The Grass Is Singing

Novel | Doris Lessing
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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: 2016, 18, 19, 21] ★★★

Doris Lessing (1919–2013) begins “The Grass is Singing” (1950) 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 arriv

e, 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.

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Doris Lessing
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from The Grass Is Singing