Justify the title of the novel The Grass is Singing

Answer

 Comment on the significance of the title, “The Grass is Singing.” [NU: 2017]

The meaning of the title “The Grass is Singing” is a sad song of nature that shows death, silence, and human suffering.  It comes from T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”. Doris Lessing (1919–2013), in her first novel “The Grass is Singing” (1950), gives a touching picture of colonial life in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). She shows the tragedy of Mary Turner. She uses the title to express Mary’s fate, the cruelty of nature, and the tension of race.

The Title Shows Mary’s Conflict with Nature: Mary comes from the town. She loves clubs, parties, and friends. Then she marries Dick Turner. On Dick Turner’s farm, she feels trapped. The veld frightens her. The silence makes her restless. Lessing says, 

“The bush was conquering the farm.” 

Dick loves the soil, but he is weak. Mary hates the farm. She hears the veld as hostile. The grass “sings,” but for her it is not music. It is a warning.

The Title Echoes Death and Mary’s Murder: From the first page, death is present. Mary’s life ends tragically when Moses, the servant, kills her. The land and the grass seem to know that this will happen. The story even starts with, 

“Mary Turner, wife of Richard Turner……..was found murdered on the front veranda”.

This tells us that death is a big part of the story. Sergeant Denham sees Mary’s stiff body. Moses, her servant, has killed her. Tony watches the scene. The cicadas scream in the background. Lessing writes, 

“A steady, insistent screaming from every bush and tree.” 

Nature becomes a funeral chorus. The grass sings of death. The sound is not peaceful. It is terror. It is the voice of doom.

The Title Mirrors Social Silence and Race Tension: The grass sings, but no one listens. This is like the silence between races. Moses works quietly. He suffers insults. Mary