Buried Comparsion..

Although J.M. Coetzee’s novel “Disgrace” is different from Conrad’s novel titled “The Heart of Darkness”, it consist of a few similarities. While reading chapters one through six, I began to realize the power David Lurie had. It is evident that Lurie is a white working male, that has the ability to pay off prostitutes for sex. An example, would be a young African American women named Soraya, whom he’s had sexual encounters with for quite sometime. When Soraya is suddenly unavailable to meet with Lurie, he becomes aggressive, by stalking her, calling her, and even showing up at her house, wanting to know why they could not see each other anymore. The act of domination of one over another is demonstrated here. Lurie feels that he owns Soraya, and that their encounters should continue. Soraya is a young African American women, who obtains a job of prostitution. Lurie, on the contrary is a white male, that has a career in teaching. This status allows Lurie to assume he has the upper hand, and the right to control Soraya’s actions, even though she is not willing to. Similar to the idea of post-colonialism in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”. The hegemony of one group, idea, or concept over another. Another similarity that I came across was the description of people. In J.M. Coetzee’s “Disgrace”, the remaining prostitutes that are offered to Lurie, when he is unable to meet with Soraya, are described as “exotic”. “Lots of exotics to choose from- Malaysian, Thai, Chinese, you name it.” (Coetzee, 8). In Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” the humans that Conrad comes across are portrayed as “Black Shadows, Black Bones, Black Shapes”. Achebe mentions that Conrad does have a “fixation on Blackness”, someone’s color. These examples illustrate that the characters are not represented as individuals, but as “stereotypes”. Due to the women’s sexy qualities, they are depicted as “exotic”. As a result of the Africans dark complex, they are portrayed to be something other than human. Achebe, believes that Conrad “devalues” the African people. After comparing both works of literature, one is able to see how domination can be demonstrated in various ways.