In the novel “Disgrace”, why and how does Coetzee uses animals as a metaphor, and how does animal life can be compared with the main theme of the novel?
First I am going to explain how in the book some of the animal metaphors are related with negative issues about sex and animal instincts. The main theme of the novel is the same as its title, “Disgrace”, so then I will write about how animals and humans are related in the novel and how some of them live in disgrace.
Animal metaphors start since the first chapter, starting with Soraya. David thinks that having sex with her is like copulation of snakes. I think snakes are animals that are related with bad or dangerous things, they are cold and not friendly. Although snakes also have a special appeal and a weird beauty for some people, in the book David says: “She was on their books under Exotic.” (Coetzee, 1999). David Lurie says he has solved the problem of sex rather well visiting Soraya once a week, he has the necessity of sex as an animal instinct so he goes by the easy way without feelings and in his own way.
Everything is fine with Soraya until they see each other outside the sex time. Soraya is with her kids and in that moment David becomes a predator and Soraya a mother that is protecting her cubs. Soraya disappears, she wants David out of her life and these let us know what Soraya really thought about David, I think she had a negative impression about him as someone dangerous.
Then Lurie starts behaving again as an animal following his instinct when he invites Melanie out. An attractive young girl, easy to manipulate. And the best example the Coetzee gives us in the novel is when David “forces” Melanie to have sex “…like a rabbit when the jaws of the fox close on its neck....
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... property, no rights, no dignity”. “Like a dog”. (Coetzee, 1999). David change in the novel is different, I think he acts like an animal at first and does not regret on what he did because it was what he wanted. But at the end his work is to give “dignity” to the abandoned and miserable dogs providing them death instead of a life of suffering, he became a dog man. I related this with what the teachers on the committee wanted for Lurie, they wanted him to realize that what he did was wrong and it was better to understand it before things got more complicated. But for Lurie truly apologize for something that he liked was “death”. So at the end thanks to all the disgrace he lived and thanks to his job he finally regrets of what he did and understands all the chaos that happened in his life.
Works Cited
Coetzee, J. (1999). Disgrace. South Africa: Secker & Warburg .
"The Case For Animal Rights" written by Tom Regan, promotes the equal treatment of humans and non-humans. I agree with Regan's view, as he suggests that humans and animals alike, share the experience of life, and thus share equal, inherent value.
At first, David cares that his mother treats him badly. After awhile, he doesn’t care and becomes apathetic.
1. In the book, the father tries to help the son in the beginning but then throughout the book he stops trying to help and listens to the mother. If I had been in this same situation, I would have helped get the child away from his mother because nobody should have to live like that. The father was tired of having to watch his son get abused so eventually he just left and didn’t do anything. David thought that his father would help him but he did not.
He tries to explain that in order to be happy, one must put himself in other people's shoes, to know that there is another world that you must enter that revolves around another individual. A person must learn that he must look at both sides of the road before crossing the road of judgment. Meaning that a person must think twice before judging someone due to the fact that you are incapable off reading other people's minds thus you cannot make a judgment about how tough their lives are and the daily hardships that they have to put up with. Before you start complaining about how long the line at the store is, realise that you are not the only person waiting in line and that there are other people waiting in line too just like you are. David uses plenty of metaphors and examples in order to further explain to the audience his statement. One example he uses in the beginning of the story is the fish example, where two young fish meet an older fish who asks them "how is the water", the two young fish then go on to reply by saying "what the hell is water?". After reading through the story, one realises that what the author means by 'water' is that in this scene, water is the representation of life. Thus you can think of it as the older fish asking the
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David leaves the US for Paris and resides there with his girlfriend Hella. She is a bit confused as to what she wants...
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