A Silent Battle The Communicative Barrier in Doris Lessing’s “A Woman on a Roof” Abstract The paper tries to analyze the main causes of the communicative barrier between men and women from three aspects: the awakening female consciousness, supreme patriarchy and unequal social classes. “A Woman on a Roof” is about reality and fantasy, which describes a story between a woman and three men. Lessing starts off the story with a description of three men at work on the roof under the burning sunshine. The scene is set at a place with buildings and roofs that symbolize hardness and indifference. Through the whole story, the heroine has few words but actually plays the main role and her character actually demonstrates a part of the topic. Lessing takes great considerations of the dilemma of communication between men and women. 46729

Keywords: female consciousness; Doris Lessing; A Woman on a Roof; patriarchy 

沉默的战争分析多丽斯·莱辛《屋顶丽人》中造成男性与女性沟通障碍的主要原因

摘  要本文通过分析多丽斯·莱辛《屋顶丽人》中女性思想、男权主义以及不平等阶级，研究造成男性与女性沟通障碍的主要原因。该短篇小说描述了炎热六月，三位男性工人为谋生计在屋顶工作，与此同时，一位无名的半裸女性在相距二十英寸的屋顶上享受日光浴，记录了在其期间，三位男人与一位女人发生的故事。通过对全文的分析，多莱斯·莱辛对于女性的认识不仅仅只局限于女性意识，更注重两性的交流。

毕业论文关键词：女性意识； 多丽斯·莱辛； 《屋顶丽人》； 男权主义

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Literature Review 1

1.2 Female Consciousness and Women’s literature 2

1.3 The Information about Doris Lessing and Her Works 2

1.4 The Relationship between Doris Lessing and Female Consciousness 2

2. Female Consciousness on “A Woman on a Roof” 4

2.1 The Naked Sunbathing 4

2.2 Indifference towards Men 5

2.3 A Mysterious Image of the Female 5

3. Supreme Patriarchy on “A Woman on a Roof” 7

3.1 Male voice 7

3.2 Male actions 7

4. Unequal Social Classes on “A Woman on a Roof” 9

4.1 The Workers and the Sunbather 9

4.2 Plot Setting 9

5. Conclusion 11

Works Cited 12

1. Introduction

1.1 Literature Review

Doris Lessing was the eleventh woman and the oldest person ever to receive the Nobel Prize in literature. Her works are characterized by various topics, rich contents, unique ways and meaningful themes, which show persity, racial oppression, and foresight for the future of mankind, especially in the discussion on women's issues. She portrays women from all dimensions. “A Woman on a Roof” is also a typical work describing the female images.  

Doris Lessing's short story “A Woman on a Roof” transports us from a less complex time, the early 1960s, when the roles of men and women were clearer, before the Sexual Revolution and Feminism, to a time when “bourgeois” morality and patriarchy ruled. After World War II, British was saddled with heavy debts. The Labor Party came to power, and carried out a series of policies, for example Keynesian economic policies, however the so-called “welfare state” did not change the nature of the state or the economic system. People's living conditions had not been improved. In the meanwhile, there existed many social conflicts. During the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the first-wave of feminism appeared and focused on the promotion of equal contract, marriage, parenting, and property rights for women. Later in 1963, feminist movement came to its second-wave. At this period, feminists viewed women's cultural and political inequalities as a whole and encouraged women to understand aspects of their personal lives. Women at that time were wakened up by the movements and became aware of fighting for rights for themselves. They learned to think in a new way, which fundamentally shook the ingrained patriarchy society at that time. (Wikipedia, “Feminism,” par7) 多丽斯·莱辛《屋顶丽人》中男性与女性沟通障碍原因:http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_48502.html