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

In order to argue whether ignominy is an applicable claim for JM Coetzees clean, the keyword Disgrace has to be define. According to the Apple electronic dictionary disgrace is defined as a Loss of paper as the result of a dishonorable action. In jm coetzeess novel there argon homophiley characters and factors in their own right that argon bear upon by somewhat kind of misfortune or ignominy. However there are four characters / factors that play an strategic 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 sore-sprung(prenominal) born democratic southernmost africa, lucy lurie and her dogs. 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 versed relationships with many different women. However the af fair that stood out the most was with one of his students named Melanie and this lead to him losing his job at the university and also shaming melanie.This should dedicate been an embarrassing twinkling at this point in his degrading vogues provided cool off as edacious as he was he never got to select his lesson, as its been said in the novel by david ,No, I have not sought counseling nor do I int abate to prove it. I am a grown man. I am not receptive to world counseled. I am beyond the reach of counseling. When life got too embarrassing for him in cape town because of his loss of personality he moved to the eastern cape to live with his little girl.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 look to melanies parents, conversations with the shady petrus and the life of living 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 chagrind 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 soil for a living and who doesnt care about her beauty and self image. The bearing in which she confronts david isnt in a fatherly and daughterly manner entirely rather as two adults speaking to each opposite. This shows that lucy is disgust at the way david is living his life and that david isnt a fatherly figure in lucys life. Lucy does not disgrace herself like david but instead she lives in disgrace after she was involved in a situation where she was a victim of rape. he doesnt overcome the shame of being victimized, because in the novel its been said by david She would rather wrap up 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 finish 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 canine suffer he saves it for living a more disgraceful life than death. There is a heavy report blood 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, flat tens its ears, following with its gaze the movements of this being who does not redden bother to administer a coup de grace. A hush falls. The stay three dogs, with nowhere to hide, retreat to the back of the pen, milling about, whining softly. Taking his cartridge holder between shots, the man picks them off. (11. 91-92). The imagery of using dogs shows that every(prenominal)one in the book is subjected to some kind of pain, suffering and a bit of disgrace whether its a homosexual or an animal.In this quote it is here that the dogs are subjected to the harshness of the attackers and david has to black 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 community 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 realm 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 aggroup 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 requisition in a country it al ways leads to violence and disgraceful actions. entirely 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 touches 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.