Word: harriet
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Harriet and David exemplify a modern bourgeois ideal--lots of kids, big house, station wagon and such. But the ideal is built on dependency and is oblivious to the world around...
Despite her repulsion, Harriet saves Ben. She, not David, holds fast to her parental bond. But in the process of saving her child, Harriet is punished by a family that feels betrayed, and the domestic sanctuary soon disintegrates...
...focusing on the irresponsibility of the middle class, Lessing is able to comment on the nature of class conflict in Britain. most of the Lovatt children conform to society, but Ben's malevolent presence forces them out of the house to live with relatives. David and Harriet are left with only their youngest children--Ben and the sensitive Paul. Ben becomes a force for revolution within the home, and a window on the discontent around it. His rebellion causes Harriet to neglect Paul, whose quiet grace infuriates Ben. Lessing's parable of class conflict demonstrates that in a society which...
...existence of the underclass and must accept responsibilty for its behavior, whether brutal or apathetic. Savagery, according to Lessing, is a direct result of the selfishness and blindess of middle class existence. By choosing not to involve themselves in the social changes of their era, David and Harriet are guilty of an attempt to ignore the imperative for those changes...
...being punished," Harriet says, "For presuming. For thinking we could be happy, Happy because We decided we would be....And who paid for it? James. And Dorothy... We just wanted to be better than anyone else, that...