The grass is singing - Doris Lessing: conversation between Charlie and Tony

Thèmes abordés

The grass is singing, Doris Lessing, Mary Turner, Dick Turner, Moses, Tony Marston, murder, South Rhodesia

Résumé du document

In this excerpt from The Grass is singing, published in 1950, Doris Lessing relates the relationship between Mary Turner, a racist white woman married to Dick Turner, a poor farmer, living in South Rhodesia, and Moses, a black boy working for them, during the 1940's. The extract is located at the beginning of the novel, as it recounts a conversation - following Mary's death - between Charlie, the Turners' neighbor, and Tony, a young intern in the Turners' house. At the time, Southern Rhodesia was a British colony - it has been under the yoke of Great Britain until its independence in 1980. In this way, we will ask ourselves how Doris Lessing chose to represent her hometown, as she know a lot about it.

Extraits

[...] Tony Marston is a young English boy, doing an internship at the Turners' farm ; the day before Mary was murdered, he witnessed a private and off- putting scene between Mary and her black servant Moses. In this extract, he is having a conversation with Charlie, one of the Turners' neighbor, about what Tony may knows of the murder. The young boy is disrupted, he is becoming more and more aware of the fact that what happened the day before had a link with the murder. [...]

[...] Even if Tony is practically a member of the household he still cannot fit closely to the country ideas', which is unusual for a boy of his age and occupation, a fact Charlie cannot justify. Indeed, line Charlie asks What do you know of this ? we can note here the suspicious tone he is using, the fact that he actually kind of knows what Tony knows about the murder. Furthermore, he is close to threaten him because he asks his question cautiously, almost warningly and this behavior has an effect on Tony : was well in control of himself, but as taut as Tony is here disrupted by Charlie, maybe even scared of him, of what he might know, because the scene Tony witnessed could be the key to the murder and he didn't said anything to anybody, which can put him in troubles. [...]

[...] In this excerpt from The Grass is singing , Doris Lessing describes a society she knows too well, that is to say the South Rhodesian one, where she spent most of her childhood. She criticizes here the settled ideas, the prejudices, and the way people are being influenced actually they have no choice - as soon as they arrive; but also the fact that people cannot slip from this “brainwash” so easily; the author conveys an idea of helplessness, of “never-going-back, as if once you enter Rhodesia, you can't be yourself anymore until you leave obviously - because you have to fit in the country standards', as if there was a kind of curse in the country that turn people into not only racist and mean ones but also inhuman ones. [...]

[...] This distance is important because, in this extract, we can feel a kind of oppressive and taut atmosphere belonging to the country. Indeed, this country appears as being kind of hazardous. In fact, in line 72, anger, violence, death, seemed natural to this vast, harsh country the country is once again presented as an unhelpful, threatening, and dangerous background : when you enter the country, you are forced to adopt its inhabitants' opinion. Indeed, line 24 : When old settlers say, has to understand the country', what they mean is, have to get used to our ideas about the native.' They are saying, in effect, ‘Learn our ideas, or otherwise get out : we don't want you.' Doris Lessing uses here a gradation : firstly to get used to our ideas but then, people have to adopt them if they want to stay : ‘Learn our ideas, or otherwise get out : we don't want you' These expressions show the authority, the rules and standards people are submitted to in South Rhodesia. [...]

[...] The extract is located at the beginning of the novel, as it recounts a conversation - following Mary's death - between Charlie, the Turners' neighbor, and Tony, a young intern in the Turners' house. At the time, Southern Rhodesia was a British colony - it has been under the yoke of Great Britain until its independence in 1980. In this way, we will ask ourselves how Doris Lessing chose to represent her hometown, as she know a lot about it. [...]