J. M. Coetzee

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 orchestrated Lucy’s assault to keep her land by the protagonist, David Lurie, Petrus was a very hardworking character throughout the novel building a better life for his family and himself. At the beginning of Petrus story, he is Lucy’s assistant and co-proprietor…

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…

In Disgrace, there are multiple different controversies we can explore, I have found an article that explores the controversies of rape as it is discussed in the book. The article I chose is called Rape and The Foundation of Nations in J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace, it is written by M. Van Wyk Smith. In this article he explores how the rape of Melanie and the rape of Lucy are related to our world. He also discusses how rape is almost common in our worlds history and that it is very daring for someone…

which everyone is familiar with, whether we see it through our own merits or the merits of others. Throughout J.M. Coetzee 's novel Disgrace we see the fall of a prestigious man, Dave Lurie, and how he copes with his own disgrace. The novel also gives us incite on his character and his perspective in which David sees everything around him involving the disgraces he was put through throughout the story as part of his own personal story. This statement could be elaborated upon by David 's…

Booker Prize winner and J.M. Coetzee masterpiece, Disgrace, published in 1999 “seems to be a book about endings: the end of rape, the end of morality, and the end of humanity meaning" (Bandici). The novel takes place in the post-apartheid South Africa, where the internal pressures, the anger, the inequalities and the discrimination still haunt the country as the legacy of the previous political system. The controversy behind this novel and how it shows the complex transformation suffered by a…

Disgrace, by J.M Coetzee, is a story about a man named David Lurie, but it's more on the story of a victim that was raped. Lucy Lurie, daughter of David Lurie, is a white, middle-aged, lesbian woman who was violated by three African-American men. This experience traumatizes her and changes her personality and perspectives. The trauma also sets back the relationship she has with her father. She demands neither sympathy nor justice for what has happened to her. What kind of resolve would a woman,…

Disgrace is told from narrator’s point of view which basically follows that of the main character David Lurie. That is why throughout the novel a lot is omitted, such as other characters motives and thoughts, like those of Lucy and Melanie. The author leaves them to reader’s personal understanding. On one hand it may frustrate us readers a we are always looking for clarity. But on the other hand, that is a projection of our real life, where we are so often unable to understand others. Rachel…

a friendship at all. Petrus, at the start of this narrative, is a relatively quiet and private man that is noticeably all about his business. “I look after the dogs and I work in the garden. Yes. I am the gardener and the dog-man." He reflects for a moment. "The dog-man," he repeats, savouring the phrase” (Coetzee 64). The way he labels himself as just the gardener and repeats the self proclaimed “dog-man” title could be read as sarcasm. Petrus being a fairly smart man was more than likely…

interpreting any works of literature, the role of power is usually held by a male character. In our society, more so the past, power is usually associated with masculinity rather than femininity. In these two works of literature, “Disgrace” by J.M. Coetzee and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the theme of gender related power can be well interpreted amongst the male characters in the stories. First taking a look at married female characters, the authors don’t say much about…

Character Analysis of David Lurie My character Analysis will be about David Lurie from Disgrace by J.M Coetzee. He was chosen for this topic because he is of course the center of the book, mainly because he has a lot going on in his life that can be elaborated on. David Lurie, in my opinion is in fact an interesting character who made some bad choices in his life, especially for his age. I disfavor David’s actions and choices he made. For a man in his fifties, he should not be flirting…