Bildungsroman,mainly analyzing the changes of female protagonist from a naive and imposed woman to a mature and autonomous one.This thesis,from the perspective of female Bildungsroman,explores the progress of Mary's growth.First,it analyzes Mary's immaturity.It explores Mary's confusion about marriage and her distorted identities under the patriarchal society and colonized society including her repressed sexual awareness and the absolute feeling of white supremacy.She has no plan for future.She has no idea about anything and she has never thought that she should get married at a proper age.Then,it analyzes Mary's journey towards maturity.She gradually realizes her living conditions and social situation,then she decides to make changes.In the beginning,she wants to escape from her present life,but finds that escape doesn't make sense.Afterwards,she is determined to fight not only against the imposed self but also against the district she is living in.Suddenly,she awakes and gets epiphany.She knows that only death is her final relief.Eventually,she is not the woman who is innocent and naive and the women who lives in the world created by other people,but the one who can determine her own fate.At last,the thesis interprets Mary's growth in two aspects.After having an intimate interaction with her servant,her sexual awareness awakes,which is the most obvious growth of Mary.Besides,Mary also grows in her attitude towards and understanding of her servant,Moses.Next,the thesis analyzes the limits of her growth from the following three aspects:firstly,though Mary makes many changes,she still lacks subjectivity and in many cases she is forced by reality;then,Mary internalizes the thoughts and ideologies of the patriarchal society and in the end she still doesn't realize that she should gain complete independence;last,she doesn't unite other women to fight the inequality of the society imposing on women and her individual power is so weak that she can't make great effect on enhancing women's living conditions.Finally,the thesis draws a conclusion that Mary does grow but her growth has limits.This thesis expects to give a research perspective to the interpretation of The Grass Is Singing through the perspective of female Bildungsroman,and to excavate the difficulties that resist women's growth and explore the limits of their growth which may give readers enlightenment when pursuing their self-realization.