J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace: Post-Apartheid South Africa Essay -- South Afr

Through the perspective of an unconventional college professor, J.M. Coetzees Disgrace addresses the transition into post-apartheid South Africa, societal acceptance and rape through David Lurie and Lucy Luries complex father-daughter relationship. man living in his daughters countryside home, David Luries experiences reveal that despite the powerful political reform, crime continues to dominate the African people. Aspects of South African business relationship are used to emphasize racial tension and the shift from a white to a black dominated South Africa. Coetzee also suggests the instability of the African society through constantly depicting his characters as emotionally unable to adapt to adverse situations. Although David and Lucy were initially introduced as polar opposites, their value of privacy and refusal to meet public humiliation and shame draw a parallel between the predator and prey of the novel. David Lurie ultimately evolves from his sexual encounters with Soray a, Melanie and Bev Shaw by realizing the traumatizing implications of his actions after the Lucys rape. J.M. Coetzee, a white South African writer, was strongly influenced by his personal experiences while he witnessed the social barriers during the apartheid. As the novel begins, Coetzee describes the sexual relationship between the booster David Lurie and Soraya, a prostitute that David routinely indulged in every Thursday. For a man of his age, fifty- two, divorced, he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well (Coetzee 1). In his mind, however, he did not put into perspective the thoughts of Soraya. He satisfied his desires at the expense of anothers emotional wellbeing. Despite Sorayas acceptance of prostitution, her reaction towar... ...Originally, David uses his situation as a white male in South Africa as his leverage and source of power, however, this tactic quickly fails and causes him to seek a new lifestyle. Lucys farm life introduces David not only to n atural beauties but the strength people have to provide the services that they do such as managing a last resort animal aid center. By the end of his experiences, he learns that he does not belong in the environment that he used to border himself with in the city, but that he enjoys himself when he has the company of animals and his daughter. His shift in standards of living and customs demonstrates the racial impacts of the apartheid. The connection between Lucys disgrace as the victim and Davids shame as the rapist demonstrates hardships both flaws. Each aspect of these flaws represents the difficulties of the apartheid in South Africa.