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 " define a woman in terms of her house " . Writing in the journal Studies in the Novel , Katherine Fishburn said that Lessing often use a house to symbolise " psychological or ontological change " , and that here , " the house ... symbolize 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 reside in .