Sex Scene in the Book "Coetzee, J.M."
Having passion or desire for another individual is not indicative of shame. Instead, sex is highlighted as a superiority symbol because mutual and consensual relationships are not respected. In the novel, the tension between feminine shame and transcendent masculine disappointment—which is what we'll be focusing on—was created by the tension between shame and disgrace. The history of shame and the female figure were connected. A feminine character associated with the female body was strengthened by the past practices which referred to the female body as an object of sexual shame (O'Sullivan, Lucia, et al., Pg.105). In the novel, shame was viewed to be a characteristic of female that was considered as a concealment of genital deficiency. Restraining and protection of privacy by the female were distinct from the male roles in the work dynamics and public (Mezie, Margaret, et al., Pg 79).
Lucy's Traumatic Experience
Lucy, whose home was once filled with people, now remains deserted as she stays there alone. Three black strangers force their way into her house one afternoon. Lucy had to go through a horrible experience of gang rape by the two men and one boy who were the three black strangers while locked up in the toilet. After the incidence, she had gone through trauma or traumatic sexual experience. The experience is an assault as the victim transformed her views on male and female as well as her relationship with the people in her life. The trauma she was experiencing would have resulted in her seeking assistance from the authority, but then she was reluctant. Depression overtakes her thoughts, and she spends all nights awake and falling asleep during the daytime. Before the rape, Lucy was willing to open up about her personal experiences to her father David, but then she silences after the rape. She appears to think of David as having the same character traits as the gang rapists which coincidentally was true.
Tension Between Lucy and David
Tension and conflicts commenced between Lucy and David, as David claimed that they would go and live in a more civilized society as Lucy was seen to think of him not in a situation to offer anything useful. The raping of Lucy by the gang rapists seemed to restrain her to their land and people rather than moving to another area. While she was at Petrus party, the gang boy showed up and even when Lucy is so disappointed at seeing him, she did not call on the police so as not to disrupt the event therefore moving out quietly. Lucy then found out that she was expectant from the rape and decided to marry Petrus to protect the evil deeds. "I am determined to be a good mother, David," she says to him. You should try to be a good person too." In this case, Lucy did not present herself as a victim or a one who was taking revenge. The novel ends with the notion that Lucy was tied to her country. Though her actions brought out the message of what might have been happening, we miss out the access to her thoughts.
Lurie's Sexual Relationship with Melanie
Lurie is said to have sex with Melanie three or four times where she becomes less active. Later she decides to place charges against him on harassment. While the investigation was still on, he pleads guilty but refuses to confess, and therefore the case was dismissed. The action leads to the judgment that the sexual relationship between the two is rape. Due to the limitations of the disgrace views, Melanie's opinions and perceptions are not showed. Therefore, the reader has only access to David's action of the rape though he does not consider it exactly like rape. "Not rape, not quite that, but undesired nonetheless, undesired to the core. As though she had decided to go slack, die within herself for the duration, like a rabbit when the jaws of the fox close on its neck, so that everything done on her might be done, as it were, far away." The use of fox and rabbit in the passage points out that David already knows Melanie's thoughts. David Lurie is unique amongst others rapists as he gives an exchange like the monetary exchange to the girls and women that he rapes.
Disgrace: A Sign of Supremacy
Disgrace sex is portrayed throughout as a sign of supremacy. David Lurie connects the idea of power with the body by his views towards female and sex. David grew up in a patriarchal society where social values were observed, and they positioned men above women. His upbringing can be argued as the influencer of his conducts to unacceptably treating women resulting in disgrace. His political, social values on females are seen in the relationship with Melanie, his student. Rosalind, through a narrator, talks about their marriage with David as passionate recrimination due to misconduct and irresistibility to temptations. His nature is said to attract wrongdoing and be a Byronic hero with the political incompleteness of being ideologically influenced by apartheid which draws him to Melanie. The novel brings out power in operation at institutional level where the disciplinary hearing could do more than the past years where white men exploited black women.
Abuse of Power and Changing Perspectives
The abuses of academic powers should be discouraged. He also feels that as a white man he is entitled to abuse of social and authority powers in a society with racism. David points out that, "It is not possible to deny the authority of suffering and therefore of the body for political reasons. the suffering body takes this authority: that is its power" (248). Women are seen as objects, the cheap thrill which the man is in full charge of power by taking advantage of their silence. Lurie is a highly controversial protagonist who is not sorry for power abuse, but after sleeping with his student, he loses the authority. When the three black men came in and beat him as well as rape his daughter, David changes to seeing life from a different perspective by humbling himself in the father-daughter relationship.
Things Fall Apart: Lucy and David's Relationship
During her childhood life, Lucy's relationship with her father was not right as he did not make him know well about the other gender as he lived in a family of women. She says that she made her father "made him a lover of women," womanizer', which destroyed their bond since she fears that she showed her too much love. David is aware of Melanie and finally accepts the mistake to him yet takes Lucy's rape case in a heavier way since he is her father. Melanie's attack was well admitted as a victim due to her color, but Lucy's attack is viewed as post-colonial results depicting that the attack was about history but not a personal issue. He does not dismiss race during her daughter's harassment as he said that if the thugs were white, she should not have been silence portraying that black rapists were aggressive compared to the whites, therefore justifying his deeds on Melanie. David is wild to the changes in the society till the enforcement to him by the attack leading to him to humbleness. He now knows empathy by changing the politics behind his being as he realizes that the suffering of the dog and he considers that above his very own suffering. The action elevates his action by showing care of creatures whether alive or dead. He changed to a man of good morals from a sexual addict (Katharine & Rachel, Pg 45).
Disgrace and its Impact on the Characters
All the characters in the play suffer disgrace in some ways. Everyone went through some serious physical injuries. While we do not see Lucy being raped, we get to learn of the changes in her life as she stays in her house without the urge to mix with other people. Lurie has his worries about Lucy from the assault and some more worries after his sufferings which interfered with her peace of mind as well as his body. The narrative is a tale of rape victims where Lucy is one of the victims yet is silent. She seeks for neither sympathy nor justice for the assault on her by the gang rapists. Therefore she ends up having emotional suffering since she remains in the house alone and does not want to hang out with people.
Gender Inequality and the Role of Sexuality
Gender inequality played a major role in the country where women were not treated same as the men. The sexual violence brings out the social classification to which gender, standards, and race were applied. The male showed their masculinity by the way they treated the females in the society (Kilonzo, Nduku, et al., Pg.15). Petrus explains that he wanted a boy as his first child to show the girls the way to have morals. The idea shows that he values mostly males to female regarding ideas. The three strangers at Lucy's place explain the masculinity factor undermining the feminists. The novel is keen on the sexual deeds by the male and female where the gender roles are highlighted. David is a person who one is able to tell or read his thoughts through the narrative. He leads the reader to groan though spends much time analyzing his thoughts as we watch his decline as we feel for him. His life is stagnating as he is not growing any young yet not advancing personally or professionally. Some things disturb him as he worries about becoming older and dreams of Melanie with her little body. Meanwhile, other issues start cropping up in his mind. The problems are later enclosed with some more demanding ones after Lucy was attacked. When David spent most of his time with the dogs helping them to sleep, it did not assist emotionally though gave him a purpose of living. Lastly, he comes out as a guy who tries his best but does many wrongs along the way.
Work Cited
Katharine Wood, and Rachel Jewkes. “Violence, Rape, and Sexual Coercion: Everyday Love in
a South African Township.” Gender and Development, vol. 5, no. 2, 1997, pp. 41–46.
Kilonzo, Nduku, et al. “Sexual Violence Legislation in Sub-Saharan Africa: the Need for
Strengthened Medico-Legal Linkages.”Reproductive Health Matters, vol. 17, no. 34, 2009, pp. 10–19.
Mezie-Okoye, Margaret-Mary Ifeoma, et al. “Sexual Violence among Female Undergraduates in
a Tertiary Institution in Port Harcourt: Prevalence, Pattern, Determinants and Health Consequences.” African Journal of Reproductive Health / La Revue Africaine De La Santé Reproductive, vol. 18, no. 4, 2014, pp. 79–85.
O'Sullivan, Lucia F., et al. “Gender Dynamics in the Primary Sexual Relationships of Young
Rural South African Women and Men.”Culture, Health & Sexuality, vol. 8, no. 2, 2006, pp. 99–113.
