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A Woman On A Roof - Term Papers

A Woman On A Roof

Doris Lessingšs "" is a story about reality and fantasy. Throughout the story Lessing uses certain colors such as white, scarlet, and black to illustrate actual and assumed characteristics. Color is very influential to how people perceive things because of the meanings associated with it. The significance of these colors is important to an understanding of the story.
The images black and white are important to the meaning of the story because they symbolize the purity or impurity of the woman on the roof. The color white describes things that are pure, innocent, and fair. Initially, Tom idealizes the woman. The less he knows about her, the more perfect and pure she seems in his mind. ...

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flirted with Mrs. Pritchett, Tom felt that his "romance with the woman on the roof was safe and intact" (706). What romance? Tom has based his opinion on fantasy rather than reality. Fantasizing "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" (704) illustrates that Tom is out of touch with reality. Tom "felt as if he hadnšt whistled, as if only Harry and Stanley had" (706) and "was full of secret delight, because he knew her anger was for the others, not him" (705). He was not aware that her "utter indifference" was for the "three men watching her" (703). Tom did not realize that the woman on the roof did not care about him at all. Tom believed in a non-existent "bond between the woman and himself" (706). He was wrong in thinking that there was or ever would be a connection between himself and the woman. "She ignored them, no matter what they did" (704).
In contrast to his ideal, the ...

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A Woman On A Roof. (2004, February 12). Retrieved January 17, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/A-Woman-On-A-Roof/2925

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 2/12/2004 12:07:46 AM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Free Paper
Words: 756
Pages: 3

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