| Doris Lessing is a famous British writer in the twentieth century and also a winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature.Long writing career and the diversity of works are the main characteristics of her writing.In her more than 50 years of writing,Lessing has created more than fifty works,including novels,plays,essays,short stories,personal memoirs,etc.Reality problems,mysticism,science fiction and other genres are reflected in all phases of Lessing’s works.love,again,published in 1996,is a recent work by Lessing.In the novel,Lessing focuses on socially marginalized women,such as old people and people of color.Though in different times,the two heroines of the novel,Sarah and Julie are suffering degrees of discrimination and a lot of pain because of patriarchal society.Although many scholars at home and abroad have interpreted the novel from different perspectives,few researches have been done from Maslow’s humanistic psychology.Therefore,this thesis employs Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory to analyze the two heroines’ deficiency of needs,their efforts for needs gratification and how they gradually achieve self-realization.In addition to the Introduction and Conclusion part,this thesis consists of three chapters.The introduction introduces Doris Lessing and her works,the research status of love,again at home and abroad and the theoretical foundation of the thesis—Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory.Chapter One analyzes the growing pains of Sarah and Julie from the perspective of deficiency of needs.In the novel,Sarah appears to be a successful woman.But in fact,she is not valued by her mother in her childhood,which leads to her lack of security.Not long after the marriage,her husband dies,which makes her feel lonely,and her sexual desire is not satisfied.Julie is the illegitimate daughter of the colored people,which leads to her fate of being abandoned.She longs to be loved and respected,but she is often pushed out and despised by those around her.Chapter Two mainly analyzes the changes of Sarah and Julie’s life because of their personal struggle from the perspective of needs satisfaction.Through her unremitting efforts,Sarah achieves great achievements in her career,and gains a sense of security and self-respect from her work.Her friendship with Stephen and the budding relationship with Bill and Henry let her gradually get rid of the loneliness and develop the ability of loving others.In her courageous pursuit of love,Julie also acquires belongingness and love needs.Due to her excellent performance,Julie also gets the recognition and appreciation from the people around her.Chapter Three focuses on the personal growth of Sarah and Julie from the perspective of self-realization.Through the analysis of Sarah’s emotional states and her love experiences,Sarah’s spiritual growth is revealed.The other heroine of the novel,Julie also gains spiritual growth after experiencing emotional pain and suffering.Julie gets her inspiration from nature and makes great achievements in music.In addition,Julie’s pursuit of independence and autonomy is also a manifestation of her personal growth.In conclusion,it is of great social significance to pay attention to marginalized women in today’s society.In today’s patriarchal society,women,because of their relatively low social status,often face unfair treatment and suffer serious discrimination,and their various needs cannot be satisfied.Hence,on the one hand,the society should show concern for the elderly who are so easily neglected as Sarah.On the other hand,society should help those who are vulnerable groups like Julie to realize their values and pursuits. |
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