A Horneyan Interpretation Of Mary’s Neurosis In The Grass Is Singing

The Grass Is Singing is the maiden work of Doris Lessing,the winner of Nobel Prize in literature in 2007.The novel received extensive attention from critics once it was published in 1950.The author was regarded as the greatest British female writer after Woolf.The paper applies Karen Horney’s neurotic theory as the basic framework to interpret the causes,development and influences of heroine Mary’s neurosis in The Grass Is Singing.This study is a new attempt to interpret the protagonist Mary in The Grass Is Singing.It provides a new perspective for further study of Lessing and her works.The paper mainly consists of three parts: the introduction,the body and the conclusion part.The first part makes a brief introduction of Lessing,the main plot of The Grass Is Singing,Horney and her neurotic theory.At the same time,it makes an analysis and summary about the research status of this work at home and abroad.The body part of the paper is divided into three chapters: the first chapter discusses the causes of Mary’s neurosis.Horney thinks that basic anxiety and the defensive strategies against anxiety are the inherent mechanism of neurosis.Neurosis is a psychic disturbance brought about by attempts to find compromise solutions for inner conflicts.Horney views this kind of inner conflict as basic conflict,while once the basic conflict can not be dealt,it leads to the basic anxiety.Horney regards basic conflict as the dynamic structure of neurosis and it is caused by social cultural contradictions and the disorder of social interaction at the root.In The Grass Is Singing,the disharmonious individual growing environments and particular cultural environments give rise to Mary’s basic conflict,and the basic anxiety caused by the conflict is the origin of Mary’s neurosis.Mary can not get her wanted concern and warmth from her unfortunate childhood and miserable marriage life.The rooted patriarchal ideology restricts her self-development,while the conflicts among the whites make her struggle on the verge of contempt and poverty.Meanwhile,the strict racial segregation is the shackle chained on her body,which makes her get into thedilemma,where she has severe inner conflicts for she can not make a decision between her love with Moses and the social conventionsThe second chapter aims to analyze the various improper defensive strategies Mary employs to fight against basic anxiety.Horney emphasizes that neurotic people usually take two kinds of strategies to cope with the basic anxiety: the interpersonal defensive strategies and the intrapsychic defensive strategies.There are mainly three kinds of interpersonal strategies for individuals in normal communication: the strategy of compliance,the strategy of aggression and the strategy of detachment.The three kinds of strategies can complement each other and make for a harmonious whole.While Mary employs the interpersonal strategies rigidly,she only moves toward people,moves against people or moves away from people,and represses the other kinds of strategies in interpersonal communication.However,the predominant interpersonal strategy and the repressed less conspicuous interpersonal strategies must lead to the conflicts,which can not make the disease cured.Horney thinks that patients with neurotic trends in some certain period are usually forced to give up previous predominant attitude and go to another extreme,on account of the combined internal and external pressure brought by new life experience.As for Mary,marriage brings her a big change in attitude.She changes her predominant attitude of compliance to aggression and then detachment.In the meantime,Mary employs the intrapsychic defensive strategies.She begins to mould the idealized self-image.However,there is a huge difference between the actual self and the idealized self.Mary begins to have the feeling of self-hate.Finally,she is far away from the real self.The third chapter analyzes the consequences of Mary’s neurosis.Horney concludes that the failure of defensive strategies often brings a series of disastrous consequences to the neurotic patients: fears,sadistic trends,hopelessness and so on.Tortured by repeated failures of self-redemption,Mary feels fearful to lose the illusion of peace life,for which she exerts all her energies.Moreover,Moses’ leaving makes her full of hopelessness towards life,and then she goes to self-destruction.The third part is a conclusion of the paper.Horney emphasizes the influence of environment and cultural factors on individual’s psychological development.Horney puts forward thatself-analysis is a good way to deal with neurosis for neurotic patients.Through the analysis of the protagonist Mary’s psychological changes and development in The Grass Is Singing,modern people can have a better understanding of conflicts and predicaments in their inner world.In the meantime,considering the growing environment,cultural background and individual psychology,the paper attempts to enlighten modern people to get out of their spiritual dilemma.