eyes Lessing writes The old boy kept his eyes on the ground and said Good morning missus This shows how black Africans are forced into silence Mary s Harsh Rule Over Servants Mary cannot understand African workers She is strict and angry When a servant makes mistakes she explodes I told him what to do Why doesn t he do it Later she even says she would like to hurt one Her hatred comes from the racist belief that Africans are lazy or dishonest The system trains her to see them only as bodies for work not people The Farm and Exploitation of Labour The farm in The Grass is Singing runs on cheap black labour Dick Turner cannot run his land without African workers But they are not free They are treated like property They are caught and forced to work If they resist they are punished Mary is very harsh with them When the boys come late she says I will take two and six off the ticket of every one of them that isn t at work in ten minutes This shows how workers are treated like slaves Their wages are controlled by fear Mary watches them like enemies Africans are not treated as people but as tools The farm becomes a symbol of colonial exploitation and injustice Racism Creates Fear and Violence The whites live in constant fear of natives Mary thinks them as filthy and savage Dick warns Mary not to be too cruel to them but she cannot stop Her cruelty builds silent hatred In the end Moses her servant kills her The system that separates white and black creates this tragedy Even police officers show open racism We don t like niggers murdering white women This direct line shows how the white community values white life above all else Colonialism Destroys All Lives Colonialism harms not only Africans but also whites like Mary and Dick Dick becomes poor and broken Mary becomes lonely and cruel Africans remain voiceless and angry The land itself seems to resist Mary feels The bush was conquering the farm Here nature is shown as stronger than human power The colonial dream fails The farm collapses The marriage collapses Life collapses Racism brings death to all The Grass is Singing is a novel of colonial Africa Lessing shows how racism poisons relationships Whites like Mary and Dick cannot survive Blacks like Moses and Samson live under disgrace and silence The system of control breaks on both sides The title itself about grass singing is a voice of despair It reminds us that colonialism always ends in destruction