In Doris Lessing's Novel "The Fifth Child", a Father's Role is Explored

Abstract

The tale focuses on David and Harriet Lovatt and their ordinary existence as a family in the 1960s. They value family life and marriage more than job advancement and the sexual revolution of their day. The story is narrated by a woman who seems to be a feminist, and she isn't the only one in the book who does so. Sex relations resemble those between a parent and a kid when the male sex role during contact is compared to the female sex role. While it may seem that male and female sex roles are complementary in the context of sexuality, there is in reality a hierarchical link between them. He's dead set on seeing it through. When Ben, the fifth child, arrives home, things immediately go worse. The distance between them grows to unbridgeable proportions as Harriet withdraws from David and, in effect, pushes him away from her. After learning that Harriet is often angry, puts her own health before that of the newborn, and treats the child as if it were not fully human, David feels even more alone.