Colonialism & Coetzee's Novel

00013621Colonialism & Coetzee's NovelFP
Disgrace, a winner of the Booker Price award, is a novel written in 1999 by a South- African born author--- J.M. Coetzee CITATION Dom09 \l 13321 (Head 2009). Four years after the publication of the said book, Coetzee won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature, a proof of the great impact the book has made to the society. In fact, The Observer, a respected newspaper in the United States, named Disgrace as "the greatest novel of the last 25 years" which was written in the English language outside America (Gallaghe 1991).
The novel centres on David Lurie, a South African professor of Communications--- specializing in Romantic Literature. At the age of 52, he was demoted from being a professor of modern languages to adjunct professor of communications. He was divorced twice and was dissatisfied. He met a whore to satisfy his longings, and later on seduced one of his students. He has done nothing to protect himself from the consequences of his actions. He was dismissed of his teaching profession, and he took refuge on the farm of his daughter. For some time, the daughter`s influence and the rhythm of the farm was promising harmony in his discordant life. Shortly after being accustomed to the life in the countryside, he was forced to face "the aftermath of an attack"--- his daughter was raped and he was assaulted violently (Attwell 1993).
Coetzee`s Disgrace looks like a form of literary drama--- one that promises to thug the emotions and leave a strong impression. It is a story bound to teach people about lessons in life, most specifically about forgiveness and redemption. It is, like most novels, promises to show people`s humanity as they search for meaning and acceptance. Nevertheless, looking at the novel from a different light, we can see that this novel--- a highly must-read one--- offers more than what we expect. This offering can be more understood as we look at the historical background of the literary work.
Disgrace is made by Coetzee, an African- born. With that in mind, the novel he made is mirroring the situations in his country. Fred Pfeil, in fact, listed Coetzee as "one of the forefronts of the anti-apartheid movement within Afrikaner literature and letters. (Poyner 2000)" When Coetzee accepted Jerusalem Prize in 1987, he mentioned about the limitations of art in the South African society, a society that has a "deformed and stunted relations between human beings and a deformed and stunted inner life (Richmond 2007)."
Coetzee further stressed his view on South African literature. He mentioned: ""South African literature is a literature in bondage. It is a less than fully human literature. It is exactly the kind of literature you would expect people to write from prison CITATION Ros06 \l 13321 (Jolly 2006)." With this perspective in mind, he called on the government in his country to abandon its apartheid policy. Isidore Diala, a scholar, considers Coetzee and two other writers as "three of South Africa's most distinguished white writers, all with definite anti-apartheid commitment (Diala 2002)." This depth of nationalism was the turning point of Coetzee, giving birth to his famous novel Disgrace.
Based from this historical background of the writer himself, we can see the depth of the novel`s literary approach. Disgrace is written as an allegory of South Africa. He has written it after acquiring his Australian citizenship. When he moved there, he wrote about the lax attitude of the South African government. As the story unfolds, Disgrace is novel that shows THE REMNANTS OF COLONIALISM, THE RACISM IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA, and THE LIFE OF THE WHITES AND BLACKS TOGETHER IN ONE COUNTRY AS THEY STRUGGLE FOR RECONCILIATION.
The novel mirrors the legacy of colonialism in the New South Africa. The instance in which hoodlums attacked and raped Lurie`s daughter is one. In this part, Lucy describes the violation not as sex but as "Subjection and Subjugation." As the novel has imparted, Lucy is a white living in a black society. The attackers are black. The situation that happened seem like a pay back to those years of colonialism the blacks face. As the issue of racism is becoming bleak in the African society, there is a reason not to report the matter. Lucy explained it well when she said,
"The reason is that, as far as I am concerned, 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. It is my business, mine alone." This place being Africa.
In this passage, it is evident that both the Blacks and the Whites have still a different perception of each other. In the eyes of the Whites, negative actions taken against them by the blacks are necessary to heal the wounds of apartheid. In the eyes of the Blacks, actions taken by them are to show the pains and sufferings they had that are now buried in history. (O'Neil 2004)
Equally significant, Disgrace has shown the long history of racism--- which cannot be denied that it is still a big issue in South Africa in the present era. This issue of Black oppression is further taken with a serious seat when David mentioned:
"As for the animals, by all means let us be kind to them. But let us not lose perspective. We are of a different order of creation from the animals. Not higher necessarily, just different. So if we are going to be kind, let it be out of simple generosity, not because we feel guilty or fear retribution."
Black people are seen as ani...