Disgrace Background: Disgrace is unique stylistically because even though it is written by a third person narrator, David Lurie's point

of view dominates the story. 'Free indirect discourse' and 'third person limited' are terms that describe this mode of writing. Coetzee decision to use this technique gives his audience access to not only Lurie's spoken words but also his unspoken thoughts. The reader becomes intimately familiar with Lurie's desires, passions, and discourse. In fact, Lurie's discourse is distinctively academic in nature. David Lurie is a perpetually thinking character, living more in abstract thought than concrete experience. Disgrace's narrative style grows out of Lurie's studies in literature and language. Throughout the narrative, Coetzee inserts phrases in Afrikaans, Latin, German, Italian, and French into the text. David Lurie references romantic poets such as Byron and Wordsworth or Scarlatti's sonatas, Charles Dickens' novels, or Norman McLaren's films. David Lurie also pays close attention to language even in everyday conversation. Often in the novel, Lurie would linger over a word used by someone else or even himself delving into its context, connotation, or etymology. Lurie's language is just one symptom of his detachment from Sout h African society. In the country, the people of the land (the majority) speak Xhosa, and Lurie's opera and philosophy does not matter. Yet his displacement began even before his exile to Salem, when Lurie, whose academic specialty is Romantic poetry, is reduced to a Communications professor who is allowed one elective course per semester on literature. Lurie is a man of exile. With two divorces behind him, Lurie at the age of fifty -two has not been able to sustain an intimate relationship. The relationships in the novel display this failure of intimacy. For instance, Soraya is a prostitute, Bev Shaw is a one-night stand, and Melanie is simply an average student with whom he does not even share the same passion for art and literature. Lurie's relationship with his daughter is his last chance to step outside of himself. Yet as violence enters their world, Coetzee leaves us to question whether even this relationship is salvageable. Chapter 1-4 analysis: Even though Disgrace is written in third person, David Lurie's language, thoughts and perceptions dominate the text. Every character the reader ex periences is filtered through Lurie. Yet access to Lurie's interior does not produce intimacy so much as it reveals his isolation. This is most apparent in his relationships with women. Within the first few chapters of the novel, the reader is introduced i n detail to two of Lurie's lovers: Soraya and Melanie. These women vary in age, ethnicity, and education. The only thing they have in common, really, is Lurie -and his inability to connect with them. Lurie's relationship with Soraya, the prostitute, is foun ded on money. The novel opens, "For a man of his age, fifty two, divorced, he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well (1)." His solution to his problem appears to be clear-cut, without any complications. However, as Lurie describes his relationship, we realize that the reason his relationships are so uncomplicated is that Lurie does not allow them to be. He keeps them strictly superficial. Soraya, for instance, is a complicated Muslim woman. Lurie, however, knows nothing at all about her. He does not know where she lives, whether or not she has children, how old she is, or even what her real name is. When Soraya claims to hate nude beaches and beggars, Lurie does not probe the inherent contradiction between her opinion and her occupation. Moreover, Lurie fails to act on his recognition of the injustice of Soraya's employment at Discreet Escorts. Lurie considers paying Soraya directly, cutting out the Escort service, but he dislikes the possibility of having to see her in the morning. Lurie's relationship with Soraya epitomizes his brazen disregard for the law, societal rules, or ethics. It is utterly selfish. Therefore, it is not completely surprising when Lurie crosses another boundary and has another wholly selfish sexual relationship with a student. Coetzee suggests that his pursuit of Melanie is predatory in nature. He first sees Melanie in the University gardens, a metaphorically rich location connoting love, desire, and fertility. The garden also resonates with the Bible as the place where Eve was seduced by the serpent. At every turn, Lurie has reason to believe that his advances are inappropriate. He and Melanie don't even share interests. As they watch the Norman McLaren movie, Lurie wants Melanie to be "captivated," yet Melanie watches passively. She is passive, too, during sex. Lurie ignores every indication that Melanie is repulsed by him, instead choosing to interpret her behaviors though his own desires. For instance, when Lurie forces himself on her at her cousin's house, Lurie noti ces, "She does not resist. All she does is avert herself: avert her lips, avert her eyes...Not rape, not quite that, but undesired nevertheless, undesired to the core (25)." Lurie thus equivocally justifies his action with slippery language. Melanie does not "resist" but rather "averts"; the act is not "rape" but "undesired to the core." He defines his act with his

own language, never calling it what it is: rape. Lurie (and the reader along with him) is locked in his own utterly selfish hermeneutic of desire. Chapter 5-6 Analysis: The chapters detailing the investigation of the sexual harassment charges are rich ground for critical discourse. Taken as generic trial, the account of the investigation suggests that the underlying motive of a public trial is not to enact justice, but rather to instill guilt and shame in the accused. Also, one can draw parallels between University's sexual harassment investigation and South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation hearings. Though the committee repeatedly denies that they are running a trial, both Coetzee and Lurie reject this claim. Lurie, indeed, refuses as a matter of principle to play along with their attempts to couch the hearing in language other than that of trial and judgment. No matter how carefully or skillfu lly the committee plays the game of semantics, Lurie is able to cut through the pretense and discern what they are truly seeking: a confession. His approach culminates when he says: What goes on in my mind is my business, not yours, Farodia. Frankly, what you want from me is not a response but a confession. Well, I make no confession. I put forward a plea. As is my right. Guilty as charged. That is my plea. That is as far as I am willing to go (51). Lurie understands that the committee wishes to make him co nfess to the inappropriate nature of his desires and refuses to do so. He refuses to conflate the committee's judgment of guilt with a public shaming. Lurie's insight into the nature of his trial, however, does not absolve him from disgrace. The committee offers him a chance to control his disgrace by admitting it; when he refuses, he is disgraced anyway. More importantly, Lurie's insight into the psychology of shame does not mean that he is innocent of the crime he's accused of. He clearly acted with reckless and cruel selfishness in his manipulation of Melanie. He is, plainly, a rapist. So though he has subtle insight into the language games of the committee, refusing to shame himself, he is not above using similar language games to justify his lust for an d abuse of Melanie. Lurie sees that the committee requires shame and refuses to compromise himself. However, Lurie clearly should be ashamed. That he isn't emphasizes his hubristic, cavalier attitude toward the world as much as his cultural insight. On a second level, Lurie's trial alludes allegorically to events in South African history. In 1995, A Truth and Reconciliation Committee was formed by the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act. South Africa was a country devastated by the atro cities of apartheid. During the hearings, thousands of witnesses came forth and gave their testimonies. The accused were given amnesty as long as they told the entire truth. Approximately a third of these trials were heard in public. Similarly, the trial of David Lurie takes on a greater cultural significance. The manner in which he haughtily uses his status and gender to get what he wants -Melanie-is analogous to white South Africans' attitude during apartheid. Lurie, like an embodiment of the white supremacist element in South Africa, refuses to apologize for his abuse of power. This does not stop him, just as it did not stop the Truth and Reconciliation Committee from rooting out vestiges of apartheid, from being removed from power. Chapter 7-10 Analysis: Coetzee takes these first few chapters of Lurie's stay in Salem to introduce the rural landscape and some central figures: Lucy, Petrus, and Bev Shaw. One of the few relationships Lurie has been able to maintain over the years is with his daughter, Lucy. Indeed, he looks upon her place and companionship as a retreat from the scandal. Lucy surprisingly passes very little judgment on him. She says to her father about the affa ir, "Well you have paid your price. Perhaps looking back she won't think too harshly of you. Women can be surprisingly forgiving (69)." Lucy's role is altogether nurturing; she offers her father both nutritional sustenance and a place to air his controvers ial opinions without being ostracized. Lurie and Lucy are different in many ways, though. He says, "Curious that he and her mother, city folk, intellectuals, should have produced this throwback, this sturdy young settler. But perhaps it was not they who pr oduced her: perhaps history had the larger share (61)." From Lurie's perspective, his daughter is somewhat of an anachronism. Yet despite their differences, they live together quite harmoniously for the time being. Petrus is a man around forty or forty -five. He is Lucy's assistant, helping with garden and the dogs. When Petrus first introduces himself, he says "I look after the dogs and I work in the garden. Yes. I am the gardener and the dog man." Reflecting on his own words, Petrus repeats "dog -man (64)." Petrus is immediately aware of his position before Lurie. He identifies himself not by his tribe or family name but rather by his occupation. In the course of their

interaction, Lurie does not inquire any further into Pe trus' personal life. Thus from the beginning, there is a distance between them. Just as in his relationship with Soyara, Lurie is markedly uncurious about this very different person. He unquestioningly accepts Petrus' servile status. Lurie's entrance into the country is also his introduction to a special relationship with animals. From his first day, Lurie grows attached to an abandoned bulldog named Katy. The dog is depressed and unresponsive to Lurie. Yet despite this, he feels enough of a connection to the dog to fall asleep in her cage. Lurie immediately becomes somewhat sympathetic in terms of his relationship to animals. He loves Katy and feels disgust toward humans who would abandon such a creature. When Lurie first sees Bev Shaw, he says, He has nothing against animal lovers with whom Lucy has been mixed up as long as he can remember. The world would no doubt be a worse place without them. So when Bev Shaw opens her front door he puts on a good face, though in fact he is repelled by the odours of cat urine and dog mange and Jeyes Fluid that greets them(72). As Lurie's interacts more with Bev, he comes to understand the special role that she plays, overcoming his superficial repulsion. He sees her, indeed, as a powerful force in the community -an almost magical bringer of hope and death. Theme: Sex Geriatric Sexuality At fifty-two, David Lurie is a sexually active man. He has been married twice and currently sleeps with a prostitute to fulfill his needs. The problem comes when Lurie crosses both departmental and generational boundaries and sleeps with his student. As a professor, it is against the University's code of conduct to sleep with a student. When Lurie crosses this boundary, he places the student in a difficult situation. Although sh e complies, his position of power gives Lurie an unfair advantage. The young student drops out of school and eventually files charges. Lurie is fired and publicly censured for his action when the student's boyfriend commands him to "stick to your own kind. " Quotes on sex: 1. For a man of his age, fifty -two, divorced, he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well. On Thursday afternoons he drives to Green Point. Punctually at two p.m. he presses the buzzer at the entrance to Windsor Mansions, speaks his name, and enters. Waiting for him at the door of No. 113 is Soraya. (1.1) Analysis: What a way to begin a book. This quote gives us two ways to look at David's sex life at the beginning of the novel. We see that sex has been a "problem" for David , and that he's "solved" it by getting into a regimen of visiting a prostitute. Doesn't it make it seem that, at this point, sex for David is sort of like brushing his teeth or doing the dishes? It's something that has to be done on a schedule. Doesn't it make sex seem, well, not so sexy? 2. In the field of sex his temperament, though intense, has never been passionate. Were he to choose a totem, it would be the snake. Intercourse between Soraya and himself must be, he imagines, rather like the copulation of snakes: lengthy, absorbed, but rather abstract, rather dry, even at its hottest. (1.11)

Analysis: So, here we have an abstract way of saying that even when David has hot sex it's missing something namely, passion for the other person. Here the narrator c ompares David's sex life to the reproduction of reptiles. Again, it's kind of something that needs to be done to satisfy a biological need but that doesn't come from feelings or love or even lust.

3.

On the living-room floor, to the sound of rain pattering against the windows, he makes love to her. Her body is clear, simple, in its way perfect; though she is passive throughout, he finds the act pleasurable, so pleasurable that from its climax h e tumbles into blank oblivion. When he comes back the rain has stopped. The girl is lying beneath him, her eyes closed, her hands slack above her head, a slight frown on her face. (3.21 -22)

Analysis: This is the game-changing moment for David. Having sex with Mela nie is not only mind-blowing knocks him out

it literally

but it's also a transformative experience for him. For the first time, we see him having sex and

really getting into it. Too bad we can't get excited for him; that frown on Melanie's face is a ba d omen already.

4.

Not rape, not quite that, but undesired nevertheless, undesired to the core. As though she had decided to go slack, die within herself for the duration, like a rabbit when the jaws of the fox close on its neck. So that everything done to her might be done, as it were, far away. (3.67)

Analysis: In Disgrace, sex tends not to be a mutually desired act. Even though Melanie doesn't explicitly fight David off, he can still tell that she doesn't want it. Whether or not it can be construed as rape is something that puzzles David and also leaves us scratching our heads.

5.

He makes love to her one more time, on the bed in his daughter's room. It is good, as good as the first time; he is beginning to learn the way her body moves. She is quick, and greed y for experience. If he does not sense in her a fully sexual appetite, that is only because she is still young. (4.1)

Analysis: Pay attention to the perspective here. Who is saying that Melanie is greedy for experience? Probably not Melanie, for one. Instead, this assessment seems to come straight from David, who might be looking for ways to convince himself not only that Melanie is as invested in the experience as he is, but also that she even wants to be there in the first place. Also notice that they're having sex in Lucy's bed. This draws parallel between the two women and their sexual experiences.

6.

"I was not myself. I was no longer a fifty -year-old divorc at a loose end. I became a servant of Eros." (6.63)

Analysis: Here, David explains to the committee just why he was so bewitched by Melanie. She inspired passion in him. At first it seems like he's giving himself a way to argue temporary insanity ("I was not myself, your honor"), but we know from his guilty plea that David isn't really out there to make excuses. Instead, he's confessing that Melanie had the ability to totally transform his sense of love and passion. Still, he blames it on Eros (Cupid) instead of taking personal responsibility for what he did.

7.

His hero , Byron, saw the age of thirty as the barrier to any real or fierce delight in the passions , (86) an age barrier David, a servant of eros (52), has crossed decades ago. Later on he concludes that he has never really lived up to Byron, when, after buying the services of a streetwalker younger even than Melanie , he discovers that he might simply lack the fire he believes Byron to have had (195). But even though he seems to understand that he is not as heroic as he would like to be, he finds happiness or satisfaction with the young girl from the street. So this is all it takes!, he thinks. How would I ever have forgotten it? (194) is a statement completely in line with it surprises him that ninety minutes a week of a woman s company are enough to make him happy (5), which can be found in the context of one of his frequent visits to a young prostitute who is described as technically he is old enough to be her father, but then, technically one can be a father at twelve (1).

8.

Rosalind, his ex-wife, states that his whole affair is disgraceful from beginning to end (45), and we have to assume that she has no knowledge of her ex -husband s numerous adventures that would qualify for the same verdict. There is, after all, not much grace involved in sex with ones own students in the bed of the own daughter (29), or more or less forced intercourse when he stops by Melanie s house on an earlier

occasion. Even though Melanie does not want him to come in, nothing will stop him . She doe s not resist, but her limbs crumple like a marionette s and David is well aware that he is close to the fine line between undesired intercourse and rape (25). The world of love is borderless for David, who even tries to trace down one of his favourite prostitutes with the help of an detective agency, as, without a short -term substitute for Soroya, the tall and slim (women/girl), with long black hair and liquid eyes (1), the week is as featureless as a desert (11).

Theme: Family/ Fathers and Daughters

Fathers and Daughters David Lurie and Lucy Lurie have a unique father-daughter relationship from the novel's beginning. Even though Lucy was raised in a home of two academics, she has chosen the life of a farmer. Her livelihood comes from the sale of flowers and vegetables and the housing of dogs on her farmland. As a white lesbian woman, she lives by herself in Salem, South Africa. Lurie on the other hand lives in Cape Town. His livelihood comes not from the work of his hands but from the generation of ide as. He has written three books and currently hopes to compose a opera about Byron. The two could not be more different, yet they both find themselves caught in devastation that forever changes their lives. Disgrace unites them. Lurie has been fired from hi s position as professor because of sexual misconduct with a student. Lucy has been raped by three Africans and must bear the shame and humilation the crime carries with it in her community. Quotes on family: 1. He himself has no son. His childhood was spent in a family of women. As his mother, aunts, sisters fell away, they were replaced in due course by mistresses, wives, a daughter. The company of women made of him a lover of women and, to an extent, a womanizer. (1.34) Analysis: Interestingly, being raised in the company of women hasn't done much to help David understand them. Sure, being constantly surrounded by women has made David love them, but rather than making him a feminist, he's gravitated towards the opposite pole. 2. He sits down on the bed, draws her to him. In his arms she begins to sob miserably. Despite all, he feels a tingling of desire. "There, there," he whispers, trying to comfort her. "Tell me what is wrong." Almost he says, "Tell Daddy what is wrong." (3.82) Analysis: David. Here, we have this weird crossover between David's sexual instincts and his fatherly instincts. In spite of his interest in Melanie's beauty and youthfulness, we also see David acting as a father figure towards her (in his daughter's old room, no less!). 3. As a child Lucy had been quiet and self-effacing, observing him but never, as far as he knew, judging him. Now, in her middle twenties, she has begun to separate. The dogs, the gardening, the astrology books, the asexual clothes: in each he recognizes a statement of independence, considered, purposeful. The turn away from men too. Making her own life. Coming out of his shadow. Good! He approves! (11.10) Analysis: In this moment, we don't just learn more about Lucy dynamic between her and David. 4. From the day his daughter was born he has felt for her nothing but the most spontaneous, most unstinting love. Impossible she has been unaware of it. Has it been too much, that love? Has she found it a burden? Has it pressed down on her? Has she given it a darker reading? (9.11) Analysis: On the flip side to David's strange fatherly feelings towards Melanie, we get this passage about his relationship with Lucy. Though the narrator doesn't say it outright, but again the line between familial and sexual love is blurred hence the "darker reading" that David wonders about. we also get some very telling information about the

5.

Not her father's little girl, not any longer. (12.62)

Analysis: We see here that David feels that Lucy has slipped through his fingers. But don't we get the idea that that happened a long time ago? Is it just David who realizes it now?

Theme: Old age

1.

That is his temperament. His temperament is not going to change, he is too old for that. His temperament is fixed, set. The skull, followed by the temperament: the two hardest parts of the body. (1.8)

Analysis: Even though he's only 52 stubbornness is a product of his age.

not exactly an old man just yet

David sees himself as a man whose

2.

Then one day it all ended. Without warning his powers fled. Glances that would once have responded to his slid over, past, through him. Overnight he became a ghost. If he wanted a woman he had to learn to pursue her; often, in one way or another, to buy her. (1.36)

Analysis: For some men, getting old means dying your hair and buying a fast car. For David, getting older means trying hard to find women. Unfortunately, he can tell he doesn't have the same power over them as he used to. Now he has to try to pursue them himself or pay prostitutes for sex.

3.

He has a shrewd idea of how prostitutes speak among themselves about the men who frequent them, the older men in particular. They tell stories, they laugh, but they shudder too, as one shudders at a cockroach in a washbasin in the middle of the night. Soon, daintily, maliciously, he will be shuddered over. It is a fate he cannot escape. (1.40)

Analysis: We're not really sure how David knows that this is how prostitutes talk to each other

maybe one of the

prostitutes he has visited told him? Regardless, David knows that he's getting a little old for this game; at some point he'll stop being special because he's suave and handsome, and will instead be wrinkly and gray just like anyone else. This, of course, bums him out.

4.

"After a certain age, all affairs are serious. Like heart attacks." (5.62)

Analysis: Here, David responds to his lawyer's question about whether or not his relationship is serious. Nice play on the heart imagery here, David. You can see love as a heart attack, since the heart is supposedly the seat of desi re and emotion, but heart attacks are also not uncommon afflictions among the aging and elderly.

5.

He sighs again. How brief the summer, before the autumn and then the winter! (10.62)

Analysis: Here, David ever-so-poetically bemoans the fact that his youth is over and that middle and old age are creeping up on him.

Theme: Men and Masculinity

1.

But neither he nor she can put aside what has happened. The two little boys become presences between them, playing quiet as shadows in a corner of the room where their mother and the strange man couple.

In Soraya's arms he becomes, fleetingly, their father : foster-father, step-father, shadow-father. Leaving her bed afterwards, he feels their eyes flicker over him covertly, curiously. (1.32)

Analysis: Here's something that David doesn't seem to have thought about very much up until this point: the connection between sex and fatherhood. This is an aspect of his manhood he hasn't connected to his relationship with Soraya but that now haunts the bedroom when they're having sex.

2.

No, I have not sought counseling nor do I intend to seek it. I am a grown man. I am not receptive to being counseled. I am beyond the reach of counseling." (6.31)

Analysis: David doesn't just seem averse to the idea of being counseled; he seems outright insulted by the suggestion. His retort? "I'm a grown man." The thought of being counse led is framed in part as an affront to his masculinity.

3.

I thought I would indulge myself. But there is more to it than that. One wants to leave something behind. Or at least a man wants to leave something behind. It's easier for a woman."

"Why is it easier for a woman?"

"Easier, I mean, to produce something with a life of its own."

"Doesn't being a father count?"

"Being a father I can't help feeling that, by comparison with being a mother, being a father is a rather abstract business." (7.37-41)

Analysis: What David seems to be trying to say is, men pretty much go around spreading their seed, while women carry a child. Being a father, from his point of view, is as simple as having sex; mothers get more credit for producing "something with a life of its own." It seems that David wants to produce his opera as a way of creating and carrying something to term that he can call his own something that he nurtured every step of the way.

4.

Rosalind:

Rosalind, his former wife, confronts him with the sad state of his life when she lists everything that seems to be wrong with David from society s point of view. He has lost his job, his name is in the mud , his friends avoid him, he hides out like a tortoise afraid to stick its neck out of its shell and he looks u nkempt, so she says. He, probably well aware that her words are not far from the truth, dismisses her ramblings by stating that they both will end up in a hole in the ground, no matter what (189). The reader does not know if Rosalind s predictions become r eality, but with no secured income and his unpaid job at an animal clinic run by Lucy s friend Bev Shaw, David s life seems on track for disaster.

Theme: Women and Feminity

1.

Demand. She means command. Her shrillness surprises him: There has been no intimat ion of it before. But then, what should a predator expect when he intrudes into the vixen's nest, into the home of her cubs? (1.57)

Analysis: Up until now, Soraya has been warm and inviting towards David. Then, all of a sudden, he sees her children and she becomes super defensive. By comparing Soraya to a vixen (a female fox) whose cubs are threatened, the narrator shows that the impulse to protect one's children is instinctual for women. For Soraya, this feminine instinct apparently surpasses her desire to earn money from having sex with David ever again.

2.

"In this chorus of goodwill," he says, "I hear no female voice."

There is silence. (6.59-60)

Analysis: During David's hearing there is a pretty clear line drawn between the people root for him and the pe ople who are against him and that line divides the men in the room from the women in the room. Do you think this is

unfair, or do you think it's inevitable that in a case of sexual assault, other women would feel defensive?

3.

A solid woman, embedded in her new life. Good! If this is to be what he leaves behind woman then he does not have to be ashamed. (7.32)

this daughter, this

Analysis: David seems to think that having a sturdy, hardworking, earthy woman for a daughter is a noble thing, deserving of respect. Does this say anything about the sleek, cosmopolitan women that he generally finds himself attracted to?

4.

Sharing a bed, sharing a bathtub, baking gingerbread cookies, trying on each other's clothes. Sapphic love: an excuse for putting on weight. (10.57)

Analysis: It's interesting to see that David's ideas about the experiences of lesbians are so caught up in hyper feminine and childlike examples. It's as though he pictures two eight-year-old girls at a sleepover, when really it is clear that Lucy was in a serious, adult relationship with another woman.

Theme: Justice and Judgment

Quotes on Justice:

Justice As an ideal, justice is the standard by which one measures guilt and innocence. However in this novel, J.M. Coetzee explores the moral foundation on which justice depends. The university's investigation into the sexual harassment charges filed against Lurie is modeled after the criminal justice system. Throughout the hearing, guilt and confession are inextricably linked. Justice becomes a public act that is driven by guilt and shame. Lucy too finds herself struggling within the justice system. She decides not to report her rape in order to protect her privacy. However even with the charges of theft and robbery reported, justice is never served. The crim inals are never prosecuted.

1.

"We want to give you an opportunity to state your position."

"I have stated my position. I am guilty."

"Guilty of what?"

"Of all that I am charged with."

"You are taking us in circles, Professor Lurie."

"Of everything Ms. Isaacs avers, and of keeping false records." Now FarodiaRassool intervenes. "You say you accept Ms. Isaacs's statement, Professor Lurie, but have you actually read it?"

"I do not wish to read Ms. Isaacs's statement. I accept it. I know of no reason why Ms. Isaacs should lie." (6.19-26)

Analysis: We don't know about you, but this exchange really makes us groan. David doesn't seem to care at all about what his fate at the University will be; he's willing to take whatever judgment is doled out to him. Why do you think that is?

2.

"David, I can't go on protecting you from yourself. I am tired of it, and so is the rest of the committee. Do you want time to rethink?"

"No."

"Very well. Then I can only say, you will be hearing from the Rector." (6 .140-142)

Analysis: Why do you think David is so averse to making a public statement of guilt? Here, watching David is like watching a car wreck in slow motion. We know what he's getting himself into but he doesn't do anything to stop it. he's definitely going to lose his job

3.

It reminds me too much of Mao's China. Recantation, self -criticism, public apology. I'm old-fashioned, I would prefer simply to be put against a wall and shot. Have done with it."

"Shot? For having an affair with a student? A bit extreme, don't you think, David? It must go on all the time. It certainly went on when I was a student. If they prosecuted every case the profession would be decimated."

He shrugs. "These are puritanical times. Private life is public business. Prurience is respectable, prurience and sentiment. They wanted a spectacle: breast-beating, remorse, tears if possible. A TV show, in fact. I wouldn't oblige." (7.85-87)

Analysis: In this instance, David seems to feel like he was judged without justice. He sees his p unishment as being part of a public relations circus that had nothing to do with what was right and what was wrong.

Theme: Hate

Quotes on Hate:

1.

"We never thought we were sending our daughter into a nest 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." (5.23)

Analysis: Hate takes on many forms in Disgrace, and this is one of the quieter examples we get. Mr. Isaacs might reprimand David in somewhat benign terms Springer-style and seriously, he's not, like, throwing a chair at him or anything, Jerry

but you can tell he's probably shooting daggers at David with his eyes.:

Theme: Race

Race:Disgrace is set in post-apartheid South Africa. Even though apartheid has legally ended, its legacy still haunts the country. Robbery and vandalism frequent the countryside. Rape is a common occurrence. The outrage from a history of oppression and violence cannot be suppressed. J.M. Coetzee brings racial tensions to the forefront of the novel when David Lurie arrives in Salem. His daughter, Lucy, is one of the few white farmers remaining in the region. In the back of her property lives an African named Petrus who helps around the farm tending to the garden and helping with the farm. He is in a subservient position. The racial dynamics become more strained when Petrus is implicated in indirectly facilitating a robbery on her land. He disappears when three men attack and comes back with building supplies to renovate his new house. The division becomes clear when Lurie confronts Petrus. The end of the novel however does not allow for such a clear distinction when Lucy becomes pregnant with one of the robbers' children and thus becomes a part of Petrus' family, though unwillingly.

Apartheid: Apartheid literally means "apartness" in Afrikaans and Dutch. The apartheid system segregated groups along racial lines. The groups were mainly White, Black, Indian, and Coloured. These classifications determined one's geography, job, economic status, and access to resources such as education and healthcare.

Quotes on Race:

1.

Themes: Animal Imagery/ Treatment

Animal Treatment One of David Lurie's greatest transformations in the novel concerns his attitude towards animals. Initially, when he meets Bev Shaw, the owner of the animal shelter, he is repelled; she is not attractive and smells of the animals she works with all day. Reluctantly, he agrees to volunteer at the shelter as his daughter suggests. His experience assisting with the treatment and etherisation of animals changes his perspective. At one time convinced animals have no souls, Lurie is disturbed when two sheep he ha s become acquainted with are slaughtered for Petrus' party. By the end of the book, Lurie discovers his purpose in life is not to write a famous opera on Byron or even to be a animal rights advocate. He finds his purpose in the humble task of disposing of the dogs' bodies with dignity.

1.

In J.M. Coetzee s novel Disgrace dogs are a common metaphorical device used to illustrate the developments of several characters, but at the same time the purpose of the dog itself is also quite symbolic. In Disgrace , dogs are generally owned by whites or are straying around. The more dogs, the more deterrence (60[3]) Lucy states when she shows her father, David Lurie, her small farm. David describes his daughter as a sturdy young settler (61) with a rather simple life ( Dogs and a gun; bread in the oven and a crop in the earth (60)), who earns her living from her kennels and from selling flowers and garden products (61).

2.

Lucy earns most of her mo ney with dogs that are predominantly used for the protection of Whites and their property against the dangers the new South Africa delivers. In another instance, Lucy describes dogs as part of the furniture, part of the alarm system (78), with further ma nifests the main purpose of dogs in South Africa.

3.

With the dog s purpose being that of a protective device, it is possible to argue that the dog in itself stands more for the Whites than for the Blacks in Disgrace or South Africa in general. The dog ther efore qualifies as a good device for the kind of character development Coetzee confronts the reader with. This can be seen especially well in the development of Petrus (6. The disgrace of Petrus ) and David (4. and 5. The disgrace of David s sex life / of David s professional career )

4.

Lurie s comparison to dogs:

Comparison between his desires and animals when he lets David tell Lucy about a dog their neighbours had in her youth. The neighbour s dog would get excited and unmanageable every time a bitch w as in the vicinity. Unable to live out its desires the dog had no idea what to do and chased around the garden with its ears flat and its tail between its legs, whinging, trying to hide . He continues to tell his daughter that there was no way to punish the dog, whose story is symbolic for David s current troubles, for its desires. Consequently the dog started to develop a hate for himself, a hate that could even inflict self -punishment. The dog would not have preferred to be fixed (e.g. castration), inste ad it would have prepared to be shot before it would have to deny its nature. David concludes that he sometimes feels the same, and thus his role as the servant of eros stands in line with the instinctive desires the dog could not control (90). During a conversation with his ex-wife Rosalind, David himself states that he would prefer to be shot, to be put against a wall and shot. Have done with it (66), instead of accepting the counselling. It is clear that David identifies with the dog he witnessed in the past and, just as the dog, has no understanding why he should suffer for his instincts, which, in the presence of a woman, lead to the same desires as the dog s when a bitch was in the vicinity.