The Metaphor of the Horse in Doris Lessing’s The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five
The Metaphor of the Horse in Doris Lessing's The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five: An Ecofeminist Question?
Jayne Glover
Abstract
The second novel in Doris Lessing's Canopus in Argos science fiction series, The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five,
is marked out as different from the rest of the series by its
fable-like qualities. The novel appears to narrate a quest for a kind of
balance or harmony between the various Zones. This paper sets out to
analyse the novel in relation to ecofeminist aesthetics, assessing what
it is that Zones Three and Four learn from each other by tracing the
relationship between Yori, a horse, and the queen of Zone Three,
Al.Ith. Their relationship allows for a shift in the
attitudes of both the king of Zone Four and Al.Ith herself, leading to
the resolution of the novel, and the restoration of harmony to the
fictional world Lessing creates. It is this shift that provides the
focus for an assessment of the novel in relation to ecofeminist and
ecocritical theory.
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