J M Coetzee: Disgrace- a (feminist) review

J M Coetzee

Disgrace- a (feminist) review

A thought provoking and sensitive novel by this talented writer- Disgrace has raised questions about the insecurities and compromises of the feminine gender that find no ready answer.

In the novel, we come across a young girl, Lucy, who opts to follow her heart instead of allowing social prejudices decide her course of life. While being involved in a lesbian relationship, she and her partner decide to set up a small farm in a corner of South Africa. The novelist follows her journey into this prized male bastion (of farming) through the eyes of her father. This father, David Lurie, is incidentally a professor in a reputed university, who has been prosecuted on charges of profanity and molestation.

We note David’s sensitive and protective reaction to his daughter’s rape that happens in the farm by a group of rowdy locals who want to usurp the farm by thus compromising Lucy’s honour. David’s reaction to Lucy is ironical in the light of his own forced affair and physical misconduct with a girl student narrated earlier in the novel.

‘Disgrace’ becomes a central motif for the novel as we see both the father and daughter strive for sustenance in a world full of social paradigms of right-wrong/to do- not to do.

It is also heart warming to note Lucy’s decision to hold onto the farm in spite of her ‘disgrace’ and achieve her version of victory for her ambitions- by marrying her male helper (who had masterminded the rape). The novel, through Lucy, portrays how even a girl of spirit and determination, is forced to compromise her most precious possession-honour, to follow her dreams.