Literary Analysis Essay on Disgrace by John Maxwell Coetzee

Introduction

Coetzee's novel Disgrace is set in the post-apartheid era in South Africa and encompasses various power and control paradigm shifts. The author, a Nobel Prize, and two-times winner of the Book Prize explores the downfall and transformation of David Lurie, a communication professor, caught up in the chaotic aftermath of social and political changes in South Africa. In the country, the blacks had just gained power and rights to own property as other citizens (Graham 444). In the novel, the protagonist has a daughter (Lucy), has been divorced twice, and utilizes most of his time fulfilling his sexual desires with Soraya, a prostitute. Lurie believes he has power and control over his life and women, whom he is entitled to their beauty. At school, he faces allegations of sexually abusing one of his students, Melanie, a situation that forces him to resign and flee the city to reunite with his daughter at her farm. In the countryside, Lucy is gang-raped under the watch of his helpless father and Petrus, which leaves them in sheer disgrace. Lurie decides to live with his daughter and volunteer at an animal clinic. Although the Disgrace novel portrays Lurie as, controlling, chauvinistic and a womanizer, his character evolves through a series of traumatic events; thus, he changes to a compassionate man, who perceives women beyond their physical appearance.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The novel reveals the protagonist as chauvinistic, womanizer, and a controlling man. At the beginning of the narrative, Lurie has failed in two marriages, and he decides he does not need a wife. Additionally, the novel does not reveal any instance of him reflecting on the causes of his two divorces. He tends to believe that he is in control of his life. He thinks he has his life figured out by fulfilling his sexual desires with Soraya, a prostitute, whom she sees on a weekly basis (Coetzee 2). Through his relationships with women, readers can identify his chauvinist ideology and view towards women in society. Noticeably, the protagonist believes that men are entitled to women's beauty since they were put on earth for the purpose (Coetzee 16). Lurie thinks it is acceptable to classify women as property. He also feels that beautiful women lack a choice in identifying their male counterparts and must accept all men, especially him. The situation leads to him seducing and sleeping with Melanie. Events in Lurie's behavior can be juxtaposed with the apartheid situation that South Africa was getting over, where white men, who thought they would have everything they desired had certain privileged rights that were not available to other people.

Lurie attitude towards women transforms from that of viewing them as property to appreciating their place in the society. For the first time in the novel, the author reveals the protagonist as a remorseful and mindful character. The shift in his attitude occurs after fleeing to Eastern Cape and witnessing Lucy's rape (Coetzee 67). The rape incident makes him realize the women should not be treated in an inhumane way and that what his involvement with Melanie was wrong and almost similar to her daughter's case. He tries to compensate for his mistakes by persuading Lucy to tell her story to the police for her to receive justice. He hopes to repent his atrocities towards Melanie and to see the three men pay for their misdeeds. Moreover, he is mindful of his daughter's security and offers to send her to Holland to her biological mother. Once back in Cape Town, he apologizes to Melanie's father of her deeds and hopes to do the same to Melanie by attending one of her play performance (Coetzee 80). In this context, Coetzee shows that Lurie is capable of thinking about women beyond a sexual context unlike in the past. Initially, the protagonist engaged in uncontrolled sexual habits with his colleagues' wives, prostitutes, and his secretary. Notably, at the beginning of the narrative, he only discusses women about their sexual wellbeing. However, after the rape incident, he becomes mindful of his daughter's welfare and health, which reveals a significant transformation in his chauvinistic ideology.

Secondly, Lurie's desire to have control changes and he becomes powerless once he realizes he has no control over his life and women. Initially, he thought he controlled his life events; therefore, he focused on enjoying himself before old age. At her daughter's place, three African-American men who rape Lucy and overpower him attack them. The strangers beat him up and locked him in the lavatory, while in an unconscious state (Coetzee 95). They also try to burn him, but he luckily escapes with minor burns. The author reveals his powerlessness when he tries to negotiate with the gang to spare her daughter and take everything in the house (Coetzee 95). Additionally, he tries to recover from the blow, but he is unable, which transform him from a powerful person to a powerless victim. The phenomena enlighten him that he does not have control over events in his life or events around him. The situation can be juxtaposed with the new political change in the country, where whites initially owned everything but the case was gradually changing, and the Africans were gaining power over them (Stolarek 7). The stranger's act, although not justified, can be viewed as acts of aggression over the whites for their previous atrocities, which Lucy has to bear.

Thirdly, Lurie's attitude towards animals changes as he develops sympathy and compassion towards suffering animals due to his sudden acquaintance with them. Initially, he detested animals and used them as examples to justify his ill sexual behavior. Additionally, when he arrived at Lucy's farm, he was not perceptible with animals in such a way that the nightly barking of dogs angered him. However, later in the story, his attitude drastically transforms as he gains sympathy and compassion for non-human life. His change in perception towards animals serves as an approach towards understanding the meaning of life, which animals play a vital role. He feels like a scapegoat harboring the sins of apartheid; therefore, he starts to correlate his life with that of animals. For example, he narrates to Lucy about a male dog that is beaten by its owners for following a bitch in the vicinity, while it only sought to fulfill its male instincts (Coetzee 94). He also acknowledges that the helplessness felt by animals in the face of death is similar to his ordeals when locked in the bathroom as he witnesses her daughter being raped. He exposes his selflessness through the lives of animals, a situation that makes him volunteer to help troubled animals. At the animal welfare league, he assists Bev to kill helpless dogs at the clinic and develops compassion towards them. Notably, on his way home, he breaks down uncontrollably and only then he realizes he feels different about animals (Coetzee 142). The new attitude of caring is an approach towards humanity, which is expressed through emotions.

Fourthly, David's attitude towards himself, South Africa, and his place in it changes in the wake of the post-apartheid period. He perceives himself as a sacrificial animal suffering the sins of the colonization period (Coetzee 39). In a biblical view, his escape from Cape Town can be compared to the life a sacrificial goat, which suffered all the atrocities of the Israelites (Leviticus 16:21-22). The goat would carry all the sins of the people to a remote area and release them into the wilderness. Notably, in South Africa, the blacks were gaining control of their land and political system, while most Whites suffered the consequences of the extended colonial period (Stolarek 2). As a result, Lurie viewed his experience as carrying the sins of apartheid that were transferred to him by a failing imperial system. Notably, his feelings can be justified by the raping of his daughter by blacks. The readers can view the event as a vengeful attack by blacks towards their oppressors. In this novel, Lurie bears the burden of his kind alone. The situation enlightens him in such a way that he embraces the ideology of salvation and grace through his association with animals and amends his social life.

Conclusion

Overall, the Disgrace novel exposes the midlife crises of a man caught up amidst the political and social transformations in the wake of the post-apartheid era in South Africa. Coetzee initially reveals the protagonist, Lurie, as a womanizer and chauvinistic, who thought he had control over nature and women. However, tragic events that befall him transform his attitude towards women, animals, and his position in the nation. Although he cannot make up for his past atrocities, or those of his kind, he is remorseful and mindful of his daughter, while he leads a disgraceful life. The author uses his work to portray the paradigm shift in South Africa's ideological structure ushered in by a new political regime.

Works Cited

Bible, King James Version, and New King James Version. "Nashville: Thomas Nelson." (1997).

Coetzee, John M. Disgrace. London: Penguin, 2000.

Graham, Lucy. "Reading the unspeakable: Rape in JM Coetzee's Disgrace." Journal of Southern African Studies 29.2 (2003): 433-444.

Stolarek, Joanna. "Political, Social and Cultural Aspects of Racism in Post-Apartheid South Africa in John Maxwell Coetzee's Disgrace." Political Discourses in Contemporary Anglophone Literature and Culture: pp. 1-11.