THE UNRULY BODY AND THE REGULATORY MECHANISMS IN DORIS LESSING’S THE FIFTH CHILD AND BEN, IN THE WORLD

Abstract

Doris Lessing’s The Fifth Child (1988) and Ben, in the World (2000) narrate the tragic story of Ben Lovatt who is identified as the anomalous fifth child in the Lovatt family. Set in London in the 1960s, with its focalisation on Ben’s early childhood, from his mother’s pregnancy to his confinement into his cot after his birth, The Fifth Child navigates through the ideological construction of Ben’s self through power and isolation. Ben, in the World, on the other hand, maintains Ben’s story from his eighteenth year and presents his strife for survival in a social world in which he is forced to be a member of society with his social self and social body. While both works can be regarded as the adventures of Ben, who is isolated and alienated from his family and society, they also draw social environs in which Ben’s body is constructed via the discursive mechanisms of otherness and wildness. Ben’s othered self and body are foregrounded by abnormal corporeal relations and unhuman depictions throughout Lessing’s fiction. In this sense, this study focuses on the trajectories of Ben’s body in these narratives to discuss Ben’s unruly body which is forced to be regulated by the familial, social and institutional mechanisms of power.

Keywords

• Doris Lessing
• The Fifth Child
• Ben, in the World
• Body
• Regulation
• Regulatory Mechanisms
• Family
• Society

DORIS LESSING’İN THE FIFTH CHILD VE BEN, IN THE WORLD ADLI ESERLERİNDE İTAATSİZ BEDEN VE DÜZEN MEKANİZMALARI

Abstract

Doris Lessing tarafından kaleme alınan The Fifth Child (1988) ve Ben, in the World (2000), Lovatt ailesi içerisinde aykırı beşinci evlat olarak tanımlanan Ben Lovatt’ın trajik hikâyesini anlatır. Ben’in annesi olan Harriet’in gebeliğinden başlayarak doğumundan sonra Ben’in kendi odasına kapatılmasına odaklanan ve 1960lar Londra’sında geçen The Fifth Child, Ben’in benliğinin güç ve tecrit aracılığıyla ideolojik olarak inşası etrafında seyreder. Nitekim Ben, in the World, öyküyü ana karakterin on sekizinci yaşından devam ettirir ve yaşadığı toplumun bir üyesi olmaya zorlanan sosyal bir dünyada, Ben’in sosyal bir ben ve sosyal bir beden olarak hayatta kalma mücadelesini yansıtır. Bu iki eser, kendi ailesinden ve yaşadığı toplumdan dışlanan ve ailesine ve topluma karşı yabancılaştırılan Ben’in maceraları olarak telakki edilse de bu anlatılar aynı zamanda Ben’in bedeninin ötekilik ve yabanıllığa dair söylemsel mekanizmalar vasıtasıyla inşa edildiği sosyal çevreleri de gösterir. Ben’in ötekileştirilen kimliği ve bedeni, Lessing’in bu eserleri içerisinde norm dışı bedensel ilişkiler ve insan dışı betimlemeler tarafından öne çıkarılır. Bu bağlamda, bu çalışma, ailesel, sosyal ve kurumsal güç mekanizmalarıyla düzenlenmeye zorlanan Ben’in itaatsiz bedenini tartışmak amacıyla iki anlatıdaki Ben’in bedensel gezingelerine odaklanmaktadır.

Keywords

• Doris Lessing
• The Fifth Child
• Ben, in the World
• Beden
• Regülasyon
• Düzen Mekanizmaları
• Aile
• Toplum

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