Educated David Lurie’s qualities as the representation of the coloniser’s qualities

the local people and to make sure that he has higher status in the society than the local does. In contrast, the locals in the novel are associated with less educated people since their activity, besides take care of their farm, is only selling their own crops. This situation can be seen in the following quotation. On their left are three African women with milk, masa, butter to sell; also, from a bucket with a wet cloth over it, soup-bones. On their right are an old Afrikaner couple whom Lucy greets as Tante Miems and Oom Koos, and a little assistant in a balaclava cap who cannot be more than ten…they have potatoes and onions to sell, but also bottled jams, preserves, dried fruits, packets of buchu tea, honeybush tea, herbs Coetzee, 1999: 71. The quotation above somehow shows that there is a sharp difference between the locals and David Lurie as the main character. The locals spend their time to work in a farm. Whereas, David Lurie deals with his interest in literature and all the stuffs. It is clear in the following quotation. There is still the Byron project. Of the books he brought from Cape Town, only two volumes of the letters are left- the rest were in the trunk of the stolen car. The public library in Grahamstown can offer nothing but selections from the poems. But does he need to go on reading? What more does he need to know of how Byron and his acquaintance passed their time in old Ravenna? Can he not, by now, invent a Byron who is true to Byron, and a Teresa too? Coetzee, 1999: 121. This condition seems to highlight the quality of David Lurie as an educated person and to emphasise that the local people are weak in education. As a result, David Lurie has enough power to manipulate the locals’ ways of thinking since some of the locals do not really understand about the things outside their daily life as farmers, traders, and so on. Of course, there are some efforts coming from the rest 43 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI of the locals to maintain and to lift up their lives but here David Lurie tries to stop it with his wit. The next prestigious description showing his ability as an educated person is the one when a thought of bringing Lucy’s case before the law comes up in the middle of harsh situation that he experiences. She does not stir a finger to soothe him. ‘Your head looks terrible,’ she remarks. ‘There’s baby-oil in the bathroom cabinet. Put some on. Is your car gone?.’ ‘Yes. I think they went off in the Port Elizabeth direction. I must telephone the police.’ ‘You can’t. The telephone is smashed’ Coetzee, 1999: 98-99. At that time, David receives serious injury on his face but he spontaneously wants to call the police to fix the problem in his daughter’s house, he does not really think about his wound. The incident may bring very unpleasant situation that upsets the one’s mind and feeling but it does not work with David. He still tries to find solution for the problem that he and his daughter face. Here, it can be said that his logical mind works properly even it is in a terrible mess.

3. Oppressive

It is noted that the coloniser rules over the local in a cruel and hard way. The local does not receive any acceptable treatment from the coloniser. Of course, then, it is due to the coloniser’s will to conquer the local people and their landscapes. David Lurie as the main character is depicted as a kind of person who likes to oppress the local people. This condition makes him neglect the fact that the 44 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI locals also have the same rights as human. Certainly, the way he sees the local people influences his acts as follows: ‘No, not now’ she says, struggling. ‘My cousin will be back’. But nothing will stop him. He carries her to the bedroom,…like a rabbit when the jaws of the fox close on its neck. So that everything done to her might be done, as it were, far away Coetzee, 1999: 25. This actually shows his opinion about the local people that the locals are more meaningless and powerless than him, so the locals must follow his will. It seems David is oppressing the locals both mentally and physically. It also happens when David Lurie gives his students the materials, which always talks about European people: the language and the literary canon. He never discusses the local traditions, customs, even languages. In his eyes, the locals and all their stuffs are worthless to discuss and analyse. “Two weeks ago he was in a classroom explaining to the bored youth of the country the distinction between drink and drink up, burned and burnt” Coetzee, 1999:71. It is not without any reasons that He decides to give that kind of materials to his students. He is proud of his Eurocentric views and he wants to spread it to the locals. However, it can be said that he practises the brainwashing while he teaches the materials to his students. It is seen that he is oppressing the locals’ mindset with all of his knowledge and understanding. At this point, segregation and racial discrimination are undeniable. The European people only respects the one who is white. This attitude directly makes the different races separated and it especially becomes an advantage to a particular group. Here, David expects the locals trust and obey the European view without 45 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI