Of course, Coetzee puts Soraya's disgrace into context. Her case as a Muslim woman engaging in prostitution showed that her being a native of her country did not elevate her status nor improved her everyday life. She remained a prostitute who still felt the effects of poverty. Thus, for Soraya, disgrace is but a reality reserved only for people like David, white South Africans who used to have control and power in their country.
David and Lucy, his daughter, had experienced disgrace in the most conventional manner: David was stripped of his status as a professor and member of the affluent class of society, while Lucy was sexually assaulted by the robbers who invaded their farm. Both had been disgraced, though each had different reactions...
Surprisingly, Lucy accepted what happened to her, and in fact, did not consider what happened to her as a disgrace, the reason being: "...what happened to me is a purely private matter. In another time, in another place it might be held to be a public matter. But in this place, at this time, it is not." Lucy had an understanding that her rape was not a reason for disgrace, in the same way that Soraya did not consider her being a prostitute as a reason to be disgraced (at least when she's with David). It was only David who had difficulty adjusting to the new status and condition of his life who viewed the sufferings in his life as disgraceful events that he should remedy and do something about.
The issue of sexual disgrace again arises after the Lurie's daughter is raped, in a fashion that causes him to further call into question the issues of female sexuality and male protectiveness from a father's rather than a lover's point-of-view. Lurie realizes he was totally helpless to physically protect his daughter from sexual molestation. As a man and a father, he could not save Lucy from unwanted sexual danger,
Cushman, Karen. The Midwife's Apprentice. New York: Clarion Books, 1995. Plot Summary: A young girl who knows herself only as Brat is all alone in the world. About twelve years old, she keeps herself alive by stealing and begging food. She buries herself in dung piles to keep warm while she sleeps. In the small village in England during the Middle Ages where the story takes place, local boys tease her
It would depend on one's view of the legitimacy of psychoanalysis and its patchwork utility in describing a mental complex. Basil Davidson recognizes the alienated consciousness of Africans, albeit from a politico-historical rather than a psychological perspective. He phrases it in terms of forced African rejection of its own history under hopes of prospering in the new modernization the colonial system pushed for: "The future was not to grow out
All she does is avert herself: avert her lips, avert her eyes…as though she had decided to go slack, like a rabbit when the jaws of the fox close on its neck (Coetzee, 1999, p. 25). This quotation indicates that the sexual encounter between Lurie and Melanie was forced by him and a grotesque violation of her will -- and body. Most disturbing of all about this quotation and this
Achilles' speech Agamemnon's embassy Book 9 " Illiad" it Achilles reflects codes behavior heroes The Right to Pride The Trojan War was fought for a variety of reasons, the most fundamental of which was because Helen was abducted from Sparta and delivered to Paris of Troy. Yet for many of the individual combatants, and particularly for those who were regarded as heroes, the war was fought for far more personal and
American History Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson is probably the most successful symbol of historiography's advancement. There are two concepts that are reflected in the book: that the main cause of war was the slavery of black people and it was not a pleasant experience. Looking at the title, it is evident that McPherson understands that black people's status was the core of the war in regard