The Construction of Orientalism in Doris Lessing’s the Grass Is Singing

Abstract

This thesis, studies Orientalism constructed in the novel The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing. Doris Lessing is a British writer born in Persia who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007. As a white writer, Lessing is known as a writer who fights for the black community. Still, in this novel, she sharpens the negative image of blacks as described in the theory of Orientalism. Orientalism focuses on how West’s view of the East. Orientalism was carried out by The West against The East, represented by Mary Turner as white people and Moses as black. This study aims to dismantle the Orientalist discourse in the novel. The study applied the theory of Orientalism by Edward Said (1979). The discourse of Orientalism in The Grass is Singing is constructed in the form of stereotypes and oppression against black people in Southern Rhodesia. Racism, colonialism, and the politic of Apartheid done by white people in the novel showcase the white superiority toward the inferior black.