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disgrace, JM Coetzee essay
summary of Disgrace by coetzee
research thesis south africa the rise and fall of apartheid
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You behave as if everything I do is part of the story of your life. You are the main character; I am a minor character who doesn't make an appearance until half way through. Well, contrary to what you think, people are not divided into major and minor. I am not minor. I have a life of my own, just as important to me as yours is to you, and in my life I am the one who makes the decisions (Coetzee 174)
This is a poignant statement made by Lucy Lurie to her father David the protagonist and central consciousness of Disgrace. It is her response to his lack of understanding her life choices and his lack of deep regard for anyone but himself. It is his handicap, his inability to understand anything outside of his self-reflections, and his attitude is due to a level of arrogance and sense of privilege, as he continues his attempts at self-elevation. Lucy is protesting his inability to understand her life choices and the root of his lack of any deep regard for anyone but himself. When David loses his position at the University through his own arrogance,--one reading of the “disgrace” of the title, whether he feels it as such or not,--his partly conscious and partly unconscious search for reconciliation forces him to listen to the voices of formerly silenced persons, feminine, and black represented in the just quoted passage by his daughter. David in his narration bends the scope of his story toward the plight of women, rather than the “colored” in a post-apartheid South African landscape. Lucy is a convenient representation for David of those really disgraced in post-Apartheid South Africa, while David represents those seemingly disgraced who evade the realities of their actions, those unapologetic un-remorseful masses that excuse ...
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...t of vipers. No, Professor Lurie, you may be high and mighty and have all kinds of degrees, but if I was you I’d be very ashamed of myself, so help me God. If I’ve got hold of the wrong end of the stick, now is your chance to say, but I don’t think so, I can see it from your face.’ Lurie whispers in response, ‘excuse me, I have business to attend to and walks away (Coetzee 38)
David’s response to Melanie’s father in the passage above only further demonstrates what is echoed throughout the text. His avoidance, self-righteousness and inability to apologize become apparent. In that scene at the beginning of the novel we see David’s ability to evade a clear transgression made by him when confronted, and therefore gives us a glimpse of the person we will be depending on to tell us the story.
Works Cited
Coetzee, J. M. (2000) Disgrace. London: Vintage.
... Uncle Frank. Then I got out and watched him go down the tracks. He was going toward town…”. He chooses to tell his parents what he knows, or at least part of what he knows, about Uncle Frank. This shows that he is developing in the area of honesty. Before, David would have kept all this to himself, rather than face his parents with knowledge he knows will displease them.
At the beginning of the Chrysalids, we meet David as a ten-year old boy who has conformed to meet his parent’s strict standards. David then meets a girl named Sophie, who turns out to be a mutant, something he should be frightened of. It is then David first begins to question his father’s beliefs, as shown in the quotation, “A blasphemy was, as had been impressed upon me often enough, a frightful thing. Yet there was nothing frightening about Sophie. She was simply an ordinary little girl,” (Wyndham 14). This phrase is the spark that will ignite the fire of rebellion inside David, as he realizes that his father’s beliefs may not be morally correct and are often flawed. Naturally, David begins to feel a bit betrayed by his father for leading him astray and forcing wrong beliefs upon him, and th...
At first, David cares that his mother treats him badly. After awhile, he doesn’t care and becomes apathetic.
1. In the book, the father tries to help the son in the beginning but then throughout the book he stops trying to help and listens to the mother. If I had been in this same situation, I would have helped get the child away from his mother because nobody should have to live like that. The father was tired of having to watch his son get abused so eventually he just left and didn’t do anything. David thought that his father would help him but he did not.
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As Davis starts to tell about his life as a young boy in America, he lets us know about his mother dying far too young, and him being raised by his father and aunt. David's dad is stereotype of a man and their emotions. He and his son never have a close relationship. Even when David gets hurt in an accident, his father doesn't want him to cry. He wants him to be a man, a manly man and not a Sunday teacher.
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Through the perspective of an unconventional college professor, J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace addresses the transition into post-apartheid South Africa, societal acceptance and rape through David Lurie and Lucy Lurie’s complex father-daughter relationship. While living in his daughter’s countryside home, David Lurie’s experiences reveal that despite the powerful political reform, crime continues to dominate the African people. Aspects of South African history are used to emphasize racial tension and the shift from a white to a black dominated South Africa. Coetzee also suggests the instability of the African society through constantly depicting his characters as emotionally unable to adapt to adverse situations. Although David and Lucy were initially introduced as polar opposites, their value of privacy and refusal to endure public humiliation and shame draw a parallel between the predator and prey of the novel. David Lurie ultimately evolves from his sexual encounters with Soraya, Melanie and Bev Shaw by realizing the traumatizing implications of his actions after the Lucy’s rape.
Located on the south-west coast of Africa surrounded by water and one of the oldest deserts in the world, lies a place most people do not recognize by name. its a place that is full of vibrent people with extreme pride in there culture and ways of life.