Themes

Lessing's political knowledge appears throughout The Grass Is Singing, but most clearly in how she develops characters who represent various roles of farming in third world countries during the early twentieth century. Although Charlie Slatter is the successful farmer who takes over the land by the end of the story, sympathy is not directed toward him. Dick Turner appears as the tragic character who gains readers' sympathy because not only does he want to own the land but also because he defines his own self-worth by it. Both of these men, as are all white farmers of that time in that location, however, are hampered by their oppressive use of natives for labor.

Even though Dick Turner treats the natives more humanely than most, the injustices are enhanced by his wife's treatment of the natives. Oblivious to the ways of the farm and working with natives, Mary Turner...