The Symbolism in Animals J.M. Coetzee’s novel, Disgrace, follows the misfortunes of David Lurie. David is a 52-year-old divorced professor with no moral compass. He is very self-involved and does not care about anyone else. The only reason he tries to have a relationship with his daughter Lucy is because he has nothing better to do. The author uses dogs to show David’s life after his divorce. Each dog shows the progression of David’s character. The first dog shows how David feels when he loses his job and friends, the second group of dogs show the failed attempts at a relationship with his daughter, and the last dog shows David’s realization that he needs to move on from the past.
The novel follows the life of a lonely professor …show more content…
The three men enter Lucy’s house claiming they need to borrow her phone, but they attack her and David. The men rape Lucy, set David on fire, and shoot the dogs in the kennel. ‘There are the dogs. Dogs still mean something. The more dogs, the more deterrence. Anyhow, if there were to be a break-in, I don’t see that two people would be better than one.’” (Coetzee 58). Lucy explains that she does not need another person staying in her house, she only needs her dogs. Lucy has been alone for a while and does not need her father’s protection. Proven by this event, is the fact that David is unfit for fatherly duties of protecting the family. One dog was shot in the neck but was still breathing, and symbolizes David, who was previously set on fire and locked in a bathroom. David empathizes with this dog because he is also dying psychologically because he lost his job, his wife, his physical appearance, and now his relationship with his daughter. A father’s job is to protect the family, and because David was unable to do that, David thinks that Lucy hates him for it. The dog that was shot in the neck symbolizes how David feels because he is no longer able to change the relationship he has with Lucy into a meaningful father-daughter relationship. He regrets that he was never able to truly make a connection with her because they never had a common interest, …show more content…
David was incredibly lonely at the beginning of the novel, and he was looking for affairs with inappropriate people. It took extreme trauma to himself and his daughter for David to rearrange his priorities. Instead of focusing on his past, as he has been doing, he needs to focus on the future and the present. Animals are significant characters in the book because they provide the reader with how David is feeling. He never tells anyone how lonely or sad he is, but each dog that he meets shows his
The novel follows the life of a lonely professor …show more content…
The three men enter Lucy’s house claiming they need to borrow her phone, but they attack her and David. The men rape Lucy, set David on fire, and shoot the dogs in the kennel. ‘There are the dogs. Dogs still mean something. The more dogs, the more deterrence. Anyhow, if there were to be a break-in, I don’t see that two people would be better than one.’” (Coetzee 58). Lucy explains that she does not need another person staying in her house, she only needs her dogs. Lucy has been alone for a while and does not need her father’s protection. Proven by this event, is the fact that David is unfit for fatherly duties of protecting the family. One dog was shot in the neck but was still breathing, and symbolizes David, who was previously set on fire and locked in a bathroom. David empathizes with this dog because he is also dying psychologically because he lost his job, his wife, his physical appearance, and now his relationship with his daughter. A father’s job is to protect the family, and because David was unable to do that, David thinks that Lucy hates him for it. The dog that was shot in the neck symbolizes how David feels because he is no longer able to change the relationship he has with Lucy into a meaningful father-daughter relationship. He regrets that he was never able to truly make a connection with her because they never had a common interest, …show more content…
David was incredibly lonely at the beginning of the novel, and he was looking for affairs with inappropriate people. It took extreme trauma to himself and his daughter for David to rearrange his priorities. Instead of focusing on his past, as he has been doing, he needs to focus on the future and the present. Animals are significant characters in the book because they provide the reader with how David is feeling. He never tells anyone how lonely or sad he is, but each dog that he meets shows his