This paper explores the relationship of Martha and her mother, which influences the formation of Marthas identity in Doris Lessings Martha Quest. The conflict between Martha and her mother can be analyzed through Melanie Kleins notion of a mother having an ambivalent relationship with her infant. According to Klein, the infant in the paranoid-schizoid position(1-3 months) can split its mother into both a good and a bad mother. For example, if the mother does not feed her child, then the infant project[s] its own aggression to the bad object. Marthas excessive hatred and aggression for her mother lead Martha into the regression in the paranoid-schizoid position. Klein claims that, in the depressive position (after 4 months), the infant feels guilt and anxiety for the damage it has inflicted on its mother in the early position. If the infant overcomes this depressive anxiety, it comes to love a good and complete object. Martha, in this novel, never enters this depressive position, and therefore cannot work through it successfully. Marthas excessive hatred against her mother results in her inability to have a smooth relationship with any other people.