Abstract Doris Lessing is the greatest female writer after Virginia Woolf in England. The Memoirs of A Survivor is her later representative. It’s a fantasy fiction written in a realistic way. This paper is combined with Cheng Mingdao’s theory of human nature and social development to unscramble the work, trying to search the human nature, society and their relationships in The Memoirs of A Survivor. So far for no one has studied The Memoirs of A Survivor from the human nature and society perspectives, the thesis opens a new world for the research of the novel. Furthermore, people can be inspired by the thesis that the goodness of human nature promotes social development while evil human nature hinders social development. Meanwhile, it also warns people who exist in the era with fast development should ponder their characters.62105

Key words: The Memoirs of A Survivor; Doris Lessing; human nature; society           

摘要多丽丝·莱辛被誉为弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫后最伟大的英国女作家。《幸存者回忆录》是她的后期代表作，是现实主义的幻想小说。本文意在结合程明道的人性与社会发展理论，对这部小说进行解读，探索多丽丝莱辛《幸存者回忆录》中的人性、社会以及他们的关系。到目前为止，尚无作者从人性与社会的角度研究《幸存者回忆录》，因而本文研究拓展了《幸存者回忆录》这部作品的研究维度。另外，本文给人们深刻的启示，即善良的人性促进社会发展，而邪恶的人性阻碍社会发展，并警示人们：在社会快速发展的年代，要对自己的品性进行深入的思考。

毕业论文关键词：《幸存者回忆录》；多丽丝·莱辛；人性；社会

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Doris Lessing and Her Works 1

1.2 Cheng Mingdao’s Theory of Human Nature and Social Development 2

2. Literature Review 2

3. Human Nature and Society in The Memoirs of A Survivor 4

3.1 The Exploration of Human Nature: Emily, Hugo and Gerald 4

3.2 The Specific Performance of Social Phenomenon 6

3.3 The Relationships between Human Nature and Society 8

4. Conclusion 9

Works Cited 10

1. Introduction 

1.1 Doris Lessing and Her Works

Doris Lessing is known as the most excellent writer after Virginia Woolf. She got the Nobel Prize for literature in 2007 when she was almost ninety years old. She is also considered as an epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a pided civilization to scrutiny. She spends all her life thinking about social problems such as racial conflicts, the relationship between the sexes, the war, and etc. All these problems are mentioned in her works. She tries to wake up people’s reflections on social, human civilization and human nature.

The Memoirs of A Survivor is one of Doris Lessing’s best novels in 1970s and it’s a fantasy fiction written in a realistic way. It tells a story about a disaster which from all people can not escape. A survived woman “I” witnessed the reactions of all the people after the paralysis of the city system. They migrate, help each other and kill. At the same time, it describes the process of how a girl named Emily who lives with “me” to be survived for light through hardships. In this work，“I” shuttle between the real world and the imagined one behind the wall. By describing the scenes of the two different worlds, The Memoirs of A Survivor showed people what crisis people would be faced with in the future in the way of fantasy and she predicted what the future world would be like.