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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Coetzee's Disgrace and the Fall from Grace

Humanity has always been interested in defining our own identity and with this comes explaining or qualifying our own actions, including our desires. J.M. Coetzee grabs the audience's attention by exploring this idea of desire in terms of sexuality. In society today, about 33% of the world defines themselves as Christian and Catholicism accounts for greater than 50% of those Christians. Catholicism worldwide is the second largest single religious group. What this means is that there is a large portion of the world who relates or gives some credit to the Adam and Eve creation story. General culture is aware of it and plays with the idea and desire in general in ads, media, and industry. Desire is a key driving force of our society. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96gBpOAw5MQ&feature=related
The idea is appealing today just as it was to Eve in the story of the Fall from Grace. When Eve indulged shame was created and thus disgrace. In Coetzee's disgrace we can see Lurie's seeming fall from grace into disgrace. The question of sexuality's presence in human nature is in effect a driving force of the novel.

1 comment:

  1. I agree, I see it in the sense that if there was no desire, there would be nothing to work for. Desire for success is why I went to college for example. In terms of sexual desire in the novel, I feel like he had no filter on his sexual desires, whereas a normal person kind of tries to censor whom they pursue relative to what is political and socially acceptable.

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