Modern Syndromes In The Seven Sisters

The Seven Sisters is one of Margaret Drabble's representative novels in her senior years. The novel mainly stresses some common problems of elderly women in the modern world. In face of the changing society, the heroine has to deal with difficulties in marriage, family trifles, friendships, and even some mental diseases. However, in my opinion, Drabble's concern is not only confined to elderly women. She describes people from different social status in the British society and each of the character in this novel has its own social stereotype. In the novel, we can find divorced men and women, celebrities, common citizens, homosexuals and even criminals. So we can conclude that Drabble is trying to concern the whole people in the modern western society. The novel shows that modern people are suffering from stresses from different aspects. Drabble reveals us some typical psychological problems of the new century.In the novel, Drabble expresses that tiredness exists almost everywhere in the marriages and daily lives among modern western people. It has aroused many problems in people's psychological world as well as social activities. In addition, alienation of love is very common in the modern western society. Drabble shows us alienation between family members, alienation of husband and wife, as well as alienation among friends. Besides, another sign of alienation is the narcissism, which leads people into a false love status. Drabble also suggests that the decline of human nature can be seen in every detailed activity of human beings. She intends to reveal us a cruel and indifferent modern western society where evil, violence, the absence of belief and modern prejudices exist in people's lives and damaging people's nature of kindness. Finally, Drabble makes us know that the predicament of freedom exists in every aspect of human lives. It is the dynamic force of people's change in different time period.This paper analyzes some typical social issues of modern people in the Seven Sisters from psychological point of view. It is divided into four parts: the tiredness of modern people, alienation of love, the decline of human nature, and the predicament of freedom. Through her detailed psychological description and humorous language, Drabble shows us a potential crisis of human's mental world. In the novel, Drabble tries to imply that modern people should purify their heart by tracing the footsteps of our ancient saints. In some old wisdom, people can find a certain cure for their modern syndromes.