Subversion of Gender Roles in Doris Lessing’s The Cleft

Abstract

Doris Lessing’s The Cleft,tries to turn upside down, the notion that maleness is the origin of the human society and female were made out of the body of male to accompany them. Lessing, challenging the history of Christian Mythology, posits her hypothetical idea that, the origin of the human society is not male but female. The novel has raised voices against the otherness and secondary position of female. The novel can be seen as the speculative study on the initiative of women, in the formation of modern society. Though most of the narratives are based on the myths and oral records, it provides an acknowledgement that, the females were first teacher, caretaker and the savoir of male.