The Good Terrorist(1986)
It feels dated but it is quite difficult to get an idea of what Britian was like as a whole. Life is only viewed through the group & through Alice, who has her biases. Lessing does not leave out other people’s views completely, with the notable character of Alice’s mother, but it is hard to tell how objective Alice is being. Of course this is the point of the story, that the road to terrorism is paved with good intentions.
After Faye’s death Bert remarks that ‘she was due’. This may seem untastefully flippant but remembering her suicide attempt, & her insistance of getting the bomb job done, one may wonder how true that may be. It is possible that she was no revolutionary but simply a person with a death wish.
Alice’s love for Jasper does, as other characters notice, seem inexplicable. It’s hard to say what Jasper does for Alice & why she puts up with him. Jasper is like the ancient mariner holding Alice by the arm & controlling her gaze.
At the end Alice seems unconcerned about the lives that had been lost & prehaps her mother’s diagonsis was right: all Alice wants is power for herself.
Philip’s death does come as a shock & it underlines how unfairly life has treated him. Philip, who worked so hard on the house, is the least derserving to die; but often, it would seem, that is how it is.
