Disgrace Of South Afric A Middle Aged White Man Essay

It all began in 1948 when an all-white government called the National Party gained power in South Africa. It was the birth of apartheid — a political and economic separation of people (Kedari 2013). The National Party institutionalized racial discrimination for nearly fifty years. Under President Nelson Mandela, apartheid was brought to an end by the African National Congress in 1994. In the novel Disgrace, author J.M. Coetzee focuses on the early moments in the disempowerment of South Africa’s white people. Protagonist David Lurie is a middle-aged white man that lives in the city of Cape Town. He is a professor at Cape Technical University formerly known as Cape Town University College (Raj). Married twice and divorced twice, David’s personality raises questions about his relationships with the women in his life. He is not ashamed to solicit prostitutes, and has an inappropriate relationship with one of his black students, a girl named Melanie. David has a daughter, Lucy, who lives on a farm in the rural part of Cape Town. As whites in South Africa, both David and Lucy witnessed the racial discriminations against blacks during apartheid. They both are struggling to understand their places in a post-apartheid era. David’s struggles began after his affair with young Melanie became public knowledge. When presented with her allegations, he pleaded guilty without inquiring about the specifics in the allegations. He was dismissed from his teaching position and, with few