Coetzee's version of post colonialism

Upon finishing Coetzee's "Disgrace", there is definitely more of a connection to post-colonialism and the relationship that forms post-apartheid. The idea of force and influence to a group of people and the effects of the residual tension that comes from this force being lifted becomes clear in Lurie's relationship with Lucy and Petrus. More clearly defined events and connection to post-colonialism seen through Lucy's response to the recent attack and her choice to keep the child that has come as a result of the rape, tie the ideas of post-colonialism much closer than the first part of the book. It does not seem as far reaching as the past relationships in the book.

The character of Petrus is one who is exemplary of post-colonialism especially as we see his shift from being a "dog-man" and Lucy's hired help to owning not only his own land, but Lucy's as well. "It is a new world they live in, he and Lucy and Petrus" (Coetzee, 117). There is a definite shift in roles and in power and many of the feelings border hatred and revenge which leads to violence. Both Lucy and David seems to symbolize what might be a colonizer placed in position where the very minute population of Africa has lost its power and is now surrounded by those whom they have oppressed. The rape and the attack they went through releases the pure hatred that these native Africans feel towards them. Lucy asks in a defeated tone, what it was she had done to evoke such hatred in these people? What had she done that made her such a target? However, all Lurie can conclude is by being"forward-looking as Petrus describes her, she wants to "make up for the wrong of the past", a task she cannot take on because it is simply not her fault. However, this raises the question of guilt for generations to come. Should we feel guilty for a past that we had nothing to do with simply because we seem to be tied as humans to one another?

As is typical with post-colonialism, there is a reverse in the roles and those who once held power now seem to have to succumb to those they ruled over. The beginning of the novel does set this up because Lurie is portrayed as a womanizer who uses sex as a way to dominate women and to maintain power, especially with his relationship with Melanie. Perhaps, when Lurie is asked to "break bread" with Melanie's family, and the alienation he feels at the table, is how colonizers now feel in the country or how the white feel in the middle of South Africa. There is of course some degree of discomfort. These feelings do not go away and the hatred that is felt towards these people does not seem to die with the age of colonialism. So, as Lurie suggests, maybe time does not heal all and although physical pain may go away, there is always that underlaying pain of the past experiences. The change that Lucy went through as a person and now having to sell her land to Petrus who has become landowner shows that they are not as primitive as was expected. They are more than the colonizers saw in them, as the woman in Lurie's life became more than just sex, but have an actual presence. As Said suggests, "...White Europeans over black Africans and their ivory, civilization over the primitive dark continent." (378)

Towards the end of the novel, I do feel sympathy for Lurie. The lessons he has learned, although necessary happened in a terrible way. It is important to see him in his transformation and his sort of reverse example of bildungsroman. Upon returning to his office, he "lets it all go to hell" and gives up any further development as a character. However, perhaps this digression needed to happen to force humanity into him. He needed to go through something like this to appreciate life and appreciate things, whether they be human or animal in a sense that exist as themselves and not part of a lower species, as many pf the colonizers saw the colonies. The first half of the book sets up the reader to detest Lurie so in the end, you might notice his change into an actual human being.