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The Grass Is Singing : Key info

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The Grass Is Singing is a notable literary work by Doris Lessing. A complete discussion of this literary work is given, which will help you enhance your literary skills and prepare for the exam. Read the Main texts, Key info, Summary, Themes, Characters, Literary devices, Quotations, Notes, and various study materials of The Grass Is Singing.

Key info

Key Facts

  • Full Title: The Grass is Singing
  • Original Title: The Grass is Singing
  • Author: Doris May Lessing (1919–2013)
  • Title of the Author: Voice of Feminism and Colonial Critique
  • Prize: Nobel Prize in Literature (2007)
  • Source: Influenced by her African childhood in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), colonial society, racial tension, and gender struggles
  • Written Time: 1949
  • First Published: 1950 (by Michael Joseph, London)
  • Publisher: Michael Joseph (UK); Harper & Brothers (US)
  • Genre: Psychological Novel / Postcolonial Novel / Tragedy
  • Form: Prose novel (single continuous narrative, divided into chapters)
  • Structure: Linear narrative with foreshadowing, psychological depth, and social critique
  • Tone: Tragic, ironic, critical, and analytical
  • Point of View: Third-person omniscient narrator
  • Significance: A landmark in postcolonial literature. It exposes racial conflict, gender inequality, psychological breakdown, and the failure of colonial ideology in Southern Africa
  • Language: English
  • Famous Line: “Mary Turner, wife of Richard Turner……..was found murdered on the front veranda.”
  • Setting:
  • Time Setting: Mid-20th century (colonial Rhodesia, before independence)
  • Place Setting: Southern Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe) — mostly on an isolated farm in the African veld

Key Notes

  • Colonial Conflict – Race and Power: The novel highlights the inequality and exploitation between white European settlers and black African laborers. It reveals the underlying fear, mistrust, and power relations within the colonial social system.
  • Psychological Breakdown – Mary Turner: The heroine, Mary Turner, begins as an independent-minded woman, but after marriage, she breaks down under the suffocating farm life. Loneliness, frustration, and neglect lead to her psychological decline, which ultimately drives her toward a tragic end.

Background- English: Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing was published in 1950, in the post–Second World War era. At that time, both Africa and Europe were undergoing major political and social changes. The novel is set in Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe), where Lessing spent much of her childhood and youth. In the colonial society, there was a strong presence of inequality, fear, and distrust between the white settlers and the black African people. During this period, poverty and deprivation were daily realities in the lives of black Africans, while the lifestyle of Europeans was marked by authority and the arrogance of power. The position of women was also limited, especially in rural farm life. 

Lessing herself witnessed the hypocrisy and inequality of this social system, which is deeply reflected in her writing. The downfall of the novel’s heroine, Mary Turner, is in fact a symbol that exposes the unrest, repression, and moral decay hidden within colonial white society. Therefore, The Grass is Singing is not only a personal tragedy but also a vivid reflection of the colonial African reality of a particular time.