30 pages • 1 hour read
Doris LessingA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Gideon is the native African cook who works for the Farquar family and has a close relationship with their son, Teddy. The author notes that Gideon, as a product of missionary conversion, is a devout Christian, and he connects with the Farquars over their beliefs. He has complicated emotions as the boy grows older and he is sensitive to how their respective social castes will change their relationship over time. Gideon has a son who plays with Teddy as a small child, and Gideon laments that racism will change their relationship as well.
Gideon is a descendant of a native healer and has a lot of knowledge about herbal healing practices. When Teddy’s eyes are swollen with snake venom, Gideon heals him by chewing up a particular root and spitting it into his eyes. Later, he refuses to show a white scientist where the root can be found. Gideon’s story represents how many native Africans withhold their knowledge of natural remedies from white colonists as a way to maintain some power over those who assert dominance over them through British imperialism.
By Doris Lessing
A Woman on a Roof
Doris Lessing
Briefing for a Descent Into Hell
Doris Lessing
Martha Quest
Doris Lessing
Prisons We Choose to Live Inside
Doris Lessing
The Fifth Child
Doris Lessing
The Golden Notebook
Doris Lessing
The Grass is Singing
Doris Lessing
Through the Tunnel
Doris Lessing
To Room Nineteen
Doris Lessing