Datasets:
DioLiu
/
Test2

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
Community
text
stringlengths
0
3.86k
Loutit , Lieutenant J. Haig of the 10th , and thirty @-@ two men from the 9th , 10th , and 11th Battalions crossed Legge Valley and climbed a spur of Gun Ridge , just to the south of Scrubby Knoll . As they reached the top , about four hundred yards ( 370 m ) further inland was Gun Ridge , defended by a large number of Turkish troops . Loutit and two men carried out a reconnaissance of Scrubby Knoll , from the top of which they could see the Dardanelles , around three miles ( 4 @.@ 8 km ) to the east . When one of the men was wounded they returned to the rest of their group , which was being engaged by Turkish machine @-@ gun and rifle fire . Around 08 : 00 , Loutit sent a man back for reinforcements ; he located Captain J. Ryder of the 9th Battalion , with half a company of men at Lone Pine . Ryder had not received the order to dig in , so he advanced and formed a line on Loutit 's right . Soon after , they came under fire from Scrubby Knoll and were in danger of being cut off ; Ryder sent a message back for more reinforcements . The messenger located Captain John Peck , the 11th Battalion 's adjutant , who collected all the men around him and went forward to reinforce Ryder . It was now 09 : 30 and the men on the spur , outflanked by the Turks , had started to withdraw . At 10 : 00 the Turks set up a machine @-@ gun on the spur and opened fire on the withdrawing Australians . Pursued by the Turks , only eleven survivors , including Loutit and Haig , reached Johnston 's Jolly and took cover . Further back , two companies of the 9th and the 10th Battalions had started digging a trench line .
= = = 2nd Brigade = = =
As part of the second wave , the 2nd Brigade had been landing since 05 : 30 ; the 5th , 6th and 8th Battalions were supposed to cross 400 Plateau and head to Hill 971 , while the 7th Battalion on the left were to climb Plugge 's Plateau then make for Hill 971 . One 7th Battalion company , Jackson 's , landed beside the Fisherman 's Hut in the north and was almost wiped out ; only forty men survived the landing . At 06 : 00 Major Ivie Blezard 's 7th Battalion company , and part of another , were sent onto 400 Plateau by Maclagen to strengthen the defence . When the 7th Battalion commander Lieutenant @-@ Colonel Harold Elliott landed he realised events were not going to plan , and he headed to the 3rd Brigade headquarters to find out what was happening . Maclagen ordered him to gather his battalion at the south of the beachhead , as the 2nd Brigade would now form the division 's right flank , not left . When the 2nd Brigade commander Colonel James McCay arrived Maclagen convinced him to move his brigade to the south , swapping responsibility with the 3rd Brigade . Eventually agreeing , he established his headquarters on the seaward slope of 400 Plateau ( McCay 's Hill ) . Heading onto the plateau , McCay realised the ridge to his right , Bolton 's Ridge , would be a key point in their defence . He located the Brigade @-@ Major , Walter Cass , and ordered him to gather what men he could to defend the ridge . Looking around , he saw the 8th Battalion , commanded by Colonel William Bolton , moving forward , so Cass directed them to Bolton 's Ridge . As such , it was the only ANZAC battalion that remained together during the day . Eventually , around 07 : 00 , the rest of the brigade started arriving . As each company and battalion appeared they were pushed forward into the front line , but with no defined orders other than to support the 3rd Brigade . At 10 : 30 the six guns of the 26th Jacobs Mountain Battery arrived , positioning three guns each side of White 's Valley . At noon they opened fire on the Turks on Gun Ridge .
Within two hours half the Australian Division was involved in the battle of 400 Plateau . However , most of the officers had misunderstood their orders . Believing the intention was to occupy Gun Ridge and not hold their present position , they still tried to advance . The 9th and 10th Battalions had started forming a defence line , but there was a gap between them that the 7th Battalion was sent to fill . Seeing the 2nd Brigade coming forward , units of the 3rd Brigade started to advance to Gun Ridge . The advancing Australians did not then know that the counter @-@ attacking Turkish forces had reached the Scrubby Knoll area around 08 : 00 and were prepared for them . As the Australians reached the Lone Pine section of the plateau , Turkish machine @-@ guns and rifles opened fire , decimating the Australians . To the north other troops , advancing beyond Johnstone 's Jolly and Owen 's Gully , were caught by the same small arms fire . Soon afterwards a Turkish artillery battery also started firing at them . This was followed by a Turkish counter @-@ attack from Gun Ridge . Such was the situation they now found themselves in that at 15 : 30 McCay , now giving up all pretence of advancing to Gun Ridge , ordered his brigade to dig in from Owen 's Gully to Bolton 's Ridge .
= = = Pine Ridge = = =
Pine Ridge is part of the 400 Plateau , and stretches , in a curve towards the sea , for around one mile ( 1 @.@ 6 km ) . Beyond Pine Ridge is Legge Valley and Gun Ridge and , like the rest of the terrain , it was covered in a thick gorse scrub , but also had stunted pine trees around eleven feet ( 3 @.@ 4 m ) tall growing on it .
Several groups of men eventually made their way to Pine Ridge . Among the first was Lieutenant Eric Plant 's platoon from the 9th Battalion . Captain John Whitham 's company of the 12th Battalion moved forward from Bolton 's Ridge when they saw the 6th Battalion moving up behind them . As the 6th Battalion reached the ridge , the companies carried on towards Gun Ridge , while Lieutenant @-@ Colonel Walter McNicoll established the battalion headquarters below Bolton 's Ridge . As the 6th Battalion moved forward they were engaged by Turkish small arms and artillery fire , causing heavy casualties . At 10 : 00 brigade headquarters received a message from the 6th Battalion asking for reinforcement , and McCay sent half the 5th Battalion to assist . At the same time the 8th Battalion were digging in on Bolton 's , except for two companies which moved forward to attack a group of Turks that had come up from the south behind the 6th Battalion . By noon the 8th Battalion was dug in on the ridge ; in front of them were scattered remnants of the 5th , 6th , 7th , and 9th Battalions , mostly out of view of each other in the scrub . Shortly after , McCay was informed that if he wanted the 6th Battalion to hold its position , it must be reinforced . So McCay sent his last reserves , a company of the 1st Battalion , and ordered the 8th to leave one company on the ridge and advance on the right of the 6th Battalion . The scattered formations managed to hold their positions for the remainder of the afternoon , then at 17 : 00 saw large numbers of Turkish troops coming over the southern section of Gun Ridge .
= = Turkish counter @-@ attack = =
Around 10 : 00 Kemal and the 1st Battalion , 57th Infantry were the first to arrive in the area between Scrubby Knoll and Chunuk Bair . From the knoll Kemal was able to observe the landings . He ordered the artillery battery to set up on the knoll , and the 1st Battalion to attack Baby 700 and Mortar Ridge from the North @-@ East , while the 2nd Battalion would simultaneously circle around and attack Baby 700 from the West . The 3rd Battalion would for the moment be held in reserve . At 10 : 30 Kemal informed II Corps he was attacking .
At 11 : 30 Sefik told Kemal that the ANZACs had a beachhead of around 2 @,@ 200 yards ( 2 @,@ 000 m ) , and that he would attack towards Ari Burnu , in conjunction with the 19th Division . Around midday Kemal was appraised that the 9th Division was fully involved with the British landings at Cape Helles , and could not support his attack , so at 12 : 30 he ordered two battalions of the 77th Infantry Regiment ( the third battalion was guarding Suvla Bay ) to move forward between the 57th and 27th Infantry Regiments . At the same time he ordered his reserve 72nd Infantry Regiment to move further west . Within the next half @-@ hour the 27th and 57th Infantry Regiments started the counter @-@ attack , supported by three batteries of artillery . At 13 : 00 Kemal met with his corps commander Esat Pasha and convinced him of the need to react in strength to the ANZAC landings . Esat agreed and released the 72nd and 27th Infantry Regiments to Kemal 's command . Kemal deployed the four regiments from north to south ; 72nd , 57th , 27th and 77th . In total , Turkish strength opposing the landing numbered between ten thousand and twelve thousand men .
= = = North = = =
At 15 : 15 Lalor left the defence of The Nek to a platoon that had arrived as reinforcements , and moved his company to Baby 700 . There he joined a group from the 2nd Battalion , commanded by Lieutenant Leslie Morshead . Lalor was killed soon afterwards . The left flank of Baby 700 was now held by sixty men , the remnants of several units , commanded by a corporal . They had survived five charges by the Turks between 07 : 30 and 15 : 00 ; after the last charge the Australians were ordered to withdraw through The Nek . There , a company from the Canterbury Battalion had just arrived , with their commanding officer Lieutenant @-@ Colonel Douglas Stewart . By 16 : 00 the New Zealand companies had formed a defence line on Russell 's Top . On Baby 700 , there was on the left Morsehead 's and Lalor 's men , and at the top of Malone 's Gulley were the survivors of the 2nd Battalion and some men from the 3rd Brigade . On the right were the men left from the Auckland companies , and a mixed group from the 1st , 2nd , 11th and 12th Battalions . Once Stewart 's men were secure , he ordered Morsehead to withdraw . During a Turkish artillery bombardment of The Nek , Stewart was killed . The artillery heralded the start of a Turkish counter @-@ attack ; columns of troops appeared over the top of Battleship Hill and on the flanks and attacked the ANZAC lines .
At 16 : 30 the three battalions from the 72nd Infantry Regiment arrived and attacked from the north . At the same time the Australians and New Zealanders holding on at Baby 700 broke and ran back to an improvised line , from Walker 's Ridge in the north to Pope 's Hill in the south . The defence line at The Nek was now defended by nine New Zealanders , under the command of a sergeant ; they had three machine @-@ guns but the crews had all been killed or wounded . As the survivors arrived from Baby 700 their numbers rose to around sixty . Bridges in his divisional headquarters starting receiving messages from the front ; just after 17 : 00 Lieutenant @-@ Colonel George Braund on Walker 's Ridge advised he was holding his position and " if reinforced could advance " . At 17 : 37 Maclagen reported they were being " heavily attacked " , at 18 : 15 the 3rd Battalion signalled , " 3rd Brigade being driven back " . At 19 : 15 from Maclagen again " 4th Brigade urgently required " . Bridges sent two hundred stragglers , from several different battalions , to reinforce Braund and promised two extra battalions from the New Zealand and Australian Division which was now coming ashore .
Dusk was at 19 : 00 and the Turkish attack had now reached Malone 's Gulley and The Nek . The New Zealanders waited until the Turks came close , then opened fire in the darkness , stopping their advance . Seriously outnumbered , they asked for reinforcements . Instead , the supporting troops to their rear were withdrawn and the Turks managed to get behind them . So , taking the machine @-@ guns with them , they withdrew off Russell 's Top into Rest Gully . This left the defenders at Walker 's Ridge isolated from the rest of the force .
= = = South = = =
The Australians on 400 Plateau had for some time been subjected to sniping and artillery fire and could see Turkish troops digging in on Gun Ridge . Around 13 : 00 a column of Turkish reinforcements from the 27th Infantry Regiment , in at least battalion strength , were observed moving along the ridge @-@ line from the south . The Turks then turned towards 400 Plateau and advanced in extended order . The Turkish counter @-@ attack soon forced the advanced Australian troops to withdraw , and their machine @-@ gun fire caused them heavy casualties . It was not long before the attack had forced a wedge between the Australians on Baby 700 and those on 400 Plateau . The heavy Turkish fire onto Lone Pine forced the survivors to withdraw back to the western slope of 400 Plateau . At 14 : 25 Turkish artillery and small arms fire was so heavy that the Indian artillerymen were forced to push their guns back off the plateau by hand , and they reformed on the beach .
Although in places there was a mixture of different companies and platoons dug in together , the Australians were deployed with the 8th Battalion in the south still centred on Bolton 's Ridge . North of them , covering the southern sector of 400 Plateau , were the mixed together 6th and 7th Battalions , both now commanded by Colonel Walter McNicoll of the 6th . North of them was the 5th Battalion , and the 10th Battalion covered the northern sector of 400 Plateau at Johnston 's Jolly . But by now they were battalions in name only , having all taken heavy casualties ; the commanders had little accurate knowledge of where their men were located .
At 15 : 30 the two battalions of the Turkish 77th Infantry Regiment were in position , and with the 27th Infantry they counter @-@ attacked again . At 15 : 30 and at 16 : 45 McCay , now under severe pressure , requested reinforcements . The second time he was informed there was only one uninvolved battalion left , the 4th , and Bridges was keeping them in reserve until more troops from the New Zealand and Australian Division had been landed . McCay then spoke to Bridges direct and informed him the situation was desperate and if not reinforced the Turks would get behind him . At 17 : 00 Bridges released the 4th Battalion to McCay who sent them to the south forming on the left of the 8th Battalion along Bolton 's Ridge . They arrived just in time to help counter Turkish probing attacks , by the 27th Infantry Regiment , from the south .
At 17 : 20 McCay signalled Bridges that large numbers of unwounded men were leaving the battlefield and heading for the beaches . This was followed by Maclagan asking for urgent artillery fire support , onto Gun Ridge , as his left was under a heavy attack and at 18 : 16 Owen reported the left flank was " rapidly " being forced to retire . At dusk Maclagan made his way to Bridges headquarters and when asked for his opinion replied " It 's touch and go . If the Turks come on in mass formation ... I don 't think anything can stop them . " As it got dark the Turkish artillery ceased firing , and although small arms fire continued on both sides , the effects were limited when firing blind . Darkness also provided the opportunity to start digging more substantial trenches and to resupply the troops with water and ammunition .
The last significant action of the day was at 22 : 00 south of Lone Pine , when the Turks charged towards Bolton 's Ridge . By now the 8th Battalion had positioned two machine @-@ guns to cover their front , which caused devastation amongst the attackers , and to their left the 4th Battalion also became involved . When the Turks got to within fifty yards ( 46 m ) the 8th Battalion counter @-@ attacked in a bayonet charge and the Turks withdrew . The ANZAC defence was aided by Royal Navy searchlights providing illumination . Both sides now waited for the next attack , but the day 's events had shattered both formations and they were no longer in any condition to conduct offensive operations .
= = Aftermath = =
By nightfall , around sixteen thousand men had been landed , and the ANZACs had formed a beachhead , although with several undefended sections . It stretched along Bolton 's Ridge in the south , across 400 Plateau , to Monash Valley . After a short gap it resumed at Pope 's Hill , then at the top of Walker 's Ridge . It was not a large beachhead ; it was under two miles ( 3 @.@ 2 km ) in length , with a depth around 790 yards ( 720 m ) , and in places only a few yards separated the two sides . That evening Birdwood had been ashore to check on the situation , and , satisfied , returned to HMS Queen . Around 21 : 15 he was asked to return to the beachhead . There he met with his senior officers , who asked him to arrange an evacuation . Unwilling to make that decision on his own he signalled Hamilton ;
Both my divisional generals and brigadiers have represented to me that they fear their men are thoroughly demoralised by shrapnel fire to which they have been subjected all day after exhaustion and gallant work in morning . Numbers have dribbled back from the firing line and cannot be collected in this difficult country . Even New Zealand Brigade which has only recently been engaged lost heavily and is to some extent demoralised . If troops are subjected to shellfire again tomorrow morning there is likely to be a fiasco , as I have no fresh troops with which to replace those in firing line . I know my representation is most serious , but if we are to re @-@ embark it must be at once .
Hamilton conferred with his naval commanders , who convinced him an evacuation would be almost impossible , and responded ; " dig yourselves right in and stick it out ... dig , dig , dig until you are safe " . The survivors had to fight on alone until 28 April when four battalions of the Royal Naval Division were attached to the corps .
On the Turkish side , by that night the 2nd Battalion 57th Infantry were on Baby 700 , the 3rd Battalion , reduced to only ninety men , were at The Nek , and the 1st Battalion on Mortar Ridge . Just south of them was the 77th Infantry , next was the 27th Infantry opposite 400 Plateau . The last regiment , the 72nd Infantry , were on Battleship Hill . As for manpower , the Turks were in a similar situation to the ANZACs . Of the two regiments most heavily involved , the 57th had been destroyed , and the 27th were exhausted with heavy casualties . Large numbers of the 77th had deserted , and the regiment was in no condition to fight . The 72nd was largely intact , but they were a poorly trained force of Arab conscripts . The III Corps , having to deal with both landings , could not assist as they had no reserves available . It was not until 27 April that the 33rd and 64th Infantry Regiments arrived to reinforce the Turkish forces . The ANZACs , however , had been unable to achieve their obectives , and therefore dug in . Gallipoli , like the Western Front , turned into a war of attrition . The German commander , Liman von Saunders , was clear about the reasons for the outcome . He wrote that , " on the Turkish side the situation was saved by the immediate and independent action of the 19th Division . " The division commander , Kemal , became noted as " the most imaginative , most successful officer to fight on either side " during the campaign . As a commander he was able to get the most out of his troops , typified by his order to the 57th Infantry Regiment ; " Men , I am not ordering you to attack . I am ordering you to die . In the time that it takes us to die , other forces and commanders can come and take our place . "
In the following days there were several failed attacks and counter @-@ attacks by both sides . The Turks were the first to try during the Second attack on Anzac Cove on 27 April , followed by the ANZACs who tried to advance overnight 1 / 2 May . The Turkish Third attack on Anzac Cove on 19 May was the worst defeat of them all , with around ten thousand casualties , including three thousand dead . The next four months consisted of only local or diversionary attacks , until 6 August when the ANZACs , in connection with the Landing at Suvla Bay , attacked Chunuk Bair with only limited success . The Turks never succeeded in driving the Australians and New Zealanders back into the sea . Similarly , the ANZACs never broke out of their beachhead . Instead , in December 1915 , after eight months of fighting , they evacuated the peninsula .
= = = Casualties = = =
The full extent of casualties on that first day are not known . Birdwood , who did not come ashore until late in the day , estimated between three and four hundred dead on the beaches . The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage claims one in five of the three thousand New Zealanders involved became a casualty . The Australian War Memorial has 860 Australian dead between 25 – 30 April , and the Australian Government estimates 2 @,@ 000 wounded left Anzac Cove on 25 April , but more wounded were still waiting on the battlefields to be evacuated . The Commonwealth War Graves Commission documents that 754 Australian and 147 New Zealand soldiers died on 25 April 1915 . A higher than normal proportion of the ANZAC casualties were from the officer ranks . One theory was that they kept exposing themselves to fire , trying to find out where they were or to locate their troops . Four men were taken prisoner by the Turks .
It is estimated that the Turkish 27th and 57th Infantry Regiments lost around 2 @,@ 000 men , or fifty per cent of their combined strength . The full number of Turkish casualties for the day has not been recorded . During the campaign , 8 @,@ 708 Australians and 2 @,@ 721 New Zealanders were killed . The exact number of Turkish dead is not known but has been estimated around 87 @,@ 000 .
= = = Anzac Day = = =
The anniversary of the landings , 25 April , has since 1916 been recognised in Australia and New Zealand as Anzac Day , now one of their most important national occasions . It does not celebrate a military victory , but instead commemorates all the Australians and New Zealanders " who served and died in all wars , conflicts , and peacekeeping operations " and " the contribution and suffering of all those who have served . " Around the country , dawn services are held at war memorials to commemorate those involved . In Australia , at 10 : 15 , another service is held at the Australian War Memorial , which the prime minister and governor general normally attend . The first official dawn services were held in Australia in 1927 and in New Zealand in 1939 . Lower @-@ key services are also held in the United Kingdom and Ireland . In Turkey , large groups of Australians and New Zealanders have begun to gather at Anzac Cove , where in 2005 an estimated 20 @,@ 000 people attended the service to commemorate the landings . Attendance figures rose to 38 @,@ 000 in 2012 and 50 @,@ 000 in 2013 .
= Michelle Rzepecki =
Michelle Rzepecki ( born 6 November 1986 ) is an Australian goalball player classified as a B3 competitor . She made her debut for the Australia women 's national goalball team at the 2011 African @-@ Oceania regional Paralympic qualifying competition . She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in goalball .
= = Personal life = =
Rzepecki was born on 6 November 1986 in Wollstonecraft , New South Wales , and is 173 centimetres ( 68 in ) tall . She has the visual disability rod monochromatism , which she acquired at birth . She can play the saxophone and piano . Rzepecki is a third @-@ generation Australian , as her grandfather moved to Australia from Germany . While attending Castle Hill High School , she returned to the country of her grandfather 's birth to do study abroad that was funded by a scholarship from the Society for Australian @-@ German Student Exchange Inc . She also lived in Bolivia for a while , working at a school for children with visual impairments . While there , she introduced the children to goalball . Part of her work in the country was funded by a mini @-@ grant . As of 2012 , she works as a Sydney Tower Skywalk guide .
= = Goalball = =
Rzepecki is a goalball player , and for visual disability sports , is classified as a B3 competitor . She is a centre and winger . She has a goalball scholarship with the New South Wales Institute of Sport . Rzepecki started playing the sport in 2002 . She competed at the 2004 Australian National Goalball Championships , playing for the New South Wales goalball team which beat the Queensland goalball team in the finals . In 2011 , Rzepecki made her national team debut during the African @-@ Oceania regional Paralympic qualifying competition . She played in the game against the New Zealand women 's national goalball team that Australia won . As a member of the 2011 team , she finished sixth at the IBSA Goalball World Cup .
The Australian Paralympic Committee had chosen to work on her development as a goalball player with the idea that she might be able to qualify for , and win a medal at , the 2016 Summer Paralympics . She was a named a member of the Aussie Belles that was going to the 2012 Summer Paralympics , in what would be her debut Games . That the team qualifyied for the Games came as a surprise , as the Australian Paralympic Committee had been working on player development with an idea of the team qualifying for the 2016 Summer Paralympics . An Australian team had not participated since the 2000 Summer Paralympics , when they earned an automatic selection as hosts , and the team finished last in the competition . Going into the Paralympics , her team was ranked eighth in the world . In the 2012 Summer Paralympics tournament , the Belles played games against Japan , Canada , the United States and Sweden . They lost every game , and did not advance to the finals .
= The Good Terrorist =
The Good Terrorist is a 1985 political novel by Doris Lessing . It was first published in September 1985 in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape , and in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf . The story examines events in the life of Alice , a naïve and well @-@ intentioned squatter , who moves in with a group of radicals in London , and is drawn into their terrorist activities .
Lessing was inspired to write The Good Terrorist by the Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) bombing of the Harrods department store in London in 1983 . She had been a member of the British Communist Party in the early 1950s , but later grew disillusioned with communism . Three reviewers labelled The Good Terrorist as a satire , while Lessing called it humorous . Some critics called the novel 's title an oxymoron , stating that it highlights Alice 's ambivalent nature , and that she is neither a good person , nor a good revolutionary .
The Good Terrorist divided reviewers , with some being impressed by the book 's insight and characterization , and others complaining about the novel 's style and the character 's lack of depth . One critic complimented Lessing 's " strong descriptive prose and her precise and realistic characterizations " , but another called the book 's text " surprisingly bland " , and described the characters as " trivial or two @-@ dimensional or crippled by self @-@ delusions " . The Good Terrorist was shortlisted for the Booker Prize , and won the Mondello Prize and the WH Smith Literary Award .
= = Plot summary = =
The Good Terrorist is written in third person from the point of view of Alice , an unemployed politics and economics graduate in her mid @-@ thirties who drifts from commune to commune . She considers herself a revolutionary , fighting against " fascist imperialism " , but is still dependent on her parents , whom she treats with contempt . In the early @-@ 1980s , Alice joins a squat of like @-@ minded " comrades " in a derelict house in London . Accompanying her is Jasper , a graduate she took in at a student commune she lived in fifteen years previously . Jasper became dependent on Alice and followed her from squat to squat . Alice fell in love with him , only to become frustrated later by his aloofness and bourgeoning homosexuality . Other members of the squat include Bert , their ineffective leader , and a lesbian couple , the maternal Roberta , and Faye , her unstable and fragile partner .
The abandoned house is in a state of disrepair and is earmarked by the City Council for demolition . To the indifference of the other comrades , Alice takes it upon herself to clean up and renovate the house , and convinces the Council that it is worth saving . She also persuades the authorities to restore the electricity and water supplies . Alice becomes the house 's " mother " , cooking for everyone , and dealing with the local police , who are trying to evict them . The members of the squat belong to the Communist Centre Union ( CCU ) , and attend demonstrations and pickets . Alice involves herself in some of these activities , but spends most of her time working on the house .
To be more useful to the struggle , Jasper and Bert travel to Ireland to persuade the Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) to let the CCU join them , but they are rejected . They also take a trip to the Soviet Union to offer their services , but are turned down . The IRA and KGB , however , have begun taking notice of them and start using the house as a conduit for propaganda material and guns . Packages start arriving in the middle of the night , and Alice , to avoid attracting the attention of the police , raises objections . This results in visits to the house by strangers who question the squat 's decision making . After this , the comrades decide to ignore orders , to act on their own , and to consider themselves " Freeborn British Communists " .
Going it alone now , they start experimenting with explosives , and build a car bomb . Alice does not fully support this action , but accepts the majority decision . They target an upmarket hotel in Knightsbridge , but their inexperience results in the premature detonation of the bomb , which kills Faye and several passers @-@ by . The remaining comrades , shaken by what they have done , decide to leave the squat and go their own way . Alice , disillusioned by Jasper , chooses not to follow him and remains behind because she cannot bear to abandon the house she has put so much effort into . Despite her initial reservations about the bombing , Alice feels a need to justify their actions to others , but realises it would be fruitless because " [ o ] rdinary people simply didn 't understand " . She acknowledges that she is a terrorist now , though she cannot remember when the change happened .
= = Background = =
Doris Lessing 's interest in politics began in the 1940s while she was living in Southern Rhodesia ( now Zimbabwe ) . She was attracted to a group of " quasi @-@ Communist [ s ] " and joined their Left Book Club in Salisbury ( now Harare ) . Later , prompted by the conflicts arising from racial segregation prominent in Rhodesia at the time , she also joined the Southern Rhodesian Labour Party . Lessing moved to London in 1949 and began her writing career there . She became a member of the British Communist Party in the early 1950s , and was an active campaigner against the use of nuclear weapons .
By 1964 , Lessing had published six novels , but grew disillusioned with Communism and , after reading The Sufis by Idries Shah , turned her attention to Sufism , an Islamic belief system . This prompted her to write her five @-@ volume " space fiction " series , Canopus in Argos : Archives , which drew on Sufi concepts . The series was not well received by some of her readers , who felt she had abandoned her " rational worldview " .
The Good Terrorist was Lessing 's first book to be published after the Canopus in Argos series , which prompted several retorts from reviewers , including , " Lessing has returned to Earth " , and " Lessing returns to reality " . Several commentators have labelled The Good Terrorist as a satire , while Lessing called it humorous . She said :
[ I ] t 's not a book with a political statement . It 's ... about a certain kind of political person , a kind of self @-@ styled revolutionary that can only be produced by affluent societies . There 's a great deal of playacting that I don 't think you 'd find in extreme left revolutionaries in societies where they have an immediate challenge .
Lessing said she was inspired to write The Good Terrorist by the IRA bombing of the Harrods department store in London in 1983 . She recalled , " the media reported it to sound as if it was the work of amateurs . I started to think , what kind of amateurs could they be ? " and realised " how easy it would be for a kid , not really knowing what he or she was doing , to drift into a terrorist group . " Lessing already had Alice in mind as the central character : " I know several people like Alice — this mixture of ... maternal caring , ... and who can contemplate killing large numbers of people without a moment 's bother . " She described Alice as " quietly comic [ al ] " because she is so full of contradictions . She said she was surprised how some of the characters ( other than Jasper , Alice 's love interest ) developed , such as the pill @-@ popping and fragile Faye , who turned out to be a " destroyed person " .
= = Genre = =
The Good Terrorist has been labelled a " political novel " by the publishers and some reviewers , including Alison Lurie in The New York Review of Books . Lurie stated that as political fiction , it is " one of the best novels ... about the terrorist mentality " since Joseph Conrad 's The Secret Agent ( 1907 ) , although this was questioned by William H. Pritchard in The Hudson Review , who wrote that compared to Conrad , The Good Terrorist is " shapeless " . Several commentators have pointed out that it is more a novel about politics than political fiction . In From the Margins of Empire : Christina Stead , Doris Lessing , Nadine Gordimer , Louise Yelin called the work a novel about politics , rather than a political novel per se .
The Good Terrorist has also been called a satire . In her book Doris Lessing : The Poetics of Change , Gayle Greene called it a " satire of a group of revolutionaries " , and Susan Watkins , writing in Doris Lessing : Border Crossings , described it as a " dry and satirical examination of a woman 's involvement with a left @-@ wing splinter group " . A biography of Lessing for the Swedish Academy on the occasion of her winning the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature described the book as " a satirical picture of the need of the contemporary left for total control and the female protagonist 's misdirected martyrdom and subjugation " . Yelin said the novel " oscillat [ ed ] between satire and nostalgia " . Academic Robert E. Kuehn felt that it is not satire at all . He stated while the book could have been a " satire of the blackest and most hilarious kind " , in his opinion Lessing " has no sense of humor , and instead of lashing [ the characters ] with the satirist 's whip , she treats them with unremitting and belittling irony " .
Virginia Scott called the novel a fantasy . Drawing on Lewis Carroll 's Alice 's Adventures in Wonderland in The International Fiction Review , she wrote that " [ Lessing 's ] Alice with her group of political revolutionaries can be seen as a serious fantasy which has striking parallels to ... Carroll 's Alice " . Both Alices enter a house and are confronted by seemingly impossible challenges : Carroll 's Alice has to navigate passages too small to fit through , while Lessing 's Alice finds herself in a barely inhabitable house that is earmarked for demolition . Both Alices are able to change their appearances : in Wonderland , Alice adjusts her size to suit her needs ; in The Good Terrorist , Alice changes her demeanour to get what she wants from others . Scott noted that at one point in The Good Terrorist , Faye refers to Alice as " Alice the Wonder , the wondrous Alice " , alluding to Carroll 's Alice .
= = Themes = =
The American novelist Judith Freeman wrote that one of the common themes in The Good Terrorist is that of keeping one 's identity in a collective , of preserving " individual conscience " . This theme suggests that problems occur when we are coerced into conforming . Freeman said that Alice is a " quintessential good woman ... the little Hausefrau revolutionary " , but turns bad under peer pressure .
Another theme present is the symbolic nature of the house . Margaret Scanlan stated that as in books like Mansfield Park and Jane Eyre , The Good Terrorist " defines a woman in terms of her house " . Writing in the journal Studies in the Novel , Katherine Fishburn said that Lessing often uses a house to symbolise " psychological or ontological change " , and that here , " the house ... symbolizes Alice 's function in the story " . Yelin described The Good Terrorist as " an urban , dystopian updating of the house @-@ as @-@ England genre , [ where ] ... England is represented by a house in London " . Writing in " Politics of Feminine Abuse : Political Oppression and Masculine Obstinacy in Doris Lessing 's The Good Terrorist " , Lalbakhsh and Yahya suggest that the house , and the " oppressive relations " in it , reflect the similarly oppressive relationships in the society it resides in .
Several critics have focused on the theme of motherhood . In " Mothers and Daughters / Aging and Dying " , Claire Sprague wrote that Lessing often dwells on the theme of mothers passing their behaviours onto their daughters , and how the cycle of daughters fighting their mothers permeates each generation . The British novelist Jane Rogers said that The Good Terrorist " is as unsparing and incisive about motherhood as it is about the extreme left " . She stated that motherhood here " is terrible " : Alice 's mother is reduced to despair continually yielding to her selfish daughter 's demands ; Alice mothers Jasper , and has a similar despairing relationship with him . Rogers added that motherhood is depicted here as a compulsion to protect the weak , despite their propensity to retaliate and hurt you .
Feminist themes and the subjugation of women have also been associated with The Good Terrorist . Scanlan indicated that while many of the comrades in the book are women , they find that political activity does not elevate their position , and that they are " trapped in the patriarchy they despise " . Yelin suggested that although Lessing ridicules the male members of the CCU and their role playing , she is also critical of the female members " who collude in male @-@ dominant political organizations and thus in their own oppression " . But with the book 's allusions to Jasper 's homosexuality , Yelin added that Lessing 's " critique of women 's infatuation with patriarchal misogyny and their emotional dependence on misogynist men " is muted by homophobia and the " misogyny pervasive in patriarchal constructions of ( male ) heterosexuality " . Lalbakhsh and Yahya noted that Lessing depicts Alice as a " typical housewife " who cares for her family , in this case , the squat , but is " ignored and neglected " . They concluded that Alice 's fate is sealed because , according to the British socialist feminist Juliet Mitchell , women are " fundamental to the human condition " , yet " their economic , social , and political roles ... are marginal " .
= = Critical analysis = =
Several critics have called The Good Terrorist 's title an oxymoron . Robert Boschman suggested it is indicative of Alice 's " contradictory personality " , that she renovates the squat 's house , yet is bent on destroying society . In The Hudson Review , George Kearns wrote that the title " hovers above the novel with ... irony " . The reader assumes that Alice is the " good terrorist " , but that while she may be a good person , she is " rotten at being a terrorist " . Writing in World Literature Today , Mona Knapp concluded that Lessing 's heroine , the " good terrorist " , is neither a good person , nor a good revolutionary . She knows how to renovate houses and manipulate people to her advantage , but she is unemployed and steals money from her parents . When real revolutionaries start using the squat to ship arms , she panics , and going behind her comrades ' backs , she makes a telephone call to the authorities to warn them . Knapp called Alice " a bad terrorist and a stunted human being " . Fishburn suggested that it is Lessing herself who is the " good terrorist " , symbolised here by Alice , but that hers is " political terrorism of a literary kind " , where she frequently disguises her ideas in " very domestic @-@ looking fiction " , and " direct [ ly ] challenge [ s ] ... our sense of reality " .