The Theme of Marginality and Techniques of Coping with it in Doris Lessing s Fiction

Abstract

The present study investigates the theme of marginality and techniques of coping with it in Doris Lessing s fiction. Marginality is basically a socio-psychological term, and a Post-Colonial concern which talks about the plight of the people at the margin, away from the centre of the power structure. It existed in the past and it is a concern of the contemporary relevance and therefore, calls for a deeper investigation. The theme of marginality manifests the seamier side of the civilization, but coping with marginality brings dignity. The student desires to restrict the premises of the present study to the analysis of the marginalized categories identified in Doris Lessing s fiction. The novels selected for the study include, The Grass is Singing (1950) Five, The Golden Note book (1962), The Cleft (2007), Briefing for a Descent into the Hell (1971), The Fifth Child (1988), Ben in the World (2000), Memoirs of a Survivor (1974), and The Good Terrorist (1985)) for the theme of marginality, existing in the four dominant structures of power namely, Imperialism, Patriarchy, Abnormal and Capitalism and the techniques of coping with marginality can be discerned in its concentrated form in the said novels. newlineChapter one talks about Lessing as a Post- Colonial writer, who was born in Kermanshah newline