A Freudian Analysis Of Mary’s Tragedy In The Grass Is Singing

British author Doris Lessing at the age of88won the Nobel Prize for literature in2007. The reason for the award was that “epicist of the female experience, who withskepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny”.She is regarded as the most important author after the Second World War, and she is alsoone of the most controversial women writers. The major theme of her novels tries toexpress understanding oneself, understanding society, and surpassing oneself ultimatelyon the basis of balancing the individual and society.Pursuing self understanding and self realization are the exploration of self survivalproblems for people in the20thcentury. From the beginning, Doris Lessing believes thatthe ego consciousness can not be ignored and can not be separated from outer world. Themaiden work The Grass is Singing is one of the most important works in her writingcareer. The author describes the characters meticulously in the novel, expresses thedistinct personality. She explores Mary’s personality characteristics and her windingcomplex psychological world. The author makes the characters lifelike in the book. Itreflects a true life as it comes and truly has a richer artistic appeal. Once the novel ispublished, it is widely praised. It is considered to be one of the excellent works since theSecond World War. For many American and British readers, the Grass is Singing firstlymakes them truly to taste “white is superior” this kind of abnormal mentality whichbrings about disaster to human-beings. The work has set the tone and the theme for herlater works to a certain degree. Combining with her most concerned topics, Doris Lessingwants to explore the survival problems in this novel to realize the necessity of ego andsociety and to obtain the significance of surpassing ego ultimately. The purpose of thethesis is from Freud’s psychology to reveal women should not always follow the roleentrusted by society, they should understand themselves properly.In all kinds of Freud’s theories, the personality psychology is one of his mostinfluence ones. Everyone has his own personality. According to the personalitypsychological analysis theory, Freud divided personality into three parts: id, ego andsuperego. The key to get healthy personality is to balance id, ego and superego.This thesis tries to analysis Mary who lingers among id, ego and superego in The Grass is Singing, revealing Mary’s unremitting struggles and the difficulties she hasfaced. At last to point that at that time of the social environment, it is doomed to fail inreturning to real self and achieving individualized.This thesis consists of three parts: the introduction, the main body and a conclusion.Its main contents are as follows:The introduction consists of the domestic and foreign research status and literaturereview about the novelist Doris Lessing, her life, writing background, the main content ofThe Grass is Singing, the research achievement, the critical responses to the novel andthen the creativity in this thesis.Chapter One focuses on theoretical foundation of the thesis—Freud’s personalitystructure theory and his depression theory. Freud divided personality into three parts: id,ego and superego. Id is the embodiment of the desire and is filled with suppressedinstinct, desire and impulsive. It is the most primitive subjective reality and is an internalworld before individual who gets experience from the outside world. Ego connects id andthe external world, according to the external world，it coordinates id with all kinds ofdesires. Superego embodies taboo, moral, ethical standard vehicle, it is an organizationstructure according to the social behavior standard, taught and influenced by elders whichplays role in the inner world.Chapter Two discusses Mary’s unbalanced personality. This chapter is divided intothree parts: from Mary’s id, ego and superego respectively analyzes her personality. Thefact about Mary’s childhood illustrates the origin of her impersonality and her distastesfor sex which was repressed in her id. When she grows up who tries to get rid of thedisappointment of marriage, and eager to become a fully independent person. After herfailure of trying to influence Dick, secretly runs away from home and often tries tochange the present situation of life, she gradually realizes that she and Dick’s marriage isa failure and wrong. For Dick, Mary never thinks that he matches to be her husband.Although in vain efforts, Mary finally obeys to life. This part analyzes Mary’s faint ego,she completely yields to id and superego. Finally writes Mary’s struggle between id andsuperego, one is her dual personality, the other one is the contradiction between herinstinct and the tradition. As a woman, she needs care and a loving husband, Dick’sincompetence and lacks of love that make Mary eventually turn her love to the black Moses, at that time of the colonial society it is like being with cattle together. And in fact,Mary needs Moses on one hand; on the other hand she tramples Moses’ human nature,dosen’t regards Moses as a person. Mary suppresses her emotion, but her id always turnsup, she can not avoid being attracted by Moses; but her ego and superego this kind offeeling is not accepted by the social standard and it should be condemned and rejected.When she is a little girl she tries to be free by struggling with her parents in vain, andwhen she grows up, she makes great efforts to become independent by escaping from hertragic marriage life. In order to meet with her desire, Mary, on the one hand, physicallyneeds Moses, and on the other hand, lets Moses away. She suffers the pain all the time.Chapter Three focuses on the description of Mary’s death which embodies theFreud’s depression theory. Moses’ appear satisfies with her repressed desire; Mary’sdream indicates her death. Although there are not so many words to describe Moses, theexquisite psychological depicts that a new image of black pursuing ego instincts,personality equal who wants break through the social system required self-control,self-discipline barriers. Mary loves Moses’ strength and power which she never finds thecharacteristics in Dick, and she could not resist the charm on Moses. But at the time ofthe social circumstances, this kind of attraction on Moses is an entirely taboo. From thebeginning, Mary and Moses’ relationship is destructive, because it is an obviousseriousness when it touches the race issue at the time of society. As the internal spiritworld conflict increasing, Mary dreams nightmare when she sleeps, her depressedunconscious impulse after disguising reflects in her dreams symbolically. The easiestdream can be satisfied strictly and does not need any interpretation. Freud pays closeattention to another kind of dream that is about the internal content of the dream. Theseare most about the human internal desires. However because the dream of inspectionfunction from which consciousness and morality, the dream desire is expressed in a formof symbol. Although Mary is unwilling to admit that the unconsciousness existents in herinstinct, her strong unconscious undercurrent somehow impacts her self-conscious dam.She knows once her id impulse is triggered, it can be uncontrollable. However if it wantsto get the performance and satisfaction under the suppressed consciousness, only throughvarious occult unconscious processes and modification can expression come out. Thedream here is the most typical representative of this state. Conclusion summarizes the whole paper, with the analyses the progress of Mary’sindividuation, it can be seen even though Mary pays the unremitting endeavor for it, butto achieve this process must be doomed to fail at the time of the social conditions. theindividual may be influenced by upbringing or social pressure, however, only byself-acknowledging and confronting bravely and one’s inner realm not just succumbingto the outer will can an individual obtain a healthy and steady development.