Analysis of Melanie Isaacs
Disgrace by J.M Coetzee is a remarkable novel written with a setting in post-apartheid South Africa. The author, J.M Coetzee is a South African native, gives the reader an excellent account of some issues that plague South Africa post-apartheid. The title itself describes several events of disgrace for the characters in the fictional novel. One event particular event involves the character Melanie Isaacs and the Protagonist David Lurie. Although, the novel is written from the prospective of the main character David Lurie, the fate of Melanie Isaacs in Disgrace illustrates the issues of race and injustice in post-apartheid South Africa.
Melanie Isaacs is introduced as a student in David Lurie 's Romantics course. She is a …show more content…
She is used as a sexual playground by Lurie and there is nothing she can do about it. She eventually brings it up to the school as harassment, but not by her own free will. I believe that through seeking counsel from her family made her do it. She had to come out of the dark and into the light and publicly speak about her events. Just like in the rape of Lucy Lurie, the protagonist’s daughter, due to the robbery of her home she could not fully keep quiet about the rape. She too felt disgraced and humiliated because she was used not only as a punch bag, but a scapegoat for the sins committed by whites on blacks. Melanie was practically raped and many rape victims do not want to be on public display for everyone to see. Melanie’s fate was subject to injustice because of her race. The perpetrator was never charged formally charged with any crime. This is ultimate slap in the face for the victim who must live the rest of life known as the student that couldn’t use her brains in class so she had to use her God given goods to get ahead. In the novel Disgrace, it seems apartheid was legally abolished, but rape is not considered a crime if the victim is
Disgrace by J.M Coetzee is a remarkable novel written with a setting in post-apartheid South Africa. The author, J.M Coetzee is a South African native, gives the reader an excellent account of some issues that plague South Africa post-apartheid. The title itself describes several events of disgrace for the characters in the fictional novel. One event particular event involves the character Melanie Isaacs and the Protagonist David Lurie. Although, the novel is written from the prospective of the main character David Lurie, the fate of Melanie Isaacs in Disgrace illustrates the issues of race and injustice in post-apartheid South Africa.
Melanie Isaacs is introduced as a student in David Lurie 's Romantics course. She is a …show more content…
She is used as a sexual playground by Lurie and there is nothing she can do about it. She eventually brings it up to the school as harassment, but not by her own free will. I believe that through seeking counsel from her family made her do it. She had to come out of the dark and into the light and publicly speak about her events. Just like in the rape of Lucy Lurie, the protagonist’s daughter, due to the robbery of her home she could not fully keep quiet about the rape. She too felt disgraced and humiliated because she was used not only as a punch bag, but a scapegoat for the sins committed by whites on blacks. Melanie was practically raped and many rape victims do not want to be on public display for everyone to see. Melanie’s fate was subject to injustice because of her race. The perpetrator was never charged formally charged with any crime. This is ultimate slap in the face for the victim who must live the rest of life known as the student that couldn’t use her brains in class so she had to use her God given goods to get ahead. In the novel Disgrace, it seems apartheid was legally abolished, but rape is not considered a crime if the victim is