Transformation of Private Space into Social Space in Doris Lessing’s “Getting off the Altitude"

Abstract

Doris Lessing’s two collections of African Stories – This Was the Old Chief’s Country (1952) and The Sun Between Their Feet (1973) – exemplify the theme of colonialism displaying the hegemony of the whites over the blacks. The stories in the former collection are mainly about colonial issues, while the ones in the latter cover a variety of subjects such as racial and gender conflicts, power of nature and effects of the Second World War. Since geographical features of Africa have a significant role in shaping social and cultural values, the interconnectedness between space and gender is also a fundemental issue in these stories. “Getting off the Altitude” from her collection, The Sun Between Their Feet, recounts the story of how white settler community in Central Africa deals with the problem of alienation due to physical characteristics of the area. The spatially enclosed structure of the society on one hand, preserves the social norms and values but at the same time leads to non-conformist relationships between the genders. The impact of the altitude in the district is also observed in the way the society is structured and gender relations are performed. With respect to this, the story shows not only how space is perceived as a physical reality where everyday life takes place but also how it is conceived as a space of thoughts which defines relations and confines people into certain places. What differentiates “Getting off the Altitude” from the other stories in the collection is related to the multiplicity of male and female characters and their lived experiences, which pave the way for new modes of thinking about space. This study, through its portrayal of spatial practices and everyday experiences of various characters, discusses to what extent they are able to appropriate and configure spaces they occupy in different ways and how they transform the private sphere of a house from its restrictive conceptualisation to alternative ones within the framework of Henri Lefebvre’s and Edward Soja’s space theories.