Disgrace Is an Applicable Title for Jm Coetzee’s Novel Essay

In order to argue whether attaint is an applicable prenomen for JM Coetzees apologue, the keyword Disgrace has to be defined. According to the Apple electronic dictionary disgrace is defined as a Loss of report card as the result of a dishonorable action. In jm coetzeess novel t present atomic number 18 many characters and factors in their own right that are affected by some soft of ill luck or pity. However there are four characters / factors that cope with an essential role in expressing ignominy from their actions and decisions.These characters and their actions decides if the title is appropriate for coetzees novel. The characters and factors are David Lurie, The new born democratic south africa, lucy lurie and her wieners. The protagonist of this novel is a professor who was constructively dismissed by a committee of lecturers from the university of cape town. David lurie was involved in many sexual relationships with many different women. However the affair that sto od out the most was with one of his students named Melanie and this superstar to him losing his job at the university and also shaming melanie.This should curb been an abash moment at this point in his debasing life but still as edacious as he was he never got to meet his lesson, as its been said in the novel by david ,No, I have not sought counselor nor do I intend to seek it. I am a grown man. I am not receptive to being counseled. I am beyond the reach of counseling. When life got too embarrassing for him in cape town because of his loss of reputation he moved to the east cape to brave out with his daughter.It is there in george that he found the true meaning of what his life is worth. The situation with his daughters rape, the daily dealings with animals and dogs, his small sexual encounter with bev shaw, the visit to melanies parents, conversations with the shady petrus and the life of nutrition in a new south Africa exhibited to him that his actions were disgraceful, his choices not thought out carefully and that whoever he came in contact with were either a disheartend or disgraced. Lucy Lurie, the daughter of David lurie lived on a farm in the eastern cape.She is the total opposite of David instead of being cunning and stylish, she is rather an earthly woman who works the landed estate for a living and who doesnt care about her beauty and self image. The way in which she confronts david isnt in a fatherly and daughterly manner but rather as two adults speechmaking to each other. This shows that lucy is disgusted at the way david is living his life and that david isnt a fatherly range in lucys life. Lucy does not disgrace herself like david but instead she lives in disgrace by and by she was involved in a situation where she was a victim of rape. he doesnt over go the shame of being victimized, because in the novel its been said by david She would rather hide her face, and he knows why. Because of the disgrace. Because of the shame. That is what their visitors have achieved that is what they have done to this confident, modern young woman. (14. 22). Thus this quote shows she is living in ignominy. Lucys dogs also play an important role as it shows the physical suffering that plays out in the novel. The dogs change the way in which david approaches life when he has to put them down at the clinic.In the novel David is attached to the dog with the crippled leg. Its here that he sees disgrace in not his actions but rather in death and he experiences shamefulness in not lucys situation but rather in the way the dog is forced to live. at the end of the novel instead of letting the crippled good dealine suffer he saves it for living a more disgraceful life than death. There is a heavy report snag and brains splatter the cage. For a moment the barking ceases. The man fires twice more.One dog, shot through the chest, dies at once another, with a gaping throat-wound, sits down heavily, flattens its ears, following with i ts gaze the movements of this being who does not even some(prenominal)er to deal a coup de grace. A hush falls. The remaining three dogs, with nowhere to hide, retreat to the back of the pen, mill around about, whining softly. Taking his time between shots, the man picks them off. (11. 91-92). The imagery of using dogs shows that everyone in the book is subjected to some kind of pain, suffering and a bit of disgrace whether its a human or an animal.In this quote it is here that the dogs are subjected to the harshness of the attackers and david has to bare with the pain of hearing the dogs die, david also feels a bit of ignominy as he cant do anything to save the dogs. In the novel south africa had just come out apartheid and was now a democratic government, however during apartheid south africa was a disgrace to the international friendship and apartheid was considered a shameful act. There was still racial tension in the new south africa and this plays an important role in the novel. When david moved to he land side he was not aware of the tension, and he and many other whites couldnt speak the native language which was a fact as it can be seen from this quote from the novel He is sitting in the front room, watching soccer on television. The score is nil-all neither team seems interested in winning. The commentary alternates between Sotho and Xhosa, languages of which he understands not a word. (9. 1-2) His encounters with the blacks shows that the two races were not use to each other. Thus this shows that when theres segregation in a country it always leads to violence and disgraceful actions.All four of these factors reflect that disgrace is definitely an appropriate title for JM coetzees novel. From davids actions to lucys rape and from the physical suffering of dogs to the affects of apartheid expresses the loss of reputation and the dishonorable actions which has contributed to the novel. Disgrace is the ideal word for the title because disgrace tou ches every character of the novel in some way, both through the ways they have affected others and also through the ways that others have affected them.