Describe the murder of Mary in “The Grass is Singing.”

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Describe the murder of Mary in The Grass is Singing NU Doris Lessing begins The Grass is Singing with Mary Turner s murder It is the key event of the novel Through this death we see race fear and loneliness Mary Moses Dick and Slatter all stand linked in this tragedy The Murder Act Mary Turner is killed on her veranda Moses her black servant strikes her The newspaper report says Mary Turner wife of Richard Turner was found murdered on the front veranda Moses does not run away He comes forward and says Here I am He accepts the arrest calmly This shows both his despair and his strength The Discovery Farm boys find Mary s body They go first to Charlie Slatter He writes a note to Sergeant Denham instead of using the phone This gives him control When the police arrive Dick Turner is mad He wanders

with leaves in his hands Tony Marston is pale and afraid Slatter takes charge He calls it only A bad business The Meaning of the Murder Mary s murder is not only personal It is social She had grown close to Moses in her loneliness She let him help her when she was sick This broke the colour rules The narrator explains White civilization which will never never admit that a white person and most particularly a white woman can have a human relationship whether for good or for evil with a black person Mary s death is the price of a divided society It shows the violence of race fear and rejection Mary Turner s murder by Moses is the climax of the novel It is not just crime It is the symbol of apartheid fear Through this death Lessing exposes the deep sickness of colonial society

The Grass Is Singing

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Describe the murder of Mary in “The Grass is Singing.”

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Doris Lessing

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