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.
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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.
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