This article examines and interprets Doris Lessing’s first novel, The Grass is Singing (1950), as a personal and social portrait of its female protagonist, Mary Turner, from childhood to death and as a political expose of the futility and frailty of patriarchal and colonial culture. Doris Lessing calls into question the morals of all white people in Rhodesia through her novel. By depicting Mary Turner’s life, the author expresses her displeasure with prejudice, unfairness, and racial inequality in Southern Africa. The tragic narrative of Dick and Mary Shows what happens to the white population and the black Africans. Despite their best efforts, the pair is miserable, frustrated, and disillusioned. A newspaper article titled “Murder Mystery” soon brings to life the story that Mary, the wife of a poor farmer, was found dead in her home by her housekeeper. In this case, the accused, Moses, admitted guilt. This study seeks to clarify how the novel The Grass is Singing reflects Lessing’s understanding of the white colonial experience of Africa as a dark and horrifying examination of a failed marriage, the feverish psychosis of white sexuality, and the terror of black power and energy. This article details how Lessing depicts Mary’s subjectivity as formed and intertwined within the ideological factors based on family and society, which ultimately leads to Mary’s inability to achieve her sense of self and ultimately to her demise. This study also attempts to elucidate how Lessing’s depiction of Mary Turner’s murder sheds light on the complexities of power dynamics, sexuality, and racial tensions in colonial Africa. Since my goal is to uncover the circumstances behind Mary’s death, I will concentrate on investigating the role of social, ethnic, and sexual barriers in shaping Mary Turner’s subjectivity and contributing to her eventual demise.
Keywords: Patriarchal Society, colonial power, failed marriage, psychological breakdown., racial identity
