![]() ![]() Admittedly, the world has come a long way since this book was published, but racism – like homophobia – is still entrenched in certain social classes and pockets of society. I think it would make an excellent book for either GSCE or A Level studies and would provide an excellent opportunity to discuss the folly and destructive roots of racism. He said to the best of his knowledge, it has only been on university reading lists but never in secondary schools. I enquired of a fellow writer, who is also a teacher, if this novel has ever been on the school curriculum. I’m not spoiling the plot when I tell you that Moses murders Mary in the end because this is divulged in the opening pages of the book, but I will let you read it yourself to discover the circumstances leading up to her death.ĭoris Lessing was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007. He helped her to dress, which showed a degree of intimacy unheard of in African culture between a married white woman and a black male servant. Personally, I doubt their relationship was physical because of Mary’s frigidness and loathing of sex, although Moses was allowed in Mary’s bedroom. But over time they became ‘intimate’ – to what degree is left to the reader’s imagination. Mary heavily resented him for his good looks and his capability and the fact that he stirred up feelings in her that she was unable and unwilling to confront. He was tall and handsome and very good at his job. Then Moses came along, the new house boy. Indeed, she went out of her way to be as nasty as possible to the servants, which resulted in many staff changes over the years. So she treated them with continuous contempt and distain, as if they were lower than Dick’s two dogs. She hated them with a passion because this was the way she was conditioned to think and behave towards them. In fact, the only thing that Mary despised more than Dick was black people. Mary despised him and loathed how she had to lie beside him in bed every night. She made no effort to befriend the neighbouring farmers’ wives and lived rather idly in a tin shack which had no ceilings (and consequently made the daily heat intolerable).Īlthough Dick grew fond of Mary, his feelings were unreciprocated. Having lived in a town all her life, moving out to the remote countryside was quite a change for Mary. Her mother despised Mary’s father and relied heavily on her daughter for support. Mary’s father had been an alcoholic and as an only child she grew up in a toxic household. Mary hated men, hated sex and couldn’t entertain any form of emotional intimacy. Mary and Dick were both well into their thirties when they married, almost as a last resort. ![]() He even had to sell his car because he no longer could afford to run it. In the eyes of other fellow white farmers, he was a failure – an embarrassment whose foolish, reckless ways let white people down. Every new farming venture he turned his hand to failed. He loved the land and worked continuously from dawn to dusk seven days a week. ![]() In-between this message of racism and racial brutality is a gripping story of two troubled individuals who were destined for disaster from the moment they met.Īs individuals, Mary and Dick Turner were incredibly dysfunctional– but even more so as a couple. The book is incredibly thought-provoking and I would challenge anybody to read it and not feel ashamed of the cruel and barbaric treatment that white people have inflicted on black people throughout history. Published for the first time in 1950, Doris Lessing’s story of racism and white supremacy in Africa (set in Rhodesia – which is now Zimbabwe) reminds us of racism in its purest form and shows us how insulting and devaluing and destructive it was in this era. Giannis, my Greek friend, recommended this book to me and how pleased I am that he did. ![]()
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