And we do not know if they are tears of joy or sadness or some other feelings.This chapter takes as its starting point World War One, its traumatic effect on Lessing’s parents, and the ongoing effect of their traumas on Lessing herself and goes on to explore how these issues are channeled into literary form in The Wind Blows Away our Words (1987), Mara and Dann (1999), The Story of General Dann and Mara’s Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog (2005) and Alfred and Emily (2008). But we do not know if they are for him, for Steven, for herself or for some other cause. The ending of the story is ambiguous (it has more than one possible meaning): Alice has tears on her face, as she stares at her grandfather. But when Steven, the boyfriend, makes him a present of a new pigeon, he is more able to accept what is going to happen, and he lets his favourite go. (He disapproves of Steven's appearance and his father's job.) The old man argues with Alice about her behaviour, and complains to his daughter, Alice's mother (Lucy).Īt the beginning of the story the old man shuts up his favourite pigeon, rather than let it fly.
He has seen his other granddaughters leave home, marry and grow up, and he is both possessive of Alice and jealous of Steven, her boyfriend. She later left her family, married again and had a third child.Īfter World War Two, she left her second husband, moved to London with her third child, and became a full-time writer.Īn old man (unnamed) who keeps pigeons, worries about his granddaughter, Alice. She married when she was 19 and had two children. She left home when she was just 15 and worked as a nursemaid, in addition to writing stories for magazines in South Africa. Although she did not go back, Lessing continued to read widely. The nuns at her convent school terrified her, and she dropped out school entirely when she was 13.
Her mother was very strict and her father very bitter - his farm was not a success and he had been badly injured in World War One. When she was five years old, she moved with her British parents to what is now Zimbabwe.She was brought up in the African countryside and had a generally unhappy childhood. These activities can be addressed to 3rd or 4th year Secondary Education students, depending on their English level.ĭoris Lessing was born in 1919 in Iran. This is the first short story I have chosen to work with.
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