From Disintegration To Harmony

As one of the most prominent post-war women writers in British, Doris Lessing has been always striving to pursue fairness, justice, freedom, friendship and harmony. She usually puts what she experienced into her works. The World War I and II, the Cold War between American and Soviet, Russia literature, life in Africa all provide her with abundant life experience and pave the way for her creation by equipping with special meanings. There is a common theme in all her works, and that is the harmonious coexistence.This MA thesis centers on the relationship between men and women, as well as human and nature. In The Cleft the three sides–the clefts (referring female), the monsters (referring to male) and nature–perform a history of fierce struggles. The relation between"young Clefts"and the"Old Shes"evolves from one of inconsistencies which represents the collisions between traditional ideas and new ideas to one of making concerted efforts; the clefts and the monsters exploit the nature unscrupulously and receive nature's revenge in return, human beings gradually realize that they should value and respect the creatures around them with the development of history; Lessing creates a world of androgyny in which there prevails equality. The clefts and the monsters are suddenly separated from one another, but the diverse habitations and various circumstances lead their combination in the end, and they gradually realize that only by helping each other and living in equality and cooperation can they survive or become stronger. As a token of wholeness, the concept of androgyny indicates that Lessing's hope of building a"Free Kingdom"where there is equality between male and female.As far as the structure is concerned, Lessing spares no effort to innovate the frame of traditional realistic fiction by using the fragmented structure to disclose the disrupted civilization. She prefers to use the abnormal style in literary creation which is based upon her commitment to large issues. All in all, the theme and the form of this novel are closely interrelated. Thus, the book is rich in content and deep in meaning. Through the analysis of a series of struggles, realization, tolerance, cooperation, a sense of common idea—harmonious coexistence—is made behind Lessing's unceasingly shifting themes. Lessing is pursuing a harmonious world in which all creatures are equal and integrative in all things. She also expresses her deep concern about the remote future by presenting a cloven world which is fraught with conflicts she ever experienced.