In her first novel, The Grass is Singing, in 1950, Doris Lessing, a British writer borrows the title of this novel from T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land where she gradually unravels the apparent dreariness of romantic connotations of the title in reality. The novel, gradually unfolds the disintegration of the coherent “self” of Mary Turner, the protagonist, due to the interplay of several external forces on one hand and Mary’s insecure childhood, low self esteem and marital inadequacy on the other. It actually “traces her decay into death”. Heavily steeped in Freudian psychoanalysis, the psyche of the heroine is unfolded as the narrative proceeds further. The novel depicts the intricacies of human relations, social structures and racial prejudices in Rhodesian society. Not only does it speak against colonialism in Africa and has a feminist perspective but it also recognizes chaos and its consequence upon inner reality.
| Published in |
Social Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 6-1)
This article belongs to the Special Issue Literature & Psychology |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ss.s.2015040601.13 |
| Page(s) | 9-13 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Disintegration of Self, Infantile Ego, Lowered Self Esteem, Oedipal Complex, Repression and Perception of Death
| [1] | Adriel G. J. S. (2008). Mary’s descent into madness in Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing. Universitat de Barcelona. |
| [2] | Ahmed, M. K. (2013). Doris Lessing’s the Grass is singing: Anatomy of a Female Psyche in The midst of Gender, Race and Class Barrier. International Journal of English and Literature Vol 4(1), pp11-16. |
| [3] | Fenichel, O. (1945). The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis. New York: Norton. |
| [4] | Akhtar, S. (2009). Comprehensive dictionary of psychoanalysis. London: Karnac Book Ltd. |
| [5] | Gay, P. (1988). Freud: A life for our time. Worcester: Billing & sons Ltd. |
| [6] | Ghosh T.K, Bhattacharya, A. (2012). Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing, A Critical Study, Published by Prestige Books International New Delhi. pp.11. |
| [7] | Hall, C.S, Lindzey. G, Campbell, J.B. (1957). Theories of personality. New York: Wiley. |
| [8] | Lessing, D. (1950). The grass is singing. New York: Harper Collins Publisher. |
| [9] | Michele, W.Z. (2008). The Grass is Singing: A little novel about the emotions.” Contemporary Literature, Vol. 14, No. 4, Special Number on Doris Lessing, pp. 481-490. |
| [10] | Sultan A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master in English Language and Literature. Department of English Language and Literature Faculty of Arts Middle June, 2011. East University ii Canada: Wadsworth. Alia’a Yousef Bahlaq. |
| [11] | Taylor. E. (2014). Film Review. Doris Lessing’s The grass is singining. The Post Colonialist. |
APA Style
Nilanjana Bagchi. (2015). The Reality of the Fractured Psyche as Represented in “Grass Is Singing”. Social Sciences, 4(6-1), 9-13. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.s.2015040601.13
ACS Style
Nilanjana Bagchi. The Reality of the Fractured Psyche as Represented in “Grass Is Singing”. Soc. Sci. 2015, 4(6-1), 9-13. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.s.2015040601.13
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.ss.s.2015040601.13,
author = {Nilanjana Bagchi},
title = {The Reality of the Fractured Psyche as Represented in “Grass Is Singing”},
journal = {Social Sciences},
volume = {4},
number = {6-1},
pages = {9-13},
doi = {10.11648/j.ss.s.2015040601.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.s.2015040601.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.s.2015040601.13},
abstract = {In her first novel, The Grass is Singing, in 1950, Doris Lessing, a British writer borrows the title of this novel from T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land where she gradually unravels the apparent dreariness of romantic connotations of the title in reality. The novel, gradually unfolds the disintegration of the coherent “self” of Mary Turner, the protagonist, due to the interplay of several external forces on one hand and Mary’s insecure childhood, low self esteem and marital inadequacy on the other. It actually “traces her decay into death”. Heavily steeped in Freudian psychoanalysis, the psyche of the heroine is unfolded as the narrative proceeds further. The novel depicts the intricacies of human relations, social structures and racial prejudices in Rhodesian society. Not only does it speak against colonialism in Africa and has a feminist perspective but it also recognizes chaos and its consequence upon inner reality.},
year = {2015}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - The Reality of the Fractured Psyche as Represented in “Grass Is Singing” AU - Nilanjana Bagchi Y1 - 2015/12/17 PY - 2015 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.s.2015040601.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ss.s.2015040601.13 T2 - Social Sciences JF - Social Sciences JO - Social Sciences SP - 9 EP - 13 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2326-988X UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.s.2015040601.13 AB - In her first novel, The Grass is Singing, in 1950, Doris Lessing, a British writer borrows the title of this novel from T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land where she gradually unravels the apparent dreariness of romantic connotations of the title in reality. The novel, gradually unfolds the disintegration of the coherent “self” of Mary Turner, the protagonist, due to the interplay of several external forces on one hand and Mary’s insecure childhood, low self esteem and marital inadequacy on the other. It actually “traces her decay into death”. Heavily steeped in Freudian psychoanalysis, the psyche of the heroine is unfolded as the narrative proceeds further. The novel depicts the intricacies of human relations, social structures and racial prejudices in Rhodesian society. Not only does it speak against colonialism in Africa and has a feminist perspective but it also recognizes chaos and its consequence upon inner reality. VL - 4 IS - 6-1 ER -
Email: