Children of Violence (1) : Martha Quest-Martha's Rebellion

This study deals with Doris Lessing's Martha Quest (1952), the founding novel of the Children of Violence series. Lessing stated that the theme of the series was "a study of the individual conscience in its relations with the collective." When she completed the series in 1969, 17 years later since the first volume was published, she again suggested that "this book [be] what the Germans call a Bildungsroman." The protagonist of this Bildungsroman, Martha Quest, has extremely romantic traits. In this study I attempt to trace Martha's romantic rebellion against her mother and against the colonial society of South Africa and furthermore, to seek whether it leads her to the selfrealization or not.