After reading the article on Coetzee and finishing the novel, my opinion of Coetzee had remained the same. I don't know if you can call the novel racist but it definitely deals with race issues. But how can it not when the book takes place in Africa and it's about a white family? It would be unrealastic if race didn't play a part in the novel when they are the only white family in the area. But one of the reasons why I don't consider it a racist novel is that before the event of his daughter being raped, there is almost no mention of black people in a negative way. There is no "My people or put him in his place" type of talk until after the event happened. But from the article, they were arguing why it had to be black guys. But I ask, why not? Why wouldn't it have been black people when the majority of people that live there were black. Just because it was black on white doesn't mean it was a race crime. Or at least that's how I see it. If the novel had taken place in a white surburban area and a black girl had been raped by white kids, I would not ask why did it have to be the white kids that raped her but I would think, it makes sense being that the whole area is full of whites. I don't know, maybe I am being naive but I didn't read the novel as a racist one and if you only look at the novel as a racist one, you are missing out on the other aspects of the book.



I think authors in general have to be aware of what they are writing but in the same degree, it's fiction. They have to be aware of the audience that they are writing to but in the same time, books and stories in general that are controversial usually are some of the best works. I don't know, I don't think it is a racist novel but then again I think Do The Right Thing is one of the most racist films out there.