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Doris Lessing

            In Doris Lessing's article "Group Minds," she explains how we tend to think as a group and why thinking as a group could modify the younger generation's capability to think as an individual. Lessing paints a flattering portrait of people living in the West. People living in the West are individuals that make individual choices. They have their own mind and have their own opinions. The idea that the people living in the West make individual choices is not very different from how we see ourselves. Individuals never stop to think about this portrait and consequently live the rest of their lives thinking no different. We are all individuals but we all strive to belong in a group with likeminded people and never recognize the social laws that we require to abide by. We are all free to our own opinions but will never keep that opinion for as long as we are in a group. .
             Many experiments display that this group thinking idea is accurate, however humans do not take this important information into thought and therefore never improve their means of thinking. An individual could be asked an uncomplicated question and identify the right answer and the individual will still give into the group's peer pressure. Lessing describes an experiment that a group of people would be instructed to believe that two wooden boards at slightly different lengths would claim that these boards are exactly the same in length. One or two people wouldn't be instructed and would find out for themselves that the wooden boards aren't the same length. The group would argue with the one or two people that the boards are the exact same length. Even though the one or two people know the right answer they will be easily influenced by the group to believe the wrong answer. .
             When people are faced to give an individual response the majority of people wouldn't do it and end up saying that they would. When an individual is used to abide by the group it's hard to stand up for your individuality and go against what a group thinks.


Essays Related to Doris Lessing

1. Analyse Doris Lessing

... author, his life and background. With the putting aside of the author, emerges a web of multiple interpretations which all form part of one superstructure. For instance, without taking into consideration Doris Lessing, we can give her story a multitude of interpretations. Indeed, the extract can be understood as a depiction of men viewing woman as mere objects for display and possession. Or still, ... chain of recognisable connotations. It is the code which determines themes that the text proposes to analyse. In a general sense, it is that which enables meaning to be constructed. In Dor...

  • Word Count: 2783
  • Approx Pages: 11

2. Through The Tunnel by Doris Lessing

... I recently read was called "Through The Tunnel" written by Doris Lessing. This successful, symbolic and suspenseful tale was written in the late 1950s. The genre of the story is growing up and independence. This is the first of Lessing's work I have read. The story is of an 11 ... it - moving up a step in the staircase of adolescence. I think the most important aspect that contributes to the success of the story is Lessing's interesting style of writing. Her use of descriptive imagery successfully portrays a vivid picture in your mind throughout the story. The well-structured and imagina...

  • Word Count: 878
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Doris Lessing's Life

Doris Lessing, what a great woman! As you know, Doris is still going strong, and she is keeping up with her writing!! In fact, she came out with 3 books last year (2002.) And coming in November this year ( ... 's a book about an unprivileged black girl (Victoria) in London. By chance, she meets the Staveney's, a white middle-class family. Victoria becomes pregnant by one of the Staveney's sons. Doris grew up in Kermanshah, Persia. It was alright, and she had two siblings. Then she moved to Rhodesia. Her mother was very strict and proper so it was a hard life ... but back then, everyone's moth...

  • Word Count: 261
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: High School

4. From Pain To Freedom: The Use Of Setting In Doris Lessing's "To Room 19"

Susan Rawling, the main character in Doris Lessing's short story "To Room 19", fights against her inner emptiness and the roles she is supposed to play as a mother, a wife, and a house manager. This painful battle leads her to an utterly denying attitude towards her "intelligent" marriage and domestic life. In order to express this psychological process, Lessing progressively describes the different views the character ... the safe freedom she utterly needs. At this moment, Susan understands that there is only one way to escape from "playing parts": suicide. All in all, the main character in ...

  • Word Count: 1003
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

5. From Pain to Freedom: The Use of Setting in Doris Lessing's

Susan Rawling, the main character in Doris Lessing's short story "To Room 19", fights against her inner emptiness and the roles she is supposed to play as a mother, a wife, and a house manager. This painful battle leads her to an utterly denying attitude towards her "intelligent" marriage and domestic life. In order to express this psychological process, Lessing progressively describes the different views the character ... the safe freedom she utterly needs. At this moment, Susan understands that there is only one way to escape from "playing parts": suicide. All in all, the main character in ...

  • Word Count: 994
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Explication of Doris Lessing's "A WOMAN ON THE ROOF"

Lessing starts off the story with a description of three men at work on the roof during the week of the hot sun. I believe Lessing wanted to emphasize the characteristics of men of the construction class. These guys were tough, they were constantly exposed to heat, hard headed, domineering and egoistical. The scene is set where there were buildings and roof tops which symbolizes hardness, coldness, both of which reflects the characteristics of men. In the middle portion of the paragraph, Lessing brings us to a part where the men see a woman sun bathing in the nude at another part of the buildi...

  • Word Count: 4111
  • Approx Pages: 16
  • Grade Level: High School

7. The Fifth Child

... Narrator The Fifth Child, written by Doris Lessing explores the idea of perfection if in actuality it is achievable. Throughout this essay, I will prove Lessing's role as hostile narrator. Lessing paints a very negative picture of the Lovatts" from the very beginning of her novel and ... they had been waiting for"(7). Throughout the novel, The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing, Harriet and David discover the dangers of perfection in the face of an imperfect world. In the beginning of the novel Lessing shows Harriet and David successfully constructing the perfect life they both dreamt of ... a...

  • Word Count: 2122
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

8. sunrise

A free essay on A Sunrise on the Veld In "A Sunrise On The Veld" by Doris Lessing, the protagonist gains a greater consciousness through the exposure of a new reality and truth of which he was not previously aware. ... of initiation both characters had was a distressing journey from innocence to knowle A free essay on A Sunrise on the Veld In "A Sunrise On The Veld" by Doris Lessing, the protagonist gains a greater consciousness through the exposure of a new reality and truth of which he was not previously aware. It was impossible for them to ... initiation both characters had was a distres...

  • Word Count: 385
  • Approx Pages: 2

9. Sexuality and Aggression in A Woman on a Roof

Gender equality has been a challenging issue for society for generations. At the time "A Woman on a Roof," was written in 1963, women still held traditional roles in the society. Doris Lessing illustrates woman's vulnerable role in society by adopting the intolerable heat as a trigger for male aggression and presents the conflict of power between man and woman. Throughout the story, the ... tenderness, but instead she rejects and ignores him. Again the weather parallels the male libido, and as his ardor cools, so does the weather, which cools down the next day. Lessing's message is that Tom ...

  • Word Count: 1168
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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