A WOMAN ON A ROOF
awomanonaroof作品简介
Marxist criticism
A Woman on a Roof is not just about the
conflict between both genders, but the war of class differences concerned we can learn from it. The heroine sunbathing and the heroes of three work men in different ages share the same hot sun but live the totally distinguished life. And the people in lower status also show their desires in spite of the prejudice from the upper class.
A minห้องสมุดไป่ตู้malist plot
“It was during the week of hot sun, that June,” Lessing begins, and tells a story of three London workmen—Harry, Stanley and Tom—who are replacing gutters on a roof, one with “a fine view across several acres of roof.” When they spot an attractive woman sun-bathing who “wore a red scarf tied around her breasts and brief red bikini pants,” they are annoyed and yet excited. Stanley, recently married, and Tom, seventeen, keep walking over to stare at her, to the dismay of Harry, who is older and responsible for the crew completing the gutter job.
A_Woman_on_a_Roof
By Doris Lessing (1919--) (1919--)
June 8, 2010
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An Overview
The dialectic structure of nearly all of Lessing’s British stories, where each protagonist comes into conflict with a self-defining force. The collective forces in Lessing's British stories fall into five categories: sexuality, role crisis, politics, history, and social ills. In "A Woman on a Roof," both sexuality and role crisis are central motifs.
2
While repairing a roof during a scorching heat wave, three workmen spot an attractive woman sunbathing on a neighboring roof: Tom is 17 years old, shy, and impressionable; Stanley has recently married and is both shocked and attracted by the woman's nakedness; Harry, who is married and has a son about Tom's age, is 45 years old, tolerant and practical-minded. practical3
A woman on a roof英语原文
A woman on a roofIt was during the week of hot sun，that June. Three men were at work on the roof，where the leads got so hot they had the idea of throwing water on to cool them. But the water steamed，then sizzled；and they make jokes about getting an egg from some woman in the flats under the flats under them，to poach it for their dinner. By two it was not possible to touch the guttering they were replacing，and they speculated about what workmen did in regularly hot countries. Perhaps they should borrow kitchen gloves with the egg? They were all a bit dizzy，not used to the heat；and they shed their coats and stood side by side squeezing themselves into a foot wide patch of shade against a chimney，careful to keep their feet in the thick socks and boots out of the sun. There was a fine view across several acres of roofs. Not far off a man sat in a deck chair reading the newspapers. Then they saw her，between chimneys，about fifty yards away. She lay face down on a brown blanket. They could see the top part of her：black hair，a flushed solid back，arms spread out. “She’s stark naked，” said Stanley，sounding annoyed.Harry，the oldest，a man of about forty-five，said：“Looks like it.”Young Tom，seventeen，said nothing，but he was excited and grinning. Stanley said：“Someone’ll report her if she doesn’t watch out.” “She thinks no one can see，” said Tom，craning his head all ways to see more.At this point the woman，still lying prone，brought her two hands up behind her shoulders with the ends of a scarf in them，tied it behind her back，and sat up. She wore a red scarf tied around her breasts and brief red bikini pants. This being the first day of the sun she was white，flushing red. She sat smoking，and did not look up when Stanley let out a wolf whistle . Harry said：“Small th ings amuse small minds，” leading the way back to their part of the roof，but it was scorching . Harry said：“Wait，I’m going to rig up some shade，” and disappeared down the skylight into the building. Now that he’d gone，Stanley and Tom went to the farthest point they could to peer at the woman. She had moved，and all they could see were two pink legs stretched on the blanket. They whistled and shouted but the legs did not move. Harry came back with a blanket and shouted：“Come on，then.” He sounded irritated with them. They clambered back to him and he said to Stanley：“What about your missus?” Stanley was newly married，about three months. Stanley said，jeering：“What about my missus?” -- preserving his independence. Tom said nothing，but his mind was full of the nearly naked woman. Harry slung the blanket，which he had borrowed from a friendly woman downstairs，from the stem of a television aerial to a row of chimney-pots. This shade fell across the piece of gutter they had to replace. But the shade kept moving，they had to adjust the blanket，and not much progress was made. At last some of the heat left the roof，and they worked fast，making upfor lost time. First Stanley，then Tom，made a trip to the end of the roof to see the woman. “She’s on her back，” Stanley said，adding a jest which made Tom snicker，and the older man smile tolerantly. Tom’s report was that she hadn’t moved，but it was a lie. He wanted to keep what he had seen to himself：he had caught her in the act of rolling down the little red pants over her hips，till they were no more than a small triangle. She was on her back，fully visible，glistening with oil.Next morning，as soon as they came up，they went to look. She was already there，face down，arms spread out，naked except for the little red pants. She had turned brown in the night. Yesterday she was a scarlet-and-white woman，today she was a brown woman. Stanley let out a whistle. She lifted her head，startled，as if she’d been asleep，and looked straight over at them. The sun was in her eyes，she blinked and stared，then she dropped her head again. At this gesture of indifference，they all three，Stanley，Tom and old Harry，let out whistles and yells. Harry was doing it in parody of the younger men，making fun of them，but he was also angry. They were all angry because of her utter indifference to the three men watching her. “Bitch，” said Stanley.“She should ask us over，” said Tom，snickering.Harry recovered himself and reminded Stanley：“If she’s married，her old man wouldn’t like that.”“Christ，” said Stanley virtuously，“if my wife lay about like that，for everyone to see，I’d soon stop her.”Harry said，smiling：“How do you know，perhaps she’s sunning herself at this very moment?”“Not a chance，not on our roof.” The safety of his wife put Stanley into a good humor，and they went to work. But today it was hotter than yesterday；and several times one or the other suggested they should tell Matthew，the foreman， and ask to leave the roof until the heat wave was over. But they didn’t. There was work to be done in the basement of t he big block of flats，but up here they felt free，on a different level from ordinary humanity shut in the streets or the buildings. A lot more people came out on to the roofs that day，for an hour at midday. Some married couples sat side by side in deck chairs，the women’s legs stockingless and scarlet，the men in vests with reddening shoulders.The woman stayed on her blanket，turning herself over and over. She ignored them，no matter what they did. When Harry went off to fetch more screws，Stanley said：“Come on.” Her roof belonged to a different system of roofs，separated from theirs at one point by about twenty feet. It meant a scrambling climb from one level to another，edging along parapet s，clinging to chimneys，while their big boots slipped and hered slithered，but at last they stood on a small square projecting roof looking straight down at her，close. She sat smoking，reading a book. Tom thought she looked like a poster，or a magazine cover，with the blue sky behind her and herlegs stretched out. Behind her a great crane at work on a new building in Oxford Street swung its black arm across roofs in a great arc. Tom imagined himself at work on the crane，adjusting the arm to swing over and pick her up and swing her back across the sky to drop her near him. They whistled. She looked up at them，cool and remote，then went on reading. Again，they were furious. Or，rather，Stanley was. His sun-heated face was screwed into a rage as he whistled again and again，trying to make her look up. Young Tom stopped whistling. He stood beside Stanley，excited，grinning；but he felt as if he were saying to the woman：Don’t associate me with him，for his grin was apologetic. Last night he had thought of the unknown woman before he slept，and she had been tender with him. This tenderness he was remembering as he shifted his feet by the jeering，whistling Stanley，and watched the indifferent，healthy brown woman a few feet off，with the gap that plunged to the street between them. Tom thought it was romantic，it was like being high on two hilltops. But there was a shout from Harry，and they clambered back. Stanley’s face was hard，really angry. The boy kept looking at him and wondered why he hated the woman so much，for by now he loved her.They played their little games with the blanket，trying to trap shade to work under；but again it was not until nearly four that they could work seriously，and they were exhausted，all three of them. They were grumbling about the weather by now. Stanley was in a thoroughly bad humor. When they made their routine trip to see the woman before they packed up for the day，she was apparently asleep，face down，her back all naked save for the scarlet triangle on her buttocks. “I’ve got a good mind to report her to the police，” said Stanley，and Harry said：“What’s eating you? What harm’s she doing?” “I tell you，if she was my wife!”“But she isn’t，is she?” Tom knew that Harry，like himself，was uneasy at Stanley’s reaction. He was normally a sharp young man，quick at his work，making a lot of jokes，good company.“Perhaps it will be cool er tomorrow，” said Harry.“But it wasn’t；it was hotter，if anything，and the weather forecast said the good weather would last. As soon as they were on the roof，Harry went over to see if the woman was there，and Tom knew it was to prevent Stanley going，to put off his bad humor. Harry had grownup children，a boy the same age as Tom，and the youth trusted and looked up to him. Harry came back and said：“She’s not there.”“I bet her old man has put his foot down，” said Stanley，and Harry and Tom caught each oth er’s eyes and smiled behind the young married man’s back.Harry suggested they should get permission to work in the basement，and they did，that day. But before packing up Stanley said：“Let’s have a breath of fresh air.” Again Harry and Tom smiled at each ot her as they followed Stanley up to the roof，Tom in the devout conviction that he wasthere to protect the woman from Stanley. It was about five-thirty，and a calm，full sunlight lay over the roofs. The great crane still swung its black arm from Oxford Street to above their heads. She was not there. Then there was a flutter of white from behind a parapet，and she stood up，in a belted，white dressing-gown. She had been there all day，probably，but on a different patch of roof，to hide from them. Stanley did not whistle；he said nothing，but watched the woman bend to collect papers，books，cigarettes，then fold the blanket over her arm. Tom was thinking：If they weren’t here，I’d go over and say ... what? But he knew from his nightly dreams of her that she was kind and friendly. Perhaps she would ask him down to her flat? Perhaps ... He stood watching her disappear down the skylight. As she went，Stanley let out a shrill derisive yell；she started，and it seemed as if she nearly fell. She clutched to save herself，they could hear things falling. She looked straight at them，angry. Harry said，facetiously：“Better be careful on those slippery ladders，love.” Tom knew he said it to save her from Stanley，but she could not know it. She vanished，frowning. Tom was full of a secret delight，because he knew her anger was for the others，not for him.“Roll on some rain，” said Stanley，bitter，looking at the blue evening sky.Next day was cloudless，and they decided to finish the work in the basement. They felt excluded，shut in the grey cement basement fitting pipes，from the holiday atmosphere of London in a heat wave. At lunchtime they came up for some air，but while the married couples，and the men in shirt-sleeves or vests，were there，she was not there，either on her usual patch of roof or where she had been yesterday. They all，even Harry，clambered about，between chimney-pots，over parapets，the hot leads stinging their fingers. There was not a sign of her. They took off their shirts and vests and exposed their chests，feeling their feet sweaty and hot. They did not mention the woman. But Tom felt alone again. Last night she had him into her flat：it was big and had fitted white carpets and a bed with a padded white leather head-board. She wore a black filmy negligee and her kindness to Tom thickened his throat as he remembered it. He felt she had betrayed him by not being there.And again after work they climbed up，but still there was nothing to be seen of her. Stanley kept repeating that if it was as hot as this tomorrow he wasn’t going to work and that’s all there was to it. But they were all there next day. By ten the temperature was in the middle seventies， and it was eighty long before noon. Harry went to the foreman to say it was impossible to work on the leads in that heat；but the foreman said there was nothing else he could put them on，and they’d have to. At midday they stood，silent，watching the skylight on her roof open，and then she slowly emerged in her white gown，holding a bundle of blanket. She looked at them，gravely，then went to the part of the roof where shewas hidden from them. Tom was pleased. He felt she was more his when the other men couldn’t see her. They had taken off their shirts and vests，but now they put them back again，for they felt the sun bruising their flesh. “She must have the hide of a rhino,” said Stanley，tugging at guttering and swearing. They stopped work，and sat in the shade，moving around behind chimney stacks. A woman came to water a yellow window box opposite them. She was middleaged，wearing a flowered summer dress. Stanley said to her：“We need a drink more than them.” She smiled and said：“Better drop down to the pub quick，it’ll be closing in a minute.” They exchanged pleasantries， and she left them with a smile and a wave. “Not like Lady Godiva，” said Stanley. ” She can give us a bit of a chat and a smile.”“You didn’t whistle a t her，” said Tom，reproving.“Listen to him，” said Stanley，“you didn’t whistle，then?”But the boy felt as if he hadn’t whistled，as if only Harry and Stanley had. He was making plans，when it was time to knock off work，to get left behind and somehow make his way over to the woman. The weather report said the hot spell was due to break， so he had to move quickly. But there was no chance of being left. The other two decided to knock off work at four，because they were exhausted. As they went down，Tom quickly climbed a parapet and hoisted himself higher by pulling his weight up a chimney. He caught a glimpse of her lying on her back，her knees up，eyes closed，a brown woman lolling in the sun. He slipped and clattered down，as Stanley looked for information：“She’s gone down，” he said. He felt as if he had protected her from Stanley，and that she must be grateful to him. He could feel the bond between the woman and himself.Next day，they stood around on the landing below the roof，reluctant to climb up into the heat. The woman who had lent Harry the blanket came out and offered them a cup of tea. They accepted gratefully，and sat around Mrs. Pritchett’s kitchen an hour or so，chatting. She was married to an airline pilot. A smart blonde，of about thirty，she had an eye for the handsome sharp-faced Stanley；and the two teased each other while Harry sat in a corner，watching，indulgent，though his expression reminded Stanley that he was married. And young Tom felt envious of Stanley’s ease in badinage； felt，too，that Stanley’s getting off with Mrs. Pritchett left his romance with the woman on the roof safe and intact.“I thought they said the heat wave’d break，” said Stanley，sullen，as the time approached when they really would have to climb up into the sunlight.“You don’t like it，then?” asked Mrs. Pritchett.“All right for some，” said Stanley. “Nothing to do but lie about as if it was a beach up there. Do you ever go up?”“Went up once，” said Mrs. Pritchett. “But it’s a dirty place up there，and it’s too hot.” “Quite ri ght too，” said Stanley.Then they went up，leaving the cool neat little flat and the friendly Mrs. Pritchett.As soon as they were up they saw her. The three men looked at her，resentful at her ease in this punishing sun. Then Harry said，because of the expression on Stanley’s face：“Come on，we’ve got to pretend to work，at least.”They had to wrench another length of guttering that ran beside a parapet out of its bed，so that they could replace it. Stanley took it in his two hands，tugged，swore，stood up. “F uck it，” he said，and sat down under a chimney. He lit a cigarette. “Fuck them，” he said. “What do they think we are，lizards? I’ve got blisters all over my hands.” Then he jumped up and climbed over the roofs and stood with his back to them. He put his fingers either side of his mouth and let out a shrill whistle. Tom and Harry squatted，not looking at each other，watching him. They could just see the woman’s head，the beginnings of her brown shoulders. Stanley whistled again. Then he began stamping with his feet，and whistled and yelled and screamed at the woman，his face getting scarlet. He seemed quite mad，as he stamped and whistled，while the woman did not move，she did not move a muscle.“Barmy，” said Tom.“Yes，” said Harry，disapproving.Suddenly the older man came to a decision. It was，Tom knew，to save some sort of scandal or real trouble over the woman. Harry stood up and began packing tools into a length of oily cloth. “Stanley，” he said，commanding. At first Stanley took no notice，but Harry said：“St anley，we’re packing it in，I’ll tell Matthew.”Stanley came back，cheeks mottled，eyes glaring.“Can’t go on like this，” said Harry. “It’ll break in a day or so. I’m going to tell Matthew we’ve got sunstroke，and if he doesn’t like it，it’s too bad.” Even H arry sounded aggrieved， Tom noted. The small，competent man，the family man with his grey hair，who was never at a loss，sounded really off balance. “Come on，” he said，angry. He fitted himself into the open square in the roof，and went down，watching his feet on the ladder. Then Stanley went，with not a glance at the woman. Then Tom，who，his throat beating with excitement，silently promised her on a backward glance：Wait for me，wait，I’m coming.On the pavement Stanley said：“I’m going home.” He looked white now，so perhaps he really did have sunstroke. Harry went off to find the foreman，who was at work on the plumbing of some flats down the street. Tom slipped back，not into the building they had been working on，but the building on whose roof the woman lay. He went straight up，no one stopping him. The skylight stood open，with an iron ladder leading up. He emerged on to the roof a couple of yards from her. She sat up，pushing back hair with both hands. The scarf across her breasts bound them tight，and brownflesh bulged around it. Her legs were brown and smooth. She stared at him in silence. The boy stood grinning，foolish，claiming the tenderness he expected from her.“What do you want?” she asked.“I ... I came to ... make your acquaintance，” he stammered，grinning，pleading with her.They looked at each other，the slight，scarlet-faced excited boy，and the serious，nearly naked woman. Then，without a word，she lay down on her brown blanket，ignoring him.“You like the sun，do you?” he enquired of her glistening back. Not a word. He felt panic，thinking of how she had held him in her arms，stroked his hair，brought him where he sat，lordly，in her bed，a glass of some exhilarating liquor he had never tasted in life. He felt that if he knelt down，stroked her shoulders，her hair，she would turn and clasp him in her arms.He said：“The sun’s all right for you，isn’t it?”She raised her head，set her chin on two small fists，“Go away，” she said. He did not move. “Listen，” she said，in a slow reasonable voice，where anger was kept in check，though with difficulty；looking at him，her face weary with anger，“if you get a kick out of seeing women in bikinis，why don’t you take a sixpenny bus ride to the Lido? You’d see dozens of them，without all this mountaineering.”She hadn’t understood him. He felt her unfairness pale him. He stammered：“But I like you，I’ve been watching you and ...”“Thanks，” she said，and dropped her face again，turned away from him.She lay there. He stood there. She said nothing. She had simply shut him out. He stood，saying nothing at all，for some minutes. He thought：She’ll have to say something if I stay. But the minutes went past，with no sign of them in her，except in the tension of her back，her thighs，her arms -- the tension of waiting for him to go.He looked up at the sky，where the sun seemed to spin in heat；and over the roofs where he and his mates had been earlier. He could see the heat quivering where they had worked. And they expect us to work in these conditions! he thought，filled with righteous indignation. The woman hadn’t moved. A bit of hot wind blew her black hair softly；it shone，and was iridescent. He remembered how he had stroked it last night. Resentment of her at last moved him off and away down the ladder，through the building，into the street. He got drunk then，in hatred of her.Next day when he woke the sky was grey. He looked at the wet grey and thought，vicious：Well，that’s fixed you，hasn’t it now? That’s fixed you good and proper.The three men were at work early on the cool leads，surrounded by dampdrizzling roofs where no one came to sun themselves，black roofs，slimy with rain. Because it was cool now，they would finish the job that day，if they hurried.。
A Woman on a Roof
A Woman on a RoofDoris Lessing is an English novelist, poet, and playwright, who created more than 30 books and 50 short stories. "A Woman on a Roof" is from A Man and Two Women, Lessing's collection of British stories about modern European life and culture.This story happened in London. While repairing a roof during a scorching heat wave, three workmen noticed an attractive woman sunbathing on a neighboring roof. Tom is a very young and impressionable boy, who is about 17 years old; Stanley has recently married and is also attracted by the woman‟s nakedness; Harry is 45 years old, tolerant and mature. While three workmen work in the leads, they spot a woman sunbathing about fifty yards away. They whistle, stamp and even abuse in an attempt to attract the woman. All three men have distinctly different attitudes towards the situation they have created. Each has experienced rejection from women.First, Tom impresses me a lot. I believe it‟s the progress of maturity. He believes he is the woman‟s hero. Throughout the story he sees himself protecting her from Stanley‟s ridiculing. He feels he is not her harasser and that she must be aware of his love for her. His dreams of her have convinced him that meeting this woman is in his destiny. He doesn‟t interpret her indifference as rejection as Stanley does. He is buried in the fantasy and he‟s longing the love. At the end of the story, the woman‟s behavior makes him suddenly understand the reality. I believe everyone has such similar experience, especially when we are young. We are curious and full of expectation of new things, such as love, just as Tom. He has some illusions and doesn‟t realize the gap of different classes. The woman even has some contempt for them to some extent and she struggles with dumbness. I think when the dream disillusioned, we feel depressed and come back to reality. Someday we will become very numb and be subjected to the destiny. There is no doubt it‟s a kind of maturity. We become more realistic than before. I believe it also destroys the good of naïve.Second, this story also explores the relationship between men and women, just as the title of this story. “The roof” symbolizes some traditional bounds with women. In the story, the woman sunbathes. Three men believe it‟s not acceptable. For example,“Christ,” said Stanley virtuously, “if my wife lay about like that, for everyone to see, I…d stop her.‟‟ On the one hand, they want the woman to display; on the other hand, they also think her behaviors a re dissolute. They wish that women‟s behaviors are in according with their requirements. Another aspect, it‟s about the struggling of women. Women can express their ideas by the voice. Actually, this short story the woman speaks little, which is also a way of struggling. Throughout the story we see how the sunbather begins to gain more and more power by using her nonverbal communication. Clearly, she is a woman who is breaking the barrier of power between men and women. The three workmen men are furious, they yell, scream, whistle and stomp, not because they are upset, but rather, because she refused to give them the power they desperately wanted by acknowledging any of their obnoxious behaviors. She is making a statement for all womankind, no longer will there be a false appearance of the inequalities of power women have in correlation to social roles, relationships and society.。
Comments on A Woman on A Roof
Comments on A Woman on A RoofBy Liu BinbinA Thesis Presented tothe College of Foreign LanguageZhejiang Sci-Tech UniversityA Midterm Paper of History andAnthology of English LiteratureMay 16, 2015Class Conflicts on A Woman on a RoofDoris Lessing is a British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer. Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. A Woman on a Roof is one of her famous short story published in 1963 in London. It told a funny story between a woman sunbathing on a roof in bikini and the three men, Tom, Stanley and Harry, working on the next roof 20 feet away. The men were attracted by the woman. They let out wolf whistles, yelled, stamped, swore to attract the woman’s attention but finally got anger by her gesture of total indifference. Although the story is set in a very simple plot, it includes the concept of a profound meaning.A Woman on a Roof is not just about the conflict between both genders, but the war of class differences concerned we can learn from it. The woman, in this story, who sunbathing on a roof, belongs to the upper class obviously. While the three men, have to work under the hot sun to earn their living. Although they are under the same sun, they have totally different feelings.To the woman, the sun is the comfort of her life. She enjoys the sunbathing because it may bring her the healthy skin color that she willing to own. “She lay face down on a brown blanket. They could see the top part of her: black hair, a flushed solid back, arms spread out.”“This being the first day of the sun she was white, flushing red.” In some westerner’s opinion, they love sunbathing because they regard their white skin color an unhealthy complexion. So they are willing to have sunbathing to make them look healthy. In the circumstance of this story, only the upper class in Britain have that time and leisure mood to enjoy the sun. The description on this story also shows that the woman really enjoy the sunbathing.But when we look back to the description of the three men in the story, we can find the totally different feelings toward them. “They were all a bit dizzy, not used to the heat; and they shed their coats and stood side by side squeezing themselves into a foot-wide patch of shade against a chimney, careful to keep their feet in the thick socks and boots out of the sun.” There is no doubt that the sun is quite cruel to the three working men because they even “squeezing themselves” in order to avoid thehot sun. In this tough environment they have to finish their job to earn their living, which give us a sharp contrast. “Stanley kept repeating that if it was as hot as this tomorrow he wasn’t going to work and that’s all there was to it.” Stanley, one of the three workers, almost can not stand that hot sun that drives he crazy. So we can find that the sun to those working class is a kind of torment. Anyway, it is a bit ironic to the class conflict under the circumstance of Britain at that time because the same sun make quite ridiculous consequences to those people from different levels.At the beginning of the story, there is a sentence “Then they saw her, between chimneys, about fifty yards away.” The distance of “fifty yards” reflects that one class leaves alone another class in life. Although there is only fifty yards away, there are two totally different and unreachable world to the three men. All three men desire to get the woman’s attention as they need a diversion from the relentless heat. But no matter how hard they try including whistling, yelling, waving to the woman on a rooftop nearby, the woman keeps paying no mind to them. In this way, that “fifty yards” seems unreachable. “She sat smoking, and did not look up when Stanley let out a wolf whistle.”“They whistled and shouted but the legs did not move.”“They whistled. She looked up at them, cool and remote, then went on reading.”They become “taunted”by this woman’s indifference towards them. The nonverbal isolation and indignation of the woman against the men’s lewd behavior provoke the three man to hatred her in the end including Tom, who at first feeling good to the woman. “Next day when he woke the sky was grey. He looked at the wet grey and thought, vicious: Well, that’s fixed you, hasn’t it now? That’s fixed you good and proper.” Judging by appearance, it seems that the woman wins between two different classes as the symbol of upper class. Her behavior shows that she is the one who has power over them. She is so powerful that she can ignore or even taunt them. But in fact, her arrogance and ignorance already make the three men angry, which symbolizes the lower class’s strong dissatisfaction to upper class. “In the ending of the short story, the woman’s ignorance and refusal marked the female’s rebellion and resistance and the disapproval about the inequality of male and female.” (Hou Junjuan, 2012, 2) As we all know Doris Lessing is a feminist,so the woman’s behavior alsoreflects Lessing’s feminism and female’s independence.At the end of the story, the scorching weather that last for a week passed away but the genders and class conflict still exist.Work CitedHou Junjuan. Multiple Interpretation of Doris Lessing’s “A Woman on a Roof”, /9/view-3169901.htm, 28 Dec. 2012/link?url=-8R2lPcBw0m2mv5AXl_C4f3LOrF99cgp09v6rH_l 5oy2wFOVtxFGgYcAk_rwCGBZqfPjaMPUcKuSEJ0rTEY3Mpw2HXuMgXKAms KEeQu1NKS, 2 June. 2010Zi Yiling. /s/blog_74d951760100qot3.html,2 May. 2011。
最新a woman on a roof
Tom-Id
say nothing, but he was excited and grinning(露齿笑）
craning his head all ways to see more his mind was full of the nearly naked woman
primal urges for love and sex
a woman on a roof
About the author
• Doris Lessing is a British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer. Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. In doing so the Swedish Academy described her as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny".".“女性经验的史诗作者，
reality
Tom-Id
Stereotypes Young Tom is a innocent daydreamer, but energetic and full of human nature. He hasn't gotten in the ways of the life. Life, for him means curiosity, possibilities, and start. His life experience is spotlessly white. All the behavior are out of the nature of id. So he took chance to express appreciation for the wTohmeaAns. sHuomwpetvioenr,oliffeS,imfoirlahrimty rejection, disillusion and torment（折磨）.Tom awoke from romantic dream and began aware of his poor social condition and felt righteous indignation. Realizing that life for him is not a easy living, he has to face the reality as a low worker.
“A Woman on a Roof”屋顶丽人小论文
“A Woman on a Roof” is not just about the conflict between both genders, but the war of class differences concerned we can learn from it. The heroine sunbathing and the heroes of three work men in different ages share the same hot sun but live the totally distinguished life. And the people in lower status also show their desires in spite of the prejudice from the upper class. My comment is focus on the class differences representing as follows.What are the descriptions of the class differences in the story?One sentence on the beginning of the story: Then they saw her, between chimneys, about fifty yards away. The distance of “fifty yards” reflects that one class leaves alone another class in life. The life the woman spends was in an idle way lying in the sun for a healthy color of skin while the three working men have to replace gutters on a roof in the sun for supporting their lives. So the sun is helpful to the former class, but cruel to the later class.How to represent the collision between the two classes?All three men desire to get the sunbather’s attention as they need a diversion from the relentless heat. But no matter how hard they try including whistling, yelling, waving to the woman on a rooftop nearby, the woman keeps paying no mind to them. “The woman stayed on her blanket, turning herself over and over.”“She ignored them, no matter what they did”They become “taunted” by this woman’s indifference towards them. The nonverbal isolation and indignation of the woman against the men’s lewd behavior provoke the three man to hatred her including Tom in the end. “They were all angry because of her utter indifference to the three men watching her.”The climax of the collision is the woman’s rejection against the Tom’s love for her.Tom, who has been fantasizing about the woman, convinced that he has acted to protect her from Stanley, sneaks over to see her, and is rebuffed. She tells him to go away and “in a low reasonable voice, where anger was kept in check, though with difficulty” she adds “if you ge t a kick out of seeing women in bikinis, why don’t you take a ride a sixpenny ride to the Lido? You’d see dozens of them, without all this mountaineering.”We can learn from the story that one on the superior class is not willing to be observed or disturbed by another. In the condition of the tension between the classes, naturally, the woman indifferently doesn’t respond to the working men.What is the pursuit of the lower class?Every dog has his day. People eager to make their dream come true no matter what kind of class he or she is in. People want to live in confidence and pursuit.Lessing’s introduction of Mrs. Pritchett serves the three men tea and flirts with Stanley. “There is no tension between Mrs. Pritchett and Stanley. This shows Stanley can have his successes with women. Upon returning to the roof the contrast of the attention he had just receivedfrom Mrs. Pritchett and the inattention from the woman on the roof is too much for Stanley to bear. All he can do now, for the sake of his own ego, is condemn her once and for all.However, at the beginning, Tom differs from the Harry and Stanley who are angry with the woman. Yong Tom is extremely fascinated by the sexy woman in bikini and fantasizing about her. Even he convinces that he is this woman’s hero. Throughout the story he sees himself protecting her from Stanley’s domination. He feels he is not her harasser and that she must be aware of his love for her. His dreams of her have convinced him that meeting this woman is in his destiny. He doesn’t interpret her indifference as rejection as Stanley does and has no idea how he will suffer for it later. Far gone into his fantasy, Tom imagines the nearby crane aiding his heroic rescue of her.Doris Lessing’s "A Woman o n a Roof" seems to suggest the class differences in London by telling the story of the sunbathing woman and the three working men. Maybe in many cases, the two classes don’t share the equal status of society. But that can’t halt the aspiration of lower class for a better and more dignified life.Tom believes he is this woman’s hero. Throughout the story he sees himself protecting her from Stanley’s domination (Lessing 858). He feels he is not her harasser and that she must be aware of his love for her. His dreams of her have convinced him that meeting this woman is in his destiny. He doesn’t interpret her indifference as rejection as Stanley does and has no idea how he will suffer for it later. Far gone into his fantasy, Tom imagines the nearby crane aiding his heroic rescue of her.Tom, who has been fantasizing about the woman, convinced that he has acted to protect her from Stanley, sneaks over to see her, and is rebuffed. She tells him to go away and “in a low reasonable voice, where anger was kept in check, though with diff iculty” she adds “if you get a kick out of seeing women in bikinis, why don’t you take a ride a sixpenny ride to the Lido? You’d see dozens of them, without all this mountaineering.”Lessing’s introduction of Mrs. Pritchett into the story serves to exemp lify Stanley’s reason for his confidence with women. Mrs. Pritchett serves the three men tea and flirts with Stanley (Lessing 860). There is no tension between Mrs. Pritchett and Stanley (Atack 206). This shows Stanley can have his successes with women. Upon returning to the roof the contrast of the attention he had just received from Mrs. Pritchett and the inattention from the woman on the roof is too much for Stanley to bear and he announces he 13 going home. All he can do now, for the sake of his own ego, is condemn her once and for all.“A Woman on a Roof” relies on a minimalist plot. “It was during the week of hot sun, that June,” Lessing begins, and tells a story of three London workmen—Harry, Stanley and Tom—who are replacing gutters on a roof, one with “a fine view across several acres of roof.” When they spot an attractive woman sun-bathing who “wore a red scarf tied around her breasts and brief red bikini pants,” they are annoyed and yet excited. Stanley, recently married, and Tom, seventeen, keep walking over to stare at her, to the dismay of Harry, who is older and responsible for the crew completing the gutter job.如何表现阶级差别屋顶上的女人是有闲阶级，烈日炎炎，正好享受阳光，而三个工人却必须冒着高温酷暑干活。
a woman on a roof 作品简介备课讲稿
Feminist Criticism
Doris Lessing’s short story A Woman on a Roof depicts gender crisis in the unequal
power relations between three workmen and a sunbathing woman. The male gaze from three workmen, which objectifies sunbathing woman’s body, denotes patriarchal surveillance of transforming her female body into docile body.
Marxist criticism
A Woman on a Roof is not just about the
conflict between both genders, but the war of class differences concerned we can learn from it. The heroine sunbathing and the heroes of three work men in different ages share the same hot sun but liபைடு நூலகம்e the totally distinguished life. And the people in lower status also show their desires in spite of the prejudice from the upper class.
a woman on a roof 作品简介
A minimalist plot
A Woman on a Roof
The Introduction of Doris Lessing
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Works
Doris Lessing had written 110 works during her whole life including 31 novels, 26 short story collections, 19 non-fictions, 5 autobiographies and memoirs, 2 opera librettos, 13 dramas and films, 3 poetry collections and 12 other works.
Notable Awards
Somerset Maugham Award
毛姆文学奖
1954 1981 1986 1989
Austrian State Prize for European Literature
奥地利国Байду номын сангаас欧洲文学奖 WH史密斯文学奖
WH Smith Literary Award Premio Grinzane Cavour
Non-Fiction
• African Laughter four visits to Zimbabwe • Conversations • The Doris Lessing Reader • Going Home • In Pursuit of the English • The Old Age of El Magnifico • On Cats • Particularly Cats • Particularly Cats and More Cat • Particularly Cats...and Rufus • Prisons We Choose to Live Inside • Problems, Myths and Stories • Shadows on the Wall of the Cave • A Small Personal Voice - Essays, Reviews, Interviews • Time Bites • Under My Skin Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949 • Walking in the Shade Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949 to 1962 • The Wind Blows Away Our Words ◦
A_woman_on_a_roof_英语原文.doc
A woman on a roofIt was during the week of hot sun，that June. Three men were at work on the roof，where the leads got so hot they had the idea of throwing water on to cool them. But the water steamed，then sizzled；and they make jokes about getting an egg from some woman in the flats under the flats under them，to poach it for their dinner. By two it was not possible to touch the guttering they were replacing，and they speculated about what workmen did in regularly hot countries. Perhaps they should borrow kitchen gloves with the egg? They were all a bit dizzy，not used to the heat；and they shed their coats and stood side by side squeezing themselves into a foot wide patch of shade against a chimney，careful to keep their feet in the thick socks and boots out of the sun. There was a fine view across several acres of roofs. Not far off a man sat in a deck chair reading the newspapers. Then they saw her，between chimneys，about fifty yards away. She lay face down on a brown blanket. They could see the top part of her：black hair，a flushed solid back，arms spread out. “She’s stark naked，” said Stanley，sounding annoyed.Harry，the oldest，a man of about forty-five，said：“Looks like it.”Young Tom，seventeen，said nothing，but he was excited and grinning.Stanley said：“Someone’ll report her if she doesn’t watch out.”“She thinks no one can see，” said Tom，craning his head all ways to see more.At this point the woman，still lying prone，brought her two hands up behind her shoulders with the ends of a scarf in them，tied it behind her back，and sat up. She wore a red scarf tied around her breasts and brief red bikini pants. This being the first day of the sun she was white，flushing red. She sat smoking，and did not look up when Stanley let out a wolf whistle . Harry said：“Small th ings amuse small minds，” leading the way back to their part of the roof，but it was scorching . Harry said：“Wait，I’m going to rig up some shade，” and disappeared down the skylight into the building. Now that he’d gone，Stanley and Tom went to the farthest point they could to peer at the woman. She had moved，and all they could see were two pink legs stretched on the blanket. They whistled and shouted but the legs did not move. Harry came back with a blanket and shouted：“Come on，then.” He sounded irritated with them. They clambered back to him and he said to Stanley：“What about your missus?” Stanley was newly married，about three months. Stanley said，jeering：“What about my missus?” -- preserving his independence. Tom said nothing，but his mind was full of the nearly naked woman. Harry slung the blanket，which he had borrowed from a friendly woman downstairs，from the stem of a television aerial to a row of chimney-pots . This shade fell across the piece of gutter they had to replace. But the shade kept moving，they had to adjust the blanket，and not much progress was made. At last some of the heat left the roof，and they worked fast，making up for lost time. First Stanley，then Tom，made a trip to the end of the roof to see the woman. “She’s on her back，” Stanley said，adding a jest which made Tom snicker，and the older man smile tolerantly. Tom’s report was that she hadn’t moved，but it was a lie. He wanted to keep what he had seen to himself：he had caught her in the act of rolling down the little red pants over her hips，till they were no more than a small triangle. She was on her back，fully visible，glistening with oil.Next morning，as soon as they came up，they went to look. She was already there，face down，arms spread out，naked except for the little red pants. She had turned brown in the night. Yesterday she was a scarlet-and-white woman，today she was a brown woman. Stanley let out a whistle. She lifted her head，startled，as if she’d been asleep，and looked straight over at them. The sun was in her eyes，she blinked and stared，then she dropped her head again. At this gesture of indifference，they all three，Stanley，Tom and old Harry，let out whistles and yells. Harry was doing it in parody of the younger men，making fun of them，but he was also angry. They were all angry because of her utter indifference to the three men watching her.“Bitch，” said Stanley.“She should ask us over，” said Tom，snickering.Harry recovered himself and reminded Stanley：“If she’s married，her old man wouldn’t like that.”“Christ，” said Stanley virtuously，“if my wife lay about like that，for everyone to see，I’d soon stop her.”Harry said，smiling：“How do you know，perhaps she’s sunning herself at this very moment?”“Not a chance，not on our roof.” The safety of his wife put Stanley into a good humor，and they went to work. But today it was hotter than yesterday；and several times one or the other suggested they should tell Matthew，the foreman，and ask to leave the roof until the heat wave was over. But they didn’t. There was work to be done in the basement of the big block of flats，but up here they felt free，on a different level from ordinary humanity shut in the streets or the buildings. A lot more people came out on to the roofs that day，for an hour at midday. Some married couples sat side by side in deck chairs，the women’s legs stockingless and scarlet，the men in vests with reddening shoulders.The woman stayed on her blanket，turning herself over and over. She ignored them，no matter what they did. When Harry went off to fetch more screws，Stanley said：“Come on.” Her roof belonged to a different system of roofs，separated from theirs at one point by about twenty feet. It meant a scrambling climb from one level to another，edging along parapet s，clinging to chimneys，while their big boots slipped and hered slithered，but at last they stood on a small square projecting roof looking straight down at her，close. She sat smoking，reading a book. Tom thought she looked like a poster，or a magazine cover，with the blue sky behind her and her legs stretched out. Behind her a great crane at work on a new building in Oxford Street swung its black arm across roofs in a great arc. Tom imagined himself at work on the crane，adjusting the arm to swing over and pick her up and swing her back across the sky to drop her near him.They whistled. She looked up at them，cool and remote，then went on reading. Again，they were furious. Or，rather，Stanley was. His sun-heated face was screwed into a rage as he whistled again and again，trying to make her look up. Young Tom stopped whistling. He stood beside Stanley，excited，grinning；but he felt as if he were saying to the woman：Don’t associate me with him，for his grin was apologetic. Last night he had thought of the unknown woman before he slept，and she had been tenderwith him. This tenderness he was remembering as he shifted his feet by the jeering，whistling Stanley，and watched the indifferent，healthy brown woman a few feet off，with the gap that plunged to the street between them. Tom thought it was romantic，it was like being high on two hilltops. But there was a shout from Harry，and they clambered back. Stanley’s face was hard，really angry. The boy kept looking at him and wondered why he hated the woman so much，for by now he loved her.They played their little games with the blanket，trying to trap shade to work under；but again it was not until nearly four that they could work seriously，and they were exhausted，all three of them. They were grumbling about the weather by now. Stanley was in a thoroughly bad humor. When they made their routine trip to see the woman before they packed up for the day，she was apparently asleep，face down，her back all naked save for the scarlet triangle on her buttocks. “I’ve got a good mind to report her to the police，” said Stanley，and Harry said：“What’s eating you? What harm’s she doing?” “I tell you，if she was my wife!”“But she isn’t，is she?” Tom knew that Harry，like himself，was uneasy at Stanley’s reaction. He was normally a sharp young man，quick at his work，making a lot of jokes，good company.“Perhaps it will be cool er tomorrow，” said Harry.“But it wasn’t；it was hotter，if anything，and the weather forecast said the good weather would last. As soon as they were on the roof，Harry went over to see if the woman was there，and Tom knew it was to prevent Stanley going，to put off his bad humor. Harry had grownup children，a boy the same age as Tom，and the youth trusted and looked up to him.Harry came back and said：“She’s not there.”“I bet her old man has put his foot down，” said Stanley，and Harry and Tom caught each oth er’s eyes and smiled behind the young married man’s back.Harry suggested they should get permission to work in the basement，and they did，that day. But before packing up Stanley said：“Let’s have a breath of fresh air.” Again Harry and Tom smiled at each other as they followed Stanley up to the roof，Tom in the devout conviction that he was there to protect the woman from Stanley. It was about five-thirty，and a calm，full sunlight lay over the roofs. The great crane still swung its black arm from Oxford Street to above their heads. She was not there. Then there was a flutter of white from behind a parapet，and she stood up，in a belted，white dressing-gown. She had been there all day，probably，but on a different patch of roof，to hide from them. Stanley did not whistle；he said nothing，but watched the woman bend to collect papers，books，cigarettes，then fold the blanket over her arm. Tom was thinking：If they weren’t here，I’d go over and say ... what? But he knew from his nightly dreams of her that she was kind and friendly. Perhaps she would ask him down to her flat? Perhaps ... He stood watching her disappear down the skylight. As she went，Stanley let out a shrill derisive yell；she started，and it seemed as if she nearly fell. She clutched to save herself，they could hear things falling. She looked straight at them，angry. Harry said，facetiously：“Better be careful on those slippery ladders，love.” Tom knew he said it to save her from Stanley，but she could not know it. She vanished，frowning. Tom was full of a secret delight，because he knew heranger was for the others，not for him.“Roll on some rain，” said Stanley，bitter，looking at the blue evening sky. Next day was cloudless，and they decided to finish the work in the basement. They felt excluded，shut in the grey cement basement fitting pipes，from the holiday atmosphere of London in a heat wave. At lunchtime they came up for some air，but while the married couples，and the men in shirt-sleeves or vests，were there，she was not there，either on her usual patch of roof or where she had been yesterday. They all，even Harry，clambered about，between chimney-pots，over parapets，the hot leads stinging their fingers. There was not a sign of her. They took off their shirts and vests and exposed their chests，feeling their feet sweaty and hot. They did not mention the woman. But Tom felt alone again. Last night she had him into her flat：it was big and had fitted white carpets and a bed with a padded white leather head-board. She wore a black filmy negligee and her kindness to Tom thickened his throat as he remembered it. He felt she had betrayed him by not being there.And again after work they climbed up，but still there was nothing to be seen of her. Stanley kept repeating that if it was as hot as this tomorrow he wasn’t going to work and that’s all there was to it. But they were all there next day. By ten t he temperature was in the middle seventies，and it was eighty long before noon. Harry went to the foreman to say it was impossible to work on the leads in that heat；but the foreman said there was nothing else he could put them on，and they’d have to. At midday they stood，silent，watching the skylight on her roof open，and then she slowly emerged in her white gown，holding a bundle of blanket. She looked at them，gravely，then went to the part of the roof where she was hidden from them. Tom was pleased. He felt s he was more his when the other men couldn’t see her. They had taken off their shirts and vests，but now they put them back again，for they felt the sun bruising their flesh. “She must have the hide of a rhino,” said Stanley，tugging at guttering and swearing. They stopped work，and sat in the shade，moving around behind chimney stacks. A woman came to water a yellow window box opposite them. She was middleaged，wearing a flowered summer dress. Stanley said to her：“We need a drink more than them.” She smiled and said：“Better drop down to the pub quick，it’ll be closing in a minute.” They exchanged pleasantries，and she left them with a smile and a wave.“Not like Lady Godiva，” said Stanley. ” She can give us a bit of a chat and a smile.”“You didn’t whistle a t her，” said Tom，reproving.“Listen to him，” said Stanley，“you didn’t whistle，then?”But the boy felt as if he hadn’t whistled，as if only Harry and Stanley had. He was making plans，when it was time to knock off work，to get left behind and somehow make his way over to the woman. The weather report said the hot spell was due to break，so he had to move quickly. But there was no chance of being left. The other two decided to knock off work at four，because they were exhausted. As they went down，Tom quickly climbed a parapet and hoisted himself higher by pulling his weight up a chimney. He caught a glimpse of her lying on her back，her knees up，eyes closed，a brown woman lolling in the sun. He slipped and clattered down，asStanley looked for information：“She’s gone down，” he said. He felt as if he had protected her from Stanley，and that she must be grateful to him. He could feel the bond between the woman and himself.Next day，they stood around on the landing below the roof，reluctant to climb up into the heat. The woman who had lent Harry the blanket came out and offered them a cup of tea. They accepted gratefully，and sat around Mrs. Pritchett’s kitchen an hour or so，chatting. She was married to an airline pilot. A smart blonde，of about thirty，she had an eye for the handsome sharp-faced Stanley；and the two teased each other while Harry sat in a corner，watching，indulgent，though his expression reminded Stanley that he was married. And young Tom felt envious of Stanley’s ease in badinage；felt，too，that Stanley’s getting off with Mrs. Pritchett left his romance with the woman on the roof safe and intact.“I thought they said the heat wave’d break，” said Stanley，sullen，as the time approached when they really would have to climb up into the sunlight.“You don’t like it，then?” asked Mrs. Pritchett.“All right for some，” said Stanley. “Nothing to do but lie about as if it was a beach up there. Do you ever go up?”“Went up once，” said Mrs. Pritchett. “But it’s a dirty place up there，and it’s too hot.” “Quite ri ght too，” said Stanley.Then they went up，leaving the cool neat little flat and the friendly Mrs. Pritchett.As soon as they were up they saw her. The three men looked at her，resentful at her ease in this punishing sun. Then Harry said，because of the expression on Stanley’s face：“Come on，we’ve got to pretend to work，at least.”They had to wrench another length of guttering that ran beside a parapet out of its bed，so that they could replace it. Stanley took it in his two hands，tugged，swore，stood up. “F uck it，” he said，and sat down under a chimney. He lit a cigarette. “Fuck them，” he said. “What do they think we are，lizards? I’ve got blisters all over my hands.” Then he jumped up and climbed over the roofs and stood with his back to them. He put his fingers either side of his mouth and let out a shrill whistle. Tom and Harry squatted，not looking at each other，watching him. They could just see the woman’s head，the beginnings of her brown shoulders. Stanley whistled again. Then he began stamping with his feet，and whistled and yelled and screamed at the woman，his face getting scarlet. He seemed quite mad，as he stamped and whistled，while the woman did not move，she did not move a muscle.“Barmy，” said Tom.“Yes，” said Harry，disapproving.Suddenly the older man came to a decision. It was，Tom knew，to save some sort of scandal or real trouble over the woman. Harry stood up and began packing tools into a length of oily cloth. “Stanley，” he said，commanding. At first Stanley took no notice，but Harry said：“St anley，we’re packing it in，I’ll tell Matthew.”Stanley came back，cheeks mottled，eyes glaring.“Can’t go on like this，” said Harry. “It’ll break in a day or so. I’m going to tell Matthew we’ve got sunstroke，and if he doesn’t like it，it’s too bad.” Even H arry sounded aggrieved，Tom noted. The small，competent man，the family man with hisgrey hair，who was never at a loss，sounded really off balance. “Come on，” he said，angry. He fitted himself into the open square in the roof，and went down，watching his feet on the ladder. Then Stanley went，with not a glance at the woman. Then Tom，who，his throat beating with excitement，silently promised her on a backward glance：Wait for me，wait，I’m coming.On the pavement Stanley said：“I’m going home.” He looked white now，so perhaps he really did have sunstroke. Harry went off to find the foreman，who was at work on the plumbing of some flats down the street. Tom slipped back，not into the building they had been working on，but the building on whose roof the woman lay. He went straight up，no one stopping him. The skylight stood open，with an iron ladder leading up. He emerged on to the roof a couple of yards from her. She sat up，pushing back hair with both hands. The scarf across her breasts bound them tight，and brown flesh bulged around it. Her legs were brown and smooth. She stared at him in silence. The boy stood grinning，foolish，claiming the tenderness he expected from her.“What do you want?” she asked.“I ... I came to ... make your acquaintance，” he stammered，grinning，pleading with her.They looked at each other，the slight，scarlet-faced excited boy，and the serious，nearly naked woman. Then，without a word，she lay down on her brown blanket，ignoring him.“You like the sun，do you?” he enquired of her glistening back.Not a word. He felt panic，thinking of how she had held him in her arms，stroked his hair，brought him where he sat，lordly，in her bed，a glass of some exhilarating liquor he had never tasted in life. He felt that if he knelt down，stroked her shoulders，her hair，she would turn and clasp him in her arms.He said：“The sun’s all right for you，isn’t it?”She raised her head，set her chin on two small fists，“Go away，” she said. He did not move. “Listen，” she said，in a slow reasonable voice，where anger was kept in check，though with difficulty；looking at him，her face weary with anger，“if you get a kick out of seeing women in bikinis，why don’t you take a sixpenny bus ride to the Lido ? You’d see dozens of them，without all this mountaineering.”She hadn’t understood him. He felt her unfairness pale him. He stammered：“But I like you，I’ve been watching you and ...”“Thanks，” she said，and dropped her face again，turned away from him.She lay there. He stood there. She said nothing. She had simply shut him out. He stood，saying nothing at all，for some minutes. He thought：She’ll have to say something if I stay. But the minutes went past，with no sign of them in her，except in the tension of her back，her thighs，her arms -- the tension of waiting for him to go. He looked up at the sky，where the sun seemed to spin in heat；and over the roofs where he and his mates had been earlier. He could see the heat quivering where they had worked. And they expect us to work in these conditions! he thought，filled with righteous indignation. T he woman hadn’t moved. A bit of hot wind blew her black hair softly；it shone，and was iridescent. He remembered how he had stroked it last night.Resentment of her at last moved him off and away down the ladder，through the building，into the street. He got drunk then，in hatred of her.Next day when he woke the sky was grey. He looked at the wet grey and thought，vicious：Well，that’s fixed you，hasn’t it now? That’s fixed you good and proper. The three men were at work early on the cool leads，surrounded by damp drizzling roofs where no one came to sun themselves，black roofs，slimy with rain. Because it was cool now，they would finish the job that day，if they hurried.。
a woman on a roof教程文件
About the novel
A Woman On a Roof is a short story written by a Nobel winner Doris Lessing, published in 1963 in London. It told a funny story between a woman sunbathing on a roof in bikini and three men, Tom, Stanley and Harry, working on the next roof 20 feet away. The men wereTahtetraAcstseudmbpytitohne owfoSmimanila. rTithyey let out wolf whistles, yelled, stamped, swore to attract the woman's attention but finally got anger by her gesture of total indifference. The story began with a background of "during the week of hot sun, that June.",which seemed through the intolerable, burning weather to imply conflict in different age in England.
a woman on a
• Doris Lessing is a British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer. Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. In doing so the Swedish Academy described her as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny".".“女性经验的史诗作者，
A Woman on a Roof (presentation)
1956 She was an active opponent of apartheid种族隔离 which led to being banned from South Africa for many years
2007 Lessing was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature
The force-feeding( 强制喂食 ) made the members very ill, drawing attention to the brutality（残暴） of the legal system and thus
1. First generation feminism
second half of 19th century to early 20th century 19世纪下半叶
with binary elements(二性元素
to safe abortion and
的), such as "humanity"
sterilization（安全堕胎
instead of "mankind" for
与结扎的权利）;The right
"human".
to a university
education,Inetpco.st-colonial feminism, language is not as much of a concern as in the west
civil rights
language
Many English-speaking feminists support the use of gender-neutral language, such as "Miss" for all married and
《A Woman on a Roof》point of view
For all his criticism and supposed disgust, Stanley will not leave the sunbather alone. He postures and struts to no avail and epitomizes the man who can relate to women in only one way. When he fails, he has no other ideas. So, he reasserts his failed method with greater force. On the fourth day when the woman briefly hides her presence, Stanley assumes her husband has finally "put his foot down." It satisfies him to suppose that a man has regulated the woman's behavior, since his own efforts failed. By week's end he speaks insultingly of the sunbather. He surmises that her skin must be like a rhino's, and he sarcastically likens her aloofness to Lady Godiva's.
2
While repairing a roof during a scorching heat wave, three workmen spot an attractive woman sunbathing on a neighboring roof: Tom is 17 years old, shy, and impressionable; Stanley has recently married and is both shocked and attracted by the woman's nakedness; Harry, who is married and has a son about Tom's age, is 45 years old, tolerant and practical-minded. practical3
essay On Doris Lessing's a woman on a roof
On Doris Lessing’s "A Woman on a Roof"April S. MartinezDoris Lessing’s "A Woman on a Roof" allows us to understand how some men view woman: as mere objects for display and possession. Lessing shows how each of the male characters reacts and deals with rejection from a woman sunbathing on a nearby rooftop. We discover how three men’s preoccupation with sex keeps them unaware of how their advances may be unwanted and ignorant of their action’s possible consequences.All three men share the desire to get this woman’s attention. Working on a rooftop of a block of flats in the hot, hot, sun, these men seek a diversion from the relentless heat. They whistle, yell, and wave at a near naked woman on a rooftop nearby, but the woman pays no mind to them. Their isolation on the rooftop and the woman’s relentless indignation fuels the men’s decent into a world of lewd behavior, thereby creating an atmosphere of harassment and rejection. They become "taunted" by this woman’s indifference towards them.All three men have distinctly different attitudes towards the situation they have created. Each has experienced rejection from women. In fact, each displays a level of hardness that affects his attitude. They each react differently to the woman’s indifference and each t ake his efforts to different levels.Tom, the youngest, represents a primary level, a man untouched by rejection. Stanley, the instigator, clearly at a secondary level to Tom, shows a man slightly touched by rejection. Stanley hates the blows of rejection to his manhood. Harry, on the other hand, represents a final level where he considers the woman’s presence trivial. He is long since married and possibly has suffered many indignities with regards to the scowls of women.The three men momentarily find di straction from the heat as they become obsessed with the sunbather’ s exact location. They report her movements to one another. Stanley likens her presence on her roof to "a crime gotten away with." He states that "he would never let his wife do what she is doing" (Lessing 857). Acting as judge and jury, all three men seem to deny her the right to be on her roof doing as she pleases.The woman acts as if she has managed to escape the mindless need to entertain men (Allen 200). The woman on the roof has not offered one invitation for comment or attention, yet the men feel she has. By being caught by their eyes was invitation enough, yet the woman ignores the men no matter what (Lessing 858). She remains the symbol of a new age woman who disdains harassment from men.Tom believes he is this woman’s hero. Throughout the story he sees himself protecting her from Stanley’s domination (Lessing 858). He feels he is not her harasser and that she must be aware of his love for her. His dreams of her have convinced him that meeting this woman is in his destiny. He doesn’t interpret her indifference as rejection as Stanley does and has no idea how he will suffer for it later. Far gone into his fantasy, Tom imagines the nearby crane aiding his heroic rescue of her.Stan ley shows a hatred for this woman’s remote coolness (Lessing 858). An attitude not yet displayed by Tom and long since forgotten by Harry, his anger reveals how he has dealt with the indifference of women before. Protected for the moment, by this lofty location, Stanley floats above his memory of past rejections. He is barely coping with the situation and shows he is losing it as he becomes more verbally abusive towards her.In the middle of the story Lessing takes us away for a moment as she reminds us of a folktale of long ago. She refers to the woman as Lady Godiva and Tom shares the same name as Godiva’s voyeur (859). The small amount of clothing on the woman on the roof is not much less than Godiva’s long hair. Tom’s admiration and longing for the woma n is nothing more than "peeping" and like the folktale, Tom is set to be punished eventually.Lessing’s introduction of Mrs. Pritchett into the story serves to exemplify Stanley’s reason for his confidence with women. Mrs. Pritchett serves the three men tea and flirts with Stanley (Lessing 860). There is no tension between Mrs. Pritchett and Stanley (Atack 206). This shows Stanley can have his successes with women. Upon returning to the roof the contrast of the attention he had just received from Mrs. Pritchett and the inattention from the woman on the roof is too much for Stanley to bear and he announces he is going home. All he can do now, for the sake of his own ego, is condemn her once and for all.The situation is heating up as the temperature soars i nto the 80’s. Stanley begins stomping and screaming at this woman. Harry struggles to take control of the situation as he sees no end to Stanley’s and Tom’s obsessive behavior. He takes responsibility to knock the men off early before asking his boss. Stanley is clearly no good for work for the rest of the day and Tom has become delusional as heis now free to pursue his woman.It is now Tom’s moment of truth. He surprises the woman by pouncing in on her space. She stares at him and asks him "what do you want?" (Lessing 861). Expecting to be welcome, he stammers over his explanation of being there. She offers no idle conversation and rejects him with the words "go away" (Lessing 861) . Tom doesn’t immediately realize what has happened because of a phenomeno n called "delay of stupidity." Tom will suffer from his impulsive actions and move up to Stanley’s attitude level. Eventually, Tom will land at Harry’s level, as Stanley has, accepting (reluctantly) that not every women is an object for man’s passion.Retreating and feeling broken, Tom gets drunk "in hatred of her." This lesson has "fixed" him as if to say: "see what you get for being so stupid?" (Lessing 862). The delay in Tom’s realization of his stupidity was inevitable. On the roof, Stanley and Harry displayed "lessons learned" in their attitudes. They knew when to quit. Tom took his unbridled actions all the way because he knew no better.The men return to work the next day with a new distraction on their minds. The weather has changed suddenly and is no longer attractive to sun bathers. Without the presence of the woman on the roof there are no sexual thoughts to preoccupy them. For Tom and Stanley, the consequences of their actions are forgotten and only evident in their new levels of understanding.Works CitedAllen, Orphia J., Short Story Criticism. Vol 16. Ed. Thomas Vottler. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, Co., 1990.Atack, Margaret., Short Story Criticism. Vol 6. Ed. Thomas Vottler.Detroit, MI: Gale Research, Co., 1990.Leasing, Doris. "A Woman on a Roof." The Harper Anthology Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1981.。
A-Woman-on-a-Roof
Doris Lessing
Presenter: Lu Yuanyuan
The Work
Plot
The author
Outline
Character
Literature Review
Theme
Point of view
The Author—Doris Lessing
Awards of Doris Lessing
• Somerset Maugham Award (1954) • Prix Médicis étranger (1976) • Austrian State Prize for European Literature
(1981) • Shakespeare-Preis der Alfred Toepfer
◦
Her Poetry
• Fourteen Poems
• The Wolf People - INPOPA Anthology 2002
Notable Works
The Grass Is Singing The Golden Notebook Children of Violence Series The Good Terrorist Briefing for a Descent into Hotel
詹姆斯泰特布莱克纪念奖
David Cohen Prize
戴维科恩英国文学奖
Premio Príncipe de Asturias Nobel Prize in Literature
1954
1981
1986 1989
1995
2001 2001 2007
A Woman on a Roof is a short story written by Nobel prize winner Doris Lessing, published in 1963 in London. It told a funny story between a woman sunbathing on a roof in bikini and three man, Tom, Stanley and Harry, working on the roof 20 feet away. Stanley, recently married, and Tom, seventeen, keep walking over to stare at her, to the dismay of Harry, who is older and responsible for the crew completing the gutter job.
a woman on a roof 作品简介
A minimalist plot
“It was during the week of hot sun, that June,” June, Lessing begins, and tells a story of three London workmen— workmen—Harry, Stanley and Tom—who are Tom— replacing gutters on a roof, one with “a fine view across several acres of roof.” When they roof. spot an attractive woman sun-bathing who sun“wore a red scarf tied around her breasts and brief red bikini pants,” they are annoyed and pants, yet excited. Stanley, recently married, and Tom, seventeen, keep walking over to stare at her, to the dismay of Harry, who is older and responsible for the crew completing the gutter job.
At a glance:
First Published: 1963 Type of Plot: Sketch Time of Work: A June week during the early 1960's Setting: London Characters: Harry, Stanley, Tom, A woman sunbather Genres: Short fiction, Sketch Subjects: 1960’s, England or English people, 1960’ London, Weather, Voyeurism, Summer, Heat Locales: London, England
a woman on a roof
A hero on a roof: Feminist in Doris Lessing’s novelA Woman on a Roof12英语（1）班徐蓉蓉Abstract: A Woman on a Roof is one of Doris Lessing’s short novels which told a story about three men and a woman. No matter how the three men tried to draw the woman’s attention, the woman on the roof kept ignoring them all the time. She silently subverted the due image of women in patriarchal society through her unique indifference and non-verbal communication way. She was an independent woman who makes no compromises to the patriarchal society.Keywords:Feminism; Patriarchy; UncompromisingIntroduction:A Woman on a Roof is one of Doris Lessing’s short novels. It tells a story that happened in London starting with a woman on a roof sunning herself and attracting attentions of three men working on the roof. The three men tried their best to strike up a conversation with her, but no matter how they whistled, stamped or abused, she just turned her back upon them. The story is very simple, yet its moral is very profound. As a matter of fact, A Woman on a Roo f is one of Lessing’s most neglected works. There were only a few comments about it, and most of them are focusing on the performance of the three men. However, the sunbathing woman who even didn’t get a name from Lessing is more worth being discussed. Most readers hold the view that she is just a woman sunning herself and didn’t want to b e disturbed. Actually, she showed her endowed power and rights by non-verbal communication and is an indispensable role of the whole story.From the perspective of sociology, non-verbal communication is quite significant to women, as they have gentle and passive sociability, and these can possibly drive them to become the objects of social control. Three men, Harry, Stanley and Tom were working under the high temperature of burning summer. On aroof 20 feet away, a woman sunning herself became their entertainment. By this detail, Lessing unveiled the phenomenon that women became the gazing object of men, and the distance of 20 feet between the two buildings symbolized the difference and opposites between men and women. Extremely hot weather not only provide a background for the story, but also implies that as long as women make up their minds to ignore patriarchy-centered social regulation, men would be helpless, just as they are helpless toward the weather. To some extent, the three men from different age groups were the representatives of men. The woman sunning herself became the focused object. It somehow proved that in the patriarchy society, women were in subordinate status. Each of her movement was open and visible to men. However, while Lessing put her under men’s eyes, she also endowed her with economic power. Obviously, the woman on the roof came from a upper class. In the same burning day, she was even able to enjoy sunbathing, while the three men had to work hard for living by selling labor. The roof that the three workers were working on and the roof that the woman was sunbathing belong to differe nt “systems”. The distance of 20 foot also symbolized the class difference in the UK. With this background, Lessing tactfully endowed women with power, which suggested a kind of silent disintegration of patriarchy.In Discuss of how to become a man, James Henslin indicated that a man acts ina way in man’s circle, and acts in another way while withwomen(Henslin．1991：131).Henslin called this kind of phenomenon “affectation”. He pointed out that just because of this kind of affectation, when men know how to obtain what they want, whether it is a smile, a hug, a kiss or something else, their desires of control will be strengthened. However, though the three men employed all their skills, the woman on the roof still kept indifferent as if she never saw them. Therefore, by some silent communication, such as ignoring, reading and changing position, she actually showed her control or power toward the three men. In fact, she was so powerful that the three men couldn’t keep their minds on the job.Besides, in order to attract the attention of the woman on the roof, Stanley and Tom whistled and yelled out, but of no use. When Harry talked about Stanley’s newly-wedded wife, Stanley fatuously protected his own independence. He claimed that, for him, his newly-wedded wife was just an appendage or in other words private property.Stanley once shouted, “Bitch”. Tom said, snickering, “She should ask us over”.And Stanley said virtuously, “If my wife lay about like that, for everyone to see, I'd soon stop her”. (Doris Les sing: A Woman on A Roof)When the women turned a blind eye to their shouts, all of the three men became furious. Because in patriarchy society, women must be men’s appendag es, that is, women could only receive values by pleasing men. However, the woman on the roof unexpectedly neglected men, which was obviously a silent provocation toward patriarchy.The most ironic thing is the only line the woman said in the whole story,“Go away, if you get a kick out of seeing women in bikinis, why don't you take an sixpenny bus ride to the Lido? You'd see dozens of them, without all this mountaineering." (Doris Lessing: A Woman on A Roof)As she said, she claimed her special rights, because she didn’t like sunbathing in outdoor bathing place like most people. The wo man answered the three men’s tease with her pride, silence or precisely indifference. Although it seems that the three men are the central parts of the story and the woman is just as an appendage to man’s world. But in fact, she is the real ruler of her own world. No man could break into her world, she exists independently in her own realm.Conclusion：The woman sunbathing on the roof resisted and overturned patriarchy uniquely and silently. They were pissed off by the woman’s attitude. They got angrybec ause the woman didn’t yield to them as expected in the patriarchy society. Despite that they abused her by their words, she still did what she want. However, on this occasion, most women would choose to leave. S he didn’t surrender to patriarchy consciousness. She persisted her old way. She was a “strange clan”in that society. She dared to resist patriarchy silently and turn a blind eye to men’s request. She was not only a woman on a roof, but also a hero of the ages.Works Cited[1]Henslin，James．On Becoming Male．Down to Earth Sociology，Ed. JamesHenslin．New York：The Free Press．1 991．[2]Doris Lessing, A Woman on A Roof[3]孙桂荣. [沉默：别样的反抗———《屋顶丽人》女性主义解读] 吉林师范大学学报. 2008.2刊.[4]孟德燕. [从《屋顶丽人》看莱辛对父权制社会中两性关系的解构] 长春大学学报. 2010年1月第20卷第期.。
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1.First ,ANSWERS TO THE notice the THE when the three man sunbathing woman ,they show a great QUESTIONS interested to her ,they whistle to her .Para.7 • Then ,when the woman utter indifferent to the three man ,they were all angry.Para.8 • Last, when the three man whistled to her again,the woman stiil ignored them and only went on her thing,they furious.Para.15
• First day • Woman: white, flushing red, glistening with oil • Stanley: newly married (three months) , sounding annoyed, let out a wolf whistle, jest • Harry: the oldest, 45 years old • ‘small minds amuse small minds’, smiled tolerantly • Tom: 17 exciting and grinning, snicker
• A woman was enjoying sunbathing on the roof,which aroused the notice of three workmen.And for several days ,they kept chasing her and talking about her.However,the sunbathing woman totally ignored them, that is to say, being different to their wolf whistle ,as well as Tom’s confession.The three man came form different ages while the woman came form a different class.It is concerning the conflict between both genders ,and a story relfecting the fierece war of different classes.
• 屋顶丽人》涉及的不单单是性别之间的冲突。屋顶上的女 人是有闲阶级，烈日炎炎，正好享受阳光，而三个工人却 必须冒着高温酷暑干活。工人干活的楼顶与女人晒日光浴 的楼顶属于不同的“系统”，20英尺的间距象征着英国社 会阶级的差别。莱辛在作品中特别强调了工人们恶劣的工 作条件。汤姆遭到晒日光浴女人的拒绝后，从充满浪漫色 彩的艳梦中醒过来，看到了自己在社会中的可怜地位，不 免义愤填膺。
Second day Woman: little red pants, turned brown, startled, indifference, lying—sat smoking, reading a book, cool & remote Stanley: whistle & yell , angry, furious, hard & really angry face, want to report her to the police Harry: whistle & yell, making fun of younger men, angry, furious Tom: whistle & yell , angry, the woman---a poster, or magazine cover, his imagination, furious, apologetic grin, romantic, love the woe groups present different psychological state ,the maturity of the three working men varies a lot .even they all want to get the attention of the sunbathing woman ,the degree of fatasy for her varies .
• Third day Woman: not there, at midday, appearing and being hidden from them Stanley: repeating the hot weather Tom: felt alone, then pleased when he saw the woman,
• From the perspective of gender,gender crisis in the unequal power relations between three workmen and a sunbathing woman. The sunbathing woman rebels against patriarchal domineering power through indifferent attitudes, rejecting to be internalized by social norms of patriarchy. With the articulation of bodily expressivity, her silence, as away of resisting entering the symbolic order, expresses an alternative voice of defying three workmen’s predominance in patriarchal discourse, which in turn reverses her gender role in power positions.
• 《屋顶丽人》的故事发生在伦敦，一个女人在屋顶上晒日 光浴，引起近处三个修房工人的注意。他们想方设法要与 她搭讪，但无论吹口哨、跺脚、谩骂，她都置之不理，无 动于衷。作品情节简单，寓意却十分深刻。 晒日光浴的女人躺在屋顶上，成为观赏的对象。莱辛通过 这一细节揭示了现代社会中女性成为男性凝视物的现象。 哈里、斯坦利、汤姆分别处于三个不同的年龄段，使他们 在一定程度上成为男性的代表。他们看女人的目光反映出 男性统治社会中男人对女人典型的态度和偏见。
3.From the perspective of social class,the sunbathing woman and the three working men live the totally distinguished life .The life the woman spends was in an idle way .lying in the sun for a healthy color of skin ,she belongs to the upper class .While the three working men have to replace gutters on a roof in the sun for supporting their lives ,they belong to lower class .The superior class is not willing to be observed or disturbed by another class.
• Fourth day Woman: ease Stanley: whistle, yell & scream at the woman, his scarlet face, checks mottled, eyes glaring, Harry: disapproving, aggrieved Tom: went to the woman’s house and talked to her, being refused to be acquaint with the woman