Disgrace

will ruin him, he becomes attached to a prostitute and attempts to have a romantic relationship with her (despite her having a family), which she rebuffs. He then seduces a secretary at his university, only to completely ignore her afterwards. His "disgrace" comes when he seduces one of his more vulnerable students, a girl named Melanie Isaacs, plying her with alcohol and later, when she stops attending his class, falsifying her grades.…

In post-apartheid South Africa although, segregation between blacks and, whites ended there was still tension amongst the citizens. J.M. Coetzee’s novel Disgrace takes place during post-apartheid South Africa. Many characters in this novel represent times during the events after the separation has ended. One of these characters, Melanie Isaacs a student who has an odd relationship with the protagonist of the novel, David Lurie is a minor character that leads the novel into the plot. It is…

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…

Novelist J.M. Coetzee’s controversial book, Disgrace, caught a lot of negative attention. According to the article “Out of South Africa”, many of Coetzee colleagues called the book “racist”. The tension between races is very clear throughout the book. The representations of the black characters are negative images, reflecting white fears. In the book, there are a lot of minor characters depicted as evildoers, including the character of Petrus. Although Petrus was seen as a social climber who…

The first lecture that struck me was Willowbrook and Geraldo. I had no prior knowledge of Geraldo Riveras expose on the terrible conditions at the Willowbrook state school on Staten Island in 1972. The expose, Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace featured deformed and mentally-ill children (and adults) held in appalling conditions. The expose prompted mass outrage and calls for change. It broke my heart to see people treating others like nonentities instead of people who just need a little love,…

inspiration for many scientific studies, novels, books, articles and films. Among these famous novels we find a pieces of art called Disgrace written by the controversial author John Maxwell Coetzee. This magnificent work takes us through the unknown South Africa. Coetzee shows us how the struggles between race affected an entire culture. Lucy, one of key character of Disgrace, represent the brutality and anarchy suffered by many white…

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…

Disgrace In The Wrong Place Today in the United States almost 900 schools and organizations have Native American mascots, compared to the 3,000 that were around in the 1960’s. (Potenza) The battle over the Native Americans mascots being offensive has lasted over half of a century. It is considered to be highly offensive and racist, mostly because of the false image of Native Americans that is produced by teams. (Anastasia) While schools are more prone to change their names out of respect,…

According to the author J. M. Coetzee, the first impression that Melanie shows in the novel of Disgrace is that she is a quiet girl who is living in “Cape Town: a city prodigal of beauties” as Coetzee describes the city in the novel. The notable changes start when she meets her Romantics poetry’s professor, and he falls in love with her. The professor’s name is David. David is an older free soul man. He teaches Melanie how to behave as an adult, but she still is not responsible. It is important…

women will be honest no matter how painful the truth is. A coward hides behind lies and deceit” (Anonymous). It is true that with every decision one makes, at least two solutions will be presented, as explained in the quote above; honesty versus disgrace, in terms of the actions that may take place. Nathaniel Hawthorne spoke of the same matter in his work, The Scarlet Letter, as the man or women who communicated the beautiful words above did; both intended for all who read their writings to…