20世纪60年代的美国女权主义运动领袖弗里丹从社会学角度揭示了实质为女权主义蜕变的“女性奥秘”旧式价值观的回潮。莱辛的《第五个孩子》即反映了同时代英国社会中旧式家庭观回潮的普遍现象,作者以文学手法描述了女性如何落入“女性奥秘”所宣扬的幸福生活之陷阱,表达了莱辛对后现代时期女性地位倒退的忧虑。 Freetan, leader of the American feminist movement in the 1960s, revealed from a sociological point of view the resurgence of the old-fashioned values ​​of “female mysteries” that were essentially feminist. Lessing’s “Fifth Child” reflects the common phenomenon of the resurgence of the old-style family view in contemporary British society. The author describes how women fall into the trap of happy life as “The Mysteries of Women” Lessing worries about the retrogression of women’s status in the post-modern era.