In essence, when the weaker partner feels cheated, disgrace falls on Lurie. She then registers complaint, and the same thing is not really perceived in a similar sense. The student was not forced, although she remained muted throughout the process. He gets sacked for alleged sexual harassing. In addition, Petrus wants to marry Lucy as a second wife to keep rising the social ladder (“Disgrace Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory”).Īllegory is also used when Lurie encounters his first disgrace. This is an allegory which states that rape and robbery are aimed at giving clear signs to Lucy that she should live a new lawless way in the countryside or leave land to Petrus (Coetzee 55-69). Lucy later finds out that she is pregnant of one of the rapists and works on to protect herself. This is evidenced in the novel when his close allies rob and gang-rape Lucy while stealing Lurie’s car. He utilizes his political influence to show Lucy that if she wants to live, she has to be ready to leave the land. For instance, Petrus, Lucy’s assistant, is very influential in the countryside. Allegory is used throughout this novel as Coetzee tries to express the real meanings of the actions in South Africa in the post apartheid era. Use of Allegory in DisgraceĪllegory is defined as a figure of rhetoric that uses a figurative mode of expressing something through symbols instead of providing the verbal meaning of things. In sharp contrast, the native who lives with Lucy gains dominance this may be seen as an allegory to represent blacks’ dominance in power (Langa, “Disgrace – by J.M. He moves from his high social status to the low life and has no other option but to accept it. Further, disgrace follows him in the countryside where his daughter is gang-raped and car stolen. First, at the university, he receives full punishment for alleged sexual harassing of one of his students. The author uses a protagonist known as Lurie to convey disgrace.

Disgrace de coetzee