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It is a pessimistic fiction essentially and echoes the fatalism of the writer. If the fiction is a mirror, then all that it reflects are always the writer’s soul. The fable is full of realism, mysticism and simniloquy. In The Memoirs of A Survivor, what Doris Lessing really writes about is herself. This is Doris Lessing’s interview in 1985.
In The Memoirs of A Survivor, what the narrator believes that she is seeing behind the wall, that apparent dream world, actually represents her own life, her own children. In the tangible world, Emily whom she sees growing up represents the image of her adolescence. Thus, reality in a dream, marked off by the wall, complement each other to give an all-encompassing vision to the narrator’s past (Li Ying, 2012: 3).
1.2 Cheng Mingdao’s Theory of Human Nature and Social Development
Cheng Mingdao’s theory of human nature points out that there are no “goodness” or “evil” existing in human nature originally but the “seeds” of them. The “goodness” and “evil” of people’s behaviors are the results of their seeds which grow up in the human environment. The “seeds” mean the source of human nature. Consequently, human environment such as the social mainstream values have very important and even decisive influence on the social development. That means human nature and society influence each other. Social development can change people’s human nature and different human natures will lead different social developments. The paper bases on this theory, trying to search the human nature, society and their relationships in The Memoirs of A Survivor. So far for no one has studied The Memoirs of A Survivor from the human nature and society perspectives, the thesis opens a new world for the research of the novel. In addition, the people can be inspired by the thesis that the goodness of human nature can promote social development and evil human nature will hinder social development.源:自*751~·论,文'网·www.751com.cn/
2. Literature Review
The Memoirs of A Survivor is really thoughtful where Doris Lessing points out a lot of social problems, she uses her keen observation and sharp style of writing, showing her worries about the ecological environment, sexual problems and the revival of human civilization. She tries to make readers to rethink the human development.
The ecological crisis is increasingly serious. People have to rethink about the relationships between nature and themselves. Doris Lessing’s worry of ecological environment is all reflected in her woks. Ecological criticism rises abruptly in 1990s. It combines the literature with ecological problems, searches the relationships between human and nature and shows the criticism. Wang Feifei writes this in her works-- Read The Memoirs of A Survivor from the perspective of ecological criticism.
The novel The Memoirs of A Survivor was paid attention to by Doris Lessing. She described how human waste and destruction the nature many times in the book. The description of the migrant population on the sidewalk runs through the whole novel. The behavior habit of the migrant population is a true portrayal of the one of the people who lived in that time (Wang Feifei, 2012: 38).
In this work, Doris Lessing attacks human’s destructions on the nature. By describing the living environment in the abandoned city, The Memoirs of A Survivor points out a way to escape from the disaster. People are warned to protect the environment and the nature. Only the harmony between human and nature can bring out the result of double win-win.文献综述
Doris Lessing always pays close attention to the sexual problems in her works. Of course, The Memoirs of A Survivor is of no exception. Doris Lessing is not a feminist, but she once said that science fictions like The Memoirs of A Survivor provided a multi angle way for readers to understand—liberate the female sex imprisoned in the world of man. In patriarchal culture, women are always in the position of a slave. They always live under the examination and judgment of men. They are defined as “the others” and on the object status. Wang Lijuan pointed out that in The Memoirs of A Survivor, “another reflection of the collapse of western civilization was that human went back to polygamy society” (Wang Lijuan, 2011: 172). This is the feminism that Doris Lessing wanted to show. Zhao Xianfeng says that “if Patriarchal ideology was not abandoned, the equality of men and women can not be realized. Only giving up the doctrine of human centre and Patriarchal ideology can lead to the harmony between man and nature” (Zhao Xianfeng, 2013: 103). In The Memoirs of A Survivor, by describing old woman’ activity and experience in her heart, Doris Lessing tries to find pent-up female self. On the other side, Patriarchal ideology is also a problem. Patriarchal ideology originated from sociology. It means the system of social structure and social practice. It is considered that women are born to be more vulgar than men. They are appendages of men. They can not be treated fairly and do not have equal status. Griselda Pollock says that “Patriarchal ideology is not a static gender-oppression power but a psychology-society relative network” (Pollock, 2000: 10). Zhao Xianfeng points out that “Patriarchal ideology is the reason of the oppression of women. But men also get hurt from it” (Zhao Xianfeng, 2014: 69). Gerald’s experience shows the readers what disaster Patriarchal ideology has brought. Sun Fangli reads The Memoirs of A Survivor in Lacan’s way.