Intellectual The General Qualities of David Lurie

Wordsworth and the Burden of the Past. He keeps creating works of art and spends his time to do the research. It can be seen in the following quotation. He spends more time in the university library, reading all he can find on the wider Byron circle, adding to notes that already fill two fat files. He enjoys the late-afternoon quiet of the reading room, enjoys the walk home afterwards: the brisk winter air, the damp, gleaming streets Coetzee, 1999: 11. From the quotation above, it is clearly seen that David Lurie can be called the real intellectual person not only intelligent person because there are lots of people have very good brain but do nothing, but David Lurie is willing to spend his time to do research in the subjects for long periods of study. The situation and condition in his surroundings cannot prevent his research on Byron, indicating that David Lurie can work in every situation even when he is under pressure. His head is full of his project on Byron, about how he can make progress on it. This kind of situation can be seen when the day meets its end, he cannot sleep well and starts to think about his project. He gets up, drapes a jacket over his shoulders, returns to bed. he is reading Byron’s letters of 1820…he sighs again. how brief the summer, before the autumn and then the winter He reads on past midnight, yet even so cannot get to sleep Coetzee, 1999: 87. The heaviest burden on his mind is his project on Byron. Although he does other activities, he is upset when he does not make much progress on this project. It is seen when he is in his daughter’s house. He works in the garden; when he is tired he sits by the dam, observing the ups and downs of the duck family, brooding on the Byron project. The project is not moving. All he can grasp of it are fragments Coetzee, 1999: 141. 23 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI The quotation above indicates that his mind is always working to find a way to complete his project on Byron. His actions of thinking imply that he is an intellectual person. Furthermore, the fact that the University offers him the chance to teach in Communications and allows him to teach a course of the Romantic Poets imply that he is the person who has ability above the average people. He is not an ordinary person because when talking about communications, the skill to communicate well either verbal or nonverbal plays an important role, the basic and standardised understanding on this are needed. To teach Romantic Poets, one should master the culture where the poets live in and the society where the poets interact. This strengthens the ability of David Lurie as an intellectual person. A friend of his daughter, Bev Shaw, says to Lucy that she is afraid of making mistakes in grammar in front of him Coetzee, 1999: 91. Obviously, David is an intellectual person that others are worried to make mistakes in grammar. David does not have to say something to convince others that he has ability more than others do. The way he acts in his daily life somehow portrays his brain capacity in front of other people. Bev’s opinion towards David is the proof of his capacity. From the way he analyses the problem in his daughter’s farmhouse is indicated that he is an intellectual person. He tries to dig the possible causes of the robbery in Lucy’s farmhouse. He never ceases to think until he finds out the clues. It can be seen when he talks to Petrus, the assistant of Lucy, about the robbery Coetzee, 1999: 118. 24 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

2. Attractive

David Lurie is described as an attractive man. He is handsome and he has a good body shape. He can attract everyone he wants to and sometimes he can use his physical appearance to get what he needs. It is seen in the quotation as follows. With his height, his good bones, his olive skin, his flowing hair, he could always count on a degree of magnetism. If he looked at a woman in a certain way, with certain intent, she would return his look, he could rely on that. That was how he lived; for years, for decades, that was the backbone of his life Coetzee, 1999: 7. The fact in the story that he has been divorced two times Coetzee, 1999: 1 and still has other affairs depicts that he is really an attractive man. His status as a widower does not really matter to women. The women can easily fall into him. He can believe in his physical appearance to win women’s hearts. Melanie Isaacs is one of his students who cannot refuse his attractiveness. She welcomes all David’s efforts to get closer to her. When the relation between them becomes too far, Melanie does not give any objections against him at that time Coetzee, 1999: 11-20. This condition, somehow, makes David Lurie proud of his attractiveness. His steps to get Melanie’s attention and his strategy to bring her to his bed conclude that from the beginning, he believes in his attractiveness. Somehow, his attractiveness to be effective. Not only Melanie, but also Bev Shaw who cannot avoid from his attractiveness. She is married but she dares to put her marital status somewhere to make love to him. In this case, David does not do any effort to get her but she does Coetzee, 1999: 148-150. It is clear that David can attract others with the physical appearance he has. 25 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

3. Confident

The word ‘confident’ here is not a surprising fact because this quality sometimes follows someone who has quick and clever mind more than the others do. Confidence shows one’s strong quality that is positively used to face the reality. With this quality, one will always have a dream in his life because he believes that he can do the best. However, this quality will emerge as the story flows and finds its end. As a lecturer in the university, David Lurie does not meet any serious matter in teaching the subjects. He feels confident when he is teaching in front of the class. He does not care about the situation and the condition of the class. He keeps doing what he must do as a lecturer. It can be seen in the following quotation. Usually there is a buzz of talk from the students. Today there is a hush… ‘We continue with Byron,’ he says, plunging into his notes. ‘As we saw last week, notoriety and scandal affected not only Byron’s life but the way in which his poems were received by the public. Byron the man found himself conflated with his own poetic creations-with Harold, Manfred, even Don Juan’ Coetzee, 1999: 31. David seems to understand his position in the class. He knows that the way he gives the material will influence the class. If he is less confident, the students will not really get the points that he wants to share in front of the class. He needs his purposes for this class to be fulfilled. As a result, he has to control his manner in front of the class by showing his confidence. The material that he gives in the class somehow portrays his confidence in his abilities and his traits. He does not count the situation in his surroundings. He 26 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI