8/16/2019 Doris Lessing the Old Chief Mshlanga Essay

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Doris Lessing The Old Chief Mshlanga Essay

Almost every story is a re ection or a past experience of its author s life.Every author often even unconsciously leaves a trace of his o!n psyche inhis or her !or". Moreover it is the purpose of literature to tell a#outlife.According to our assignment my partner and $ !ill try to sho! ho! DorisLessing s life experience in uenced one of her o!n stories The Old ChiefMshlanga !hich !e chose and ho! the chosen story re ects Doris Lessings life in its sym#ols.Doris Lessing though #orn in %ermanshah $ran in &'&'spent her childhood years and her youth living on a farm in (hodesia no!)im#a#!e. *he attended a girl s high school in *alis#ury #ut nevergraduated.Doris Lessing lived in (hodesia from &'+, to &','. $t is already inLondon !here she moved to she started !riting professionally. *he !entthrough many stages in her life- she has #een an active participant in thestruggle for #lac" li#eration a socialist a feminist and even a *u mystic#ut all throughout those stages she !as a !riter./er #oo"s novels andstories are largely concerned !ith people and pro#lems involved in thesocial and political upheavals of t!entieth century Africa. Daughter of a!hite settler Lessing has !ritten that living in Africa is to #e remindedt!enty times a day of in0ustice 12estern Literature &3',4.The story of TheOld Chief Mshlanga is a#out a fourteen5year5old girl !hose name is notmentioned other!ise than her African nic"name 6"osi"aas55 chieftainess .

The adolescent 6"osi"aas !ho is also the narrator tells her story of ho!she gre! a!are of the immense landscape of Africa ho! she met the oldchief Mshlanga !ho intrigued her that she even visited his "raal 1village4ho! her disli"e of locals and her fear of them 1she carried a gun and haddogs to protect her #ecause of that4 gre! into an easy

friendliness for the Africans 12estern Literature &3''4. The story ends in acon ict #et!een the narrator s father and the old chief over t!enty goats.Although the chief s tri#e gets relocated and looses the goats they are theones !ho have the narrator s respect.*ince Lessing s !or" re ects a certainpsychological realism the story of The Old Chief Mshlanga tends to #eauto#iographical. The author thus is little 6"osi"aas. The impressions of

6"osi"aas are really the memories of impressions of Africa of Doris Lessing syouth. As the author said herself 1Africa4 is not a place to visit unless onechooses to #e an exile ever after!ards from ma0estic silence lying 0ust overthe #order memory or thought. Africa gives you the "no!ledge that a man isa small creature among other creatures in a large landscape 12esternLiterature &3',4. 7eing only a small creature 5 it is one of the reali8ation themain character ma"es to!ards the end of the story.The author is a !omanand a feminist. One of the struggles of feminism is to #e a man s e9ual./o!ever the situation is reversed in this story. *ince the main character is agirl she feels superior to every man for the exception of her father and

to!ards the end the old chief. 2e #elieve that is a similarity #et!een DorisLessing and her character.Another similarity #et!een the t!o is loneliness of

8/16/2019 Doris Lessing the Old Chief Mshlanga Essay

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#oth Lessing and the narrator. The narrator spends most of her time!al"ing !ith a gun over her shoulder and her dogs follo!ing her through thevarious grasslands and hills. *he is alone loo"ing for excitement. :ust li"e thenarrator the author is !al"ing through life discovering things also oftenalone.The personal issues of the narrator s life cannot #e distinguished fromthose of Doris Lessing. Lessings psychological realism !or"s perfectly it is astory of a person !ho lived it.