Doris Lessing's Prose Writing: A Rare Consistency of Values and Ideas

Abstract

The thesis deals with the analysis of the Zimbabwean novelist of British origin, Doris May Lessing. In particular, it explores one of her first novels, A Proper Marriage, and one of her lasts, Alfred and Emily, with the aim of demonstrating how social issues such as the fight for freedom, motherhood, social oppression and gender equality have always been of fundamental importance for her, and for this reason always present in all her productions. The investigation can not be conducted without referring to the social and cultural context, which constantly alternates between the African rural landscapes and the post-war England. Following the detailed examination of the two novels, it seems clear that the two respective protagonists, Martha Quest and Emily McVeagh, share many similarities not only with each other but also with the author herself. Despite the different reactions of the characters, they in fact feel the same oppression caused by a patriarchal and moralist society who pressures women to have children immediately after the marriage instead of letting them focus on their careers and dreams outside the domestic environment. Moreover, they are also united by the never-ending search for identity and independence within strict social and cultural impositions, which in the case of Martha Quest have to do with colonialism, and that do not allow them to be themselves. At this point, there are evident autobiographical references that expand even more in the second novel, with the author taking inspiration from her parents’ lives. My purpose is that of demonstrating the commitment of Lessing, who even fifty years after the publication of the first novel, still continues to fight and stand for the social problems and values she strongly believes in. Even if, as tried to evidence, the themes around which her works articulate are always the same, they are never trivial and repetitive not only because she experiments with different literary genres, but also because she has the ability to communicate with the reader in a very clear, straightforward and sometimes pungent way. And it is precisely this power that permitted her to achieve great goals in life, among which the most important is the Nobel Prize for Literature.