THE DECLINE OF MECHANIZED WESTERN CULTURE IN DORIS LESSING'S MEMOIRS OF A SURVIVOR

Abstract

ABSTRACT Doris Lessing has always used her bad background and reputation in writing her novels, and as a result of the cultural diversity she was exposed to during her life, she was able to use it in her writings, which often talked about problems and events in that period of time. Her novel Memoirs of a Survivor embodies the hunger and inadequacy of language, where Lessing resorts to metaphors to rationally fill this need so that it does not slip into unreality. So she tells about the future history of a city whose streets are terrorized by rats and gangs, as the ruling authority has abandoned its responsibilities. Through her heroine narrator she describes the events and crisis that befell a city that is fading with the passage of time, causing it to lose its identity in a way that provokes terror in a calm manner. Moreover, this study emphasizes the decline of identity and western civilization and the importance of the individual caring out is responsibilities. Thus the study is divided into two chapters. The first chapter presents the socio-historical context and theoretical framework. The second chapter, analyze the decline of the Western culture in the light of Doris Lessing’s ‘Memoirs of a survivor.’