The Conundrum of dominance; Mary's Psychological Trauma in Doris lessing's The Grass in Singing

Abstract

This dissertation explores the conundrum of dominance as a psychological trauma in Doris Lessing's The Grass Is Singing from a psychological perspective. The novel captures the tormented life of Mary, who is psychologically shattered by childhood experiences because of her cold familial relationship and wounded by traumatic repercussions in her marital days with Dick Turner. Indeed, she loathes the black servants and shows her dominance; however, she collapses herself when she is involved in a sexual relationship with Moses. Against these backdrops, this research focuses on three specific questions. Firstly, what is the purpose of depicting Mary as an ambivalent character, who is distorted by childhood trauma? Secondly, why does Mary oscillate between being dominant and being dominated? Thirdly, how does the novel articulate the ambiguity of dominance through the character’s narratives? To answer these questions, this study embodies Cathy Caruth’s understanding of PTSD and Dominick LaCapra’s notion of ‘absence and loss,’ and argues that rather than being a constant, human quality, dominance is a style that varies depending on a person's psychological state. In other words, dominance may be understood as a manifestation of psychological embodiment that takes many forms. It can present as enslavement, hatred, and disintegration, or it might manifest as ambivalence, contradictions, self-deception, destructiveness, and delusiveness. The research discloses dominance as a repercussion of trauma which can be both productive and destructive. Keywords: Psyche, manifestation, memories, superiority, delusion, recuperation, and repercussion