DISGRACE - A Story of Unrecognized Growth

Disgrace – A Story of Unrecognized Growth

A college literature professor and a twice divorced father at fifty two years old, David Lurie is a complex man. His life and actions appear to be guided by his desires, even when those desires lead him down a path that causes him to lose his job and his friends. Yet from the shadow of shame comes the journey of a fallen man. His misdeeds lead him to spend time with his daughter on the coast, where a series of events give him reason to evaluate himself and his life, ending the book in maturity he otherwise lacked. Disgracedeals with tough moral and historical issues in post-apartheid South Africa in a hauntingly beautiful way, delving into the complexities of man and emotions. As a story of hardship and the subsequent growth (albeit unnoticed at times) this is a very worthy read on a social plane as well as a literary one.

            As I was thinking about what I wanted to write my blurb on, I was thinking about what I could take away from this novel.  I decided that what impacted me most was the complexity of the characters and the way they developed throughout the novel, especially Lurie.  For all of his faults I did find Lurie a character that grew, even if he didn’t realize it.  In the beginning, he was all about sex.  “He existed in an anxious flurry of promiscuity.  He had affairs with the wives of colleagues; he picked up tourists in bars on the waterfront or at the Club Italia; he slept with whores.” (p. 7).  Eventually he even slept with a student of his who was barely willing, an all-time low, and a sign of extreme immaturity.  He moves on and winds up sleeping with a woman he finds repulsive upon their first meeting, but yet from it you can almost sense the maturity beginning to set it, even if the act itself is somewhat repulsive (if only because of the reaction he gives).  “Let me not forget this day, he tells himself, lying beside her when they are spent.  After the sweet young flesh of Melanie Isaacs, this is what I have come to.  This is what I will have to get used to, this and even less than this . . . . And let him stop calling her poor Bev Shaw.  If she is poor, he is bankrupt.” (p. 150).  This segment switches from his voice to that of the omniscient narrator, but both show his sense of wrongness of actions and unwilling maturity.  From that point he even matures more to where he doesn’t use Bev Shaw for sex, they merely lie together and talk.  “The sun is going down, it is getting cold.  They have not made love; they have in effect ceased to pretend that that is what they do together.” (p. 162).  Even though he is only aging a matter of weeks or months throughout the novel, David gains years worth of wisdom and maturity in that short time.  Not only does Laurie mature in the area of sexual relations either, he matures in the ability to hold himself accountable.  In the beginning he has an issue submitting to authority and writing an apologetic statement, but by the end of the novel he offers this statement, “I am sorry for what I took your daughter through.  You have a wonderful family.  I apologize for the grief I have caused you and Mrs. Isaacs.  I ask for your pardon.”  That is a monumental step for him.  He arguably meant it as well.  Another point of growth for him was in relation to dogs.  He went from the mindset of them being pets and nothing more, to taking it upon himself to dispose of the dead dogs bodies.  From there he even gives up a dog he has a special attachment to.  “The dog wags its crippled rear, sniffs his face, licks his cheek, his lips, his ears.  He does nothing to stop it. ‘Come.’  Bearing him in his arms like a lamb, he re-enters the surgery.” (p. 220).  David Lurie does not have an easy life.  Some of his problems were his fault, but others were unforeseen circumstances, and all of them led him to grow as a person.  Even if I don’t agree with his person, I must give him that credit.  What do you all think of him in that way?