Abstract

The Grass Is Singing is a book mainly about heroine Mary’s tragedy. Through the depiction of the distorted human relations between men and women, black and white, rich white and poor white, this paper reveals the main social reasons of Mary’s tragedy, especially the gender opposition, racial discrimination, class conflicts.

Key words: The Grass Is Singing, distorted, human relations, Mary’s tragedy, social reasons

摘 要

《野草在歌唱》，一部殖民主义时期悲剧小说，主要刻画了女主人公玛丽的悲剧人物形象。本文试图通过分析男性与女性，白人与黑人，穷白人与富白人之间的扭曲关系，来揭示玛丽造成玛丽悲剧的主要社会原因，特别是性别歧视，种族差异，阶级矛盾。

关键词:《野草在歌唱》；扭曲；人际关系；玛丽的悲剧；社会原因

1.    Introduction
Doris Lessing (1919- ), a Nobel Prize winner for literature in 2007, is one of the most popular contemporary women writers in Britain and is also widely recognized by the world. She was born in Iran and lived a wandering life with her parents. When she was 5, she moved to Zimbabwe, where she spent her childhood and youth. Until in 1949, after failing two marriages, she backed to London, and then began her creation career. In 1950,she published her first novel The Grass is Singing. Generally, Doris Lessing’s writing career can be divided into three stages: the period around 50s and 60s, the 70s and the early 80s, and after the mid-80s.
Lessing’s early works are basically pictured on her life experience in Africa. Her early time is devoted into political movements, so her early writing style is closely related to her political beliefs. Politics is the essential element that Lessing distinguishes from other contemporary women writers. The 50s and 60s was the period of changes and transformations. Lessing focuses on feminism, politics, racial discrimination, class conflicts, and gender issues. Lessing is also one of the most outstanding feminist writers with close attention to women's problems. The Nobel Committee made comment on Lessing: “that epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny”.1 The quintet Children of Violence (1952-1969) and The Golden Notebook (1962) are the leading masterpieces of this period, which bring Lessing the title of feminist writer, political writer, and psychological writer etc.