Essay --

The literary movement during the 1980s in Britain was heavily influenced by the state of Britains economy at the time. The people of Britain had become arouse with politics due to the election of Margaret Thatcher, the first and only woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to have held office. She was known as the Iron gentlewoman and the leader of the Conservative Party. Her influence on the British government with her use of Thatcherism did not leave behind a dependable legacy in the literary productions department. In a New York Times newspaper article, it is stated that, The Thatcher years were a time of remarkable ethnical ferment, in which the energies of an extraordinarily diverse axial motion of musicians, novelists, playwrights, critics and filmmakers to say nothing of television comedians and puppeteers were unleashed in opposition, glum and passionate, explicit and overt, to the prime minister herself,(nytimes.com). Many literary figures have written novels in re sponse to the events of the societys cultural downfall in the 1980s. In Doris Lessings, The estimable Terrorist, which is set in the time period of Thatcherism, she portrays her characters thoughts on bourgeois liberalism as contradictions to their personalities. The main character, Alice Mellings, assumes that she is committing these acts of terrorism for a good reason. Alice and her band of revolutionary rejects are the manifestations of Doris Lessings various frustrations against political advancements with feminism, communism, and Thatcherism. The political views and opinions that Doris Lessings character accumulate in The Good Terrorist are most likely fueled by Lessings real life experiences with communist parties and her unsatisfying life in the suburbs in Rho... ...ain. During the time of the 1980s in Britain, feminism, communism, and Thatcherism were big parts of the time period. These political advancements caused many literary responses to the downfall of the governmen t that Margaret Thatcher ruled at the time. Lessing was a feminist but was not a feminist at the same time. In an article on dnaindia.com, it is stated that, Lessing was able to do a great deal for women without subscribing to feminism she did it with her life, and with (not just within) her writing,(dnaindia). Unfortunately, not a lot of research has been done on The Good Terrorist, and it being a good fictional reference into the life of a group of squatters in 1980s Britain, Doris Lessing writes from her perspective on feminist criticism and explores her ideas, hoping to expand make headway into more of Lessings works and explore the meanings behind them.