Biopolitics In The Fifth Child And Ben,in The World

Considered one of the most celebrated and distinguished writers of the post-war generation,Doris Lessing has explored a wide range of topics in her works,such as racism,communism,psychology,sociology,and mysticism.Although Lessing has always deliberately maintained a marginal status of an observer,she attains an influential position in twentieth century British literature.The Fifth Child and its sequel Ben,in the World are the most representative works of Lessing's late turn to the realistic tradition.The two novelettes show Lessing's concern for the fate of the vulnerable groups in the society.Centering on Ben Lovatt's suffering from the subjugation of power and his ineffective resistance both in his family and the society,the thesis explores Lessing's criticisms on the paradox of human rights and the dark side of human nature through applying Giorgio Agamben's socio-political thinking on sovereign power and bare life.The first chapter points out the political exclusion of Thatcherism and Eugenic ideologies against those who are defined as abnormal people.The family members consider Ben a monstrous child.Under the influences of the state ideologies,they spare no effort to exclude and banish Ben.This chapter scrutinizes the predicaments of the deformed“other” in the family.The second chapter analyzes the oppression ofcapitalist social and economic system against bare life.Because Ben loses his social status and legal identity,he is exploited and manipulated as a living instrument without any protection.This chapter examines the invalidity of human rights when facing people outside the legal sphere.Based on the discussions in the preceding chapters,chapter three analyzes Ben's resistance against family and social exclusion,unfolds Ben's weakness in the face of the threats of power.This chapter reaches Lessing's criticism on the power mechanisms of exclusion and her ethical reflection on the predicament of bare life.The Agambenian reading of Lessing's The Fifth Child and Ben,in the World helps uncover the two novelettes' socio-political implications.By analyzing Ben's dilemma,the thesis explores a form of life that is controlled by power and deprived of any forms of protection in the world.The thesis encourages readers to think about the western current social systems and their problems and meanwhile to make a reflection on the morality of self-behaviors toward marginalized vulnerable groups.