Religious Allusions
- Vote Or Die - the nation could be more concerned with more important issues. All of the political,...
- Lord Of The Rings:A Classic - will allow some to feel connected to Lord of the Rings on a religious level. Along with...
- Fern Hill-Imagery - the existance of a supreme being that the speaker recalls in the poem. He uses religious...
- Nurse Ratched Vs. R.P. Mcmurphy - for his self-interested actions and manipulation. Her criticism of McMurphy bolsters the...
- Letter Bout Gwen Harwoods Poem In The Glass Jar, In The Park ... - fairytale. There is a rhyme scheme used throughout the poem to give it some structure (a, bb, a,...
Submitted by dan9184 on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
- Category: Social Issues
- Words: 1623
- Pages: 7
- Views: 19
- Popularity Rank: 6053
Religious Allusions
In The Fifth Child author Doris Lessing uses the literary device of allusions to depict the characters, settings, scenes, symbols and the novel as a whole on a religious level. As a result, the characters, settings, scenes, symbols and the novel as a whole are portrayed in both the conventional way of a story and in the unorthodox meaning of their religious significance. The main character of Ben, Ben's gang, and the scene of a helpless Ben lying in his mother's arms are just a few examples of characters, settings, and symbols used by Lessing to convey religious connotations. Doris Lessing's The Fifth Child should be construed and analyzed in terms of religious allusions as well as in the conventional tradition.
Author Doris Lessing portrays several of the characters in the novel on a religious level in addition to their literary purpose. Harriet and David Lovatt are a conventional couple in 1960's England. However one oddity is that they are in search of a large and perfect family. This brings about the question, is it an act of hubris to reach happiness? (Knopf 133). This also draws a comparison between David and Harriet to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve also were in search of perfection; more specifically they were looking to be equal to God (Genesis 3 1-24). The comparison between David and Harriet to Adam and Eve is clearly visible especially in their searches for perfection. Another comparison is between Paul and Ben to Cain and Able. Just as Cain killed able (Genesis 4 1-16), Ben "killed" Paul. As Knopf comments:
The Christian connotations of the names of the male children, especially Paul and Luke, are unmistakable and this layer of meaning is reinforced by the way the entire family regularly assembles from far and wide to celebrate the great festivals of the religious year (133).
There is also a comparison to be made between Ben's gang and the disciples of Jesus. Ben's gang follows Ben as their leader/messiah (Lessing 123) just as the...
You must Login to view the entire paper.
If you are not a member yet, Sign Up for free!
