Tracing the 'Other' in Lessing's The Grass is Singing

Abstract

Doris Lessing, an author of novels written in the present day, delves into questions of colonial history and theory, as well as post- and neo-colonialism. She investigates the effects of colonialism on a foreign society from both inside and outer viewpoints in her groundbreaking work of creative nonfiction, The Grass is Singing (1950). In Lessing's The Grass Is Singing, the narrator struggles to establish a solid sense of self and to resist the colonial language that denies their autonomy. In turn, this hinders their ability to form deep connections with others. This paper takes a postcolonial look at the novel The Grass is Singing. The novel's protagonists and antagonists are given the bulk of the novel's attention, along with the setting the author uses to evoke a colonial ambiance.