“Now here she is, flowered dress, bare feet and all, in a house full of the smell of baking, no longer a child playing at farming but a solid countrywomen, a boervrou.” (Coetzee 60) These are David Lurie’s words when describing his daughter shortly after arriving at her farm. Throughout Disgrace, however, Lucy proves to be a lot more intricate than just a boervrou, a farmer. Lucy proves to be a determined woman, firm in regards to her decisions. In this novel her character mirrors post-apartheid South Africans, with their ethnic and social differences, and their struggle to overcome their historical divisions.
When we first meet Lucy, we are encountered with a woman who bears little to no resemblance to David, her father, whom at her introduction to the story we’re already acquainted with. David is a man who describes in detail those he encounters, paying close attention to their choice of fashion, their image and physique. Yet when he …show more content…
Lucy has come to believe that the incident is the price to pay in order to live her days peacefully in her farm, the price for a past of apartheid and oppression of the blacks. (Coetzee 158) In the novel Disgrace, Lucy’s and her decision to not only let her raping go unreported and unpunished because she believes it is more important to keep peace and co-reside with Petrus are used to resemble the urgent need of reconciliation between the whites and blacks in South Africa. We are also shown how Lucy gives up her farm with the exception of the house and agrees to marry Petrus, despite being a lesbian, all as the price to pay to live her days out in the farm at peace. This demonstrates to us the great sacrifices whites would have to make in post-apartheid South Africa in order to close the divide between themselves and the
When we first meet Lucy, we are encountered with a woman who bears little to no resemblance to David, her father, whom at her introduction to the story we’re already acquainted with. David is a man who describes in detail those he encounters, paying close attention to their choice of fashion, their image and physique. Yet when he …show more content…
Lucy has come to believe that the incident is the price to pay in order to live her days peacefully in her farm, the price for a past of apartheid and oppression of the blacks. (Coetzee 158) In the novel Disgrace, Lucy’s and her decision to not only let her raping go unreported and unpunished because she believes it is more important to keep peace and co-reside with Petrus are used to resemble the urgent need of reconciliation between the whites and blacks in South Africa. We are also shown how Lucy gives up her farm with the exception of the house and agrees to marry Petrus, despite being a lesbian, all as the price to pay to live her days out in the farm at peace. This demonstrates to us the great sacrifices whites would have to make in post-apartheid South Africa in order to close the divide between themselves and the