Brief Biography of Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing was born in 1919 in what is now Iran. She was an only child, and her parents were
British subjects. In 1925, the family moved the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (present-day
Zimbabwe), to farm maize on 1,000 acres of bush. Lessing’s formal education ended at the age of 13. She
married Frank Wisdom at the age of 19; the couple had a son and a daughter. When they divorced,
Lessing left the children with her husband. She subsequently married and had a son with German
expatriate Gottfried Lessing, whom she met in the communist-leaning Left Book Club. After her second
divorce, Lessing never remarried. Lessing’s literary output was influenced by her leftist political leanings,
her study of Sufism (a form of Islamic mystical practice), and her experience of the social expectations
for marriage and motherhood. She campaigned against racism and colonialism and wrote science fiction
speculating about the calamities humanity might invent for itself. She also authored books that questioned
the capitalistic and patriarchal organization of society, although she left the Communist Party of Britain
and rejected the term “feminist” as too narrow. She won numerous literary awards during her long career,
including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007. She died in 2013 at the age of 94.

Historical Context of Report on the Threatened City

There are two historical contexts at the heart of “Report on the Threatened City”: the 1906 San
Francisco earthquake and the Cold War. The 1906 earthquake, or the “previous disaster” that the alien
envoys are stunned to learn about, occurred on the morning of April 18. Its epicenter was near San
Francisco, and 80 percent of the city was destroyed either by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake or the
subsequent fires. It is likely that more than 3,000 people died, and countless others were injured and
displaced. Local leaders, worried about the bustling city’s economy, downplayed the earthquake and its
destruction as they almost immediately began rebuilding the city. Two serious earthquakes struck just
north of the San Francisco Bay area in 1969, likely providing inspiration for Lessing’s story. The 1906
earthquake remains the deadliest earthquake in the United States and the deadliest natural disaster of any
type to occur in California. The story also refers to the Cold War in considering humanity’s warlike
tendencies and paranoia. This period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet
Union began in the aftermath of World War II and lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in
1991. In political and social terms, the Cold War was framed as a contest between democracy—
represented by the United States and its allies—and communism, represented by the Soviets. It was
characterized by increased tensions, a nuclear weapons race, and damaging proxy wars.

Lessing was, for many years, a member of the Communist Party of Britain. Much of her writing,
including “Report on the Threatened City” is influenced by Marxist ideas deriving from Das Kapital,
which explores the political underpinnings of capitalism and critiques powerful and wealthy people’s
exploitation of the working class. “Report on the Threatened City” approaches this topic through the eyes
of the alien envoys, placing it in the science fiction genre, which was being used in the late 1960s and
early 1970s to explore contemporary political and social issues.

Key Facts about Report on the Threatened City

 Full Title: Report on the Threatened City

 When Written: 1970s

 Where Written: England

 When Published: 1972

 Literary Period: Postmodernism

 Genre: Short Story, Science Fiction

 Setting: San Francisco, California

 Climax: The alien envoys lose their televised debate with humans, and an angry mob
runs them out of town.

 Point of View: First Person

 Report on the Threatened City
Summary
A group of six alien envoys sends a priority broadcast back to their base: all programs
and plans must be cleared pending the information in their report. In the report, the envoys
explain that they’ve traveled to Earth to warn the residents of a city (implied to be San
Francisco) that their city will be destroyed by an earthquake within the next five years. The
envoys found out about the impending earthquake by observing Earth with “Astro viewers” and
unmanned spacecraft. They prepared for this trip by pushing their technology to its limits and
postponing other important priorities.

The envoys land in a sparsely populated area outside of San Francisco. Their species is
made of light, so the envoys are usually invisible to the human naked eye. They spend their first four
days on Earth attempting Phase I: telepathically communicating their warning directly into some
local farmers’ minds. They also try to communicate with a group of four youths from the city, but
both of these attempts fail. The envoys notice that the elders are obsessed with war, and that young
people can perceive and understand things more clearly. But the youths are also more apathetic and
hopeless than the elders. The envoys report that humans can hold two contradictory ideas at once, and
that this mental block is why the envoys can’t communicate with either age group effectively.

So, the enjoys proceed to Phase II, in which they enter several other youths’ minds and
attempt to directly warn the population. The youths, who are high on drugs, begin to sing songs about the
impending disaster, which gets them thrown in jail. There, the envoys learn for the first time that a deadly
earthquake struck the city decades ago. They realize that their warnings are going unheeded because
everyone knows about the danger, even though no one is taking steps to avoid or soften it. The envoys
report that humans aren’t very open to new ideas, and that they’ll only accept information from sources
they already trust.

Next, the envoys incarnate as two human men and attempt to engage the
geological technicians at the Institute for Prognosis and Prevention of Earth Disturbance. Here, they
learn that economic considerations trump human safety in the planning and management of the city. (At
this point, various local news broadcasts about tragedies, acts of selflessness, and city-planning and
tourism efforts start intermittently interrupting the envoys’ report.) The envoys note that humans tend to
use conversation to avoid taking meaningful action, and that individuals only care about the people they’re
closest to, not humanity as a whole.

After the envoys realize that the technicians aren’t receptive to what they have to say, they
decide to appeal directly to a large group of young people during a nighttime beach party. But
this ends with some of the youth expressing their indifference and others acting on their despair
by committing mass suicide.

Finally, the envoys, in their male human personas, appear on television to debate local
professors about the importance of actions rather than words. At first, the audience laughs at the
envoys rather than taking them seriously. But when the envoys shift their arguments to the
specific need for action to avoid the impending earthquake, the viewers in the studio and at home
react with violent anger. Realizing that their mission has failed, the extraterrestrials
dematerialize, reconvene at their ship, and return to their planet. They conclude that anyone who
conforms to human society’s norms is doomed, because it’s normal to deny reality and avoid
preparing for disaster. Only society’s outcasts have a chance at survival.

After the envoys have left, sightings of alien spacecraft continue. This confounds Military
Command, which identifies the ships as Chinese, and the Air Force, which speculates that the ships are
either Russian or extraterrestrial. Concerned about hundreds of people apparently disappearing on these
UFOs, the Air Force suggests that the government seal off the landing site from the public.

In Report on the Threatened City by Doris Lessing we have the theme of control,
power, acceptance, disillusion, change and failure. Taken from her Stories collection the story is
narrated in the form of reports and after reading the story the reader realises that Lessing may be
exploring the theme of control. The world that the observers/aliens find themselves in (Earth) is
hostile with different groups or countries building their military in order to destroy another
country. There does not seem to be any form of trust at a government level internationally and
there appears to be a desire among countries to outdo another country. To be not only better than
them but to be more secure military wise than other countries. If anything there is a division in
the world which may be the point that Lessing is attempting to make. Though the observers do
not have the words to describe what it happening between the different ‘groups’ the reality is that
the Cold War is in progress. With countries on both sides being suspicious of the other. It is as
though external factors like a World War are more concerning to governments than the needs of
one city that is inevitably doomed.
The fact that the city is doomed and nothing is being done to prevent it is amazing to the
observers and something that they do not understand. They consider it illogical that those in
charge, the dominant males, would rather argue over why people should move from the city
despite knowing that the city is doomed. This too might be important as Lessing could be
suggesting or highlighting the degree of politics that is involved when mankind needs to take
action. It is also interesting that the observers feel as though their time on earth would be better
served if they materialized themselves into dominant males. Having previously tried to engage
with the young people in the city unsuccessfully. However due to the nature of mankind the
observers are also unsuccessful when they materialize themselves into older men. Their message
though not falling on deaf ears causes anger. Something that leaves the observers baffled. Their
task is to simply tell those in the city of the pending danger yet this is something that they
ultimately fail at. Something that they don’t fully understand. The observers cannot seem to
understand how the civilians in the city accept that the city is in danger yet do not prepare
themselves for what will be a catastrophe event.
It is also noticeable that the young people mentioned in the story are disillusioned even
before they know that the city will be destroyed in five years. However the best that the young
people appear to be able to do is to take drugs and to sing songs of protest. They take no
immediate action despite knowing what is going to happen. This too may be significant as the
young people may feel defeated before they even begin. They see no way of changing the status
quo even though they would like to. If anything the young people accept defeat too readily.
Though it might also be significant that the observers’ means of communications with the young
people is not necessarily the best approach to take. They place a large amount of responsibly to
take action on the young people when society itself is dominated by older males. Who as
mentioned are more interested in the politics of why they must change than actually initiating
any type of change. If anything the observers don’t have a complete understanding of mankind
and this may be a least one reason as to why they failed in their mission.
The end of the story is also interesting as Lessing ends the story with reports from
government agencies who believe that the spacecraft that they have been monitoring is Chinese.
While other sightings they believe to be spacecraft belonging to the Russians. This may be
important as Lessing may be highlight the paranoia that existed at the time. With those in
authority believing it to be inconceivable that an alien spacecraft might have landed on earth.
The measures to be taken by the government are also interesting. Rather than allow the
population to go where the spacecraft might be they intend to introduce radioactive material in
the area. Knowing that this will eventually lead to no more ladings by spacecrafts or so they
believe. In reality those in authority do not understand what is happening. Which would suggest
they don’t have control over matters. Which may be the point that Lessing is attempting to make.
She could be suggesting that the government and its agencies are short-sighted and lack the
vision required to not only save the city but to understand that others from a different planet are
only trying to help them.