Doris Lessing

Teddy Farquar, in “No Witchcraft for Sale” by Doris Lessing demonstrates disrespectfulness. To be disrespectful is to be impolite to others. This is a powerful trait to have because it can affect people's lives negatively. Being disrespectful may make a person not have as many friends, and it allows them to be disrespected back by others. In Teddy’s cultural time, there is distinction between white people and people of color. Teddy is a young boy, who lives with his parents on a farm where they…

Critique: First Draft In “Group Minds” Doris Lessing suggest that Western society prides itself as the free world yet most people are completely oblivious of how commonly they conform to the social norms of a group therefore diminishing their own individuality. Lessing suggest this claim of being a free thinking individual is nothing more than another widely accepted social norm. These claims prompts in-depth thought and expose the necessity to reevaluate and restructure our thoughts about how…

Experiences early in life enrich one’s wisdom. Wisdom is defined as the soundness of an action or decision based upon an experience. Jerry, the 11 year old protagonist from “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing, gained wisdom when he completed his journey of going through the tunnel. He gained wisdom by realizing that he should not have been concerned about the thoughts or actions of others, by realizing that patience is needed to complete a task, and by realizing that some things in life are…

Growing up is something that we all dread, yet also secretly hope to do. We’d all love to stay children but we also want to grow up and become adults. The short story, “Through the Tunnel,” follows Jerry on his journey into adulthood. The author, Doris Lessing, uses literary elements such as symbolism and imagery to portray the message that maturing is never easy. During Jerry’s transition, he goes through a phase where he tries to live up to other people’s expectations. He sees a group of big…

The enduring value of speeches lies in its ability to evoke emotions and persuade audiences with conviction while addressing controversial and complex issues. This is explored in Margaret Atwood’s speech, “Spotty Handed Villainess” (1994) and Doris Lessing’s speech, “On not winning the Nobel Prize” (2007) which heavily explores the differences between first world and third world countries. Both these composers address the issues of injustices in their society and they are driven to deliver…

A Comparative Essay on the Protagonists Isolation in “Yellow Wallpaper” and “Room19” In the short stories To Room 19 by Doris Lessing and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonists, Susan Rawlings and The Yellow Wallpaper’s narrator become increasingly isolated. What are the causes of this isolation? How do Susan and the narrator cope with their crisis and what is the ultimate outcome of their isolation? In To Room 19, Susan Rawlings becomes emotionally and physically…

Do Group Minds Change People In the article, “Group Minds” by Doris Lessing, she says that it is natural that humans conform to group ideas. Lessing's argument about people and groups is not very convincing. For example, Lessing states “that the hardest thing in the world is to stand out against one’s group”(Lessing 613). She fails to provide an example or an explanation of her thinking. An example of standing out of the group would be the United States standing out in the United Nations on the…

Doris Lessing’s work of fiction in her first novel The Grass is Singing, nevertheless reveals how an author can use a central character to raise issues of personal identity, memory and the opportunity life presents any of us for ‘becoming’. The protagonist of her novel the young unmarried Mary Turner, who begins the early stages of her life as an independent, strong women. However, she is pushed by society to conform to the everyday normalities of life, including marriage and raising a family.…

The differing social classes in South Africa have caused major problems, apartheid being the worst of them. These issues are present in the cultural book, “No Witchcraft for Sale”. The issues of apartheid and social classes were almost completely nullified by Nelson Mandela’s work as the first ever black president in South Africa. The illustration of this issue is worth evaluating in the book “No Witchcraft for Sale”. The social classes in South Africa differ greatly in how they operate and…

IS ABNORMAL CHILD SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF A MOTHER? THE FIFTH CHILD: DISCUSSION ON THE SOCIAL STATUS OF A MOTHER WITH ABNORMAL CHILD How many of us have seen in our surrounding a father sitting a baby? Naturally, very few. Moreover, what would be the scenario if the child is born with abnormalities? Then the number becomes even more negligible. We live in so-called civilized society where people are embarrassed to accept the children with abnormalities physical, mental or sexual. Society has…