2. Supporting Characters
a. The character of Lucy
Lucy is David’s daughter from his first marriage. Lucy decided to move into a community on the Eastern Cape a year ago and the
commune’s house is the farm of Lucy. Her commune was a group of young people who self made products on a nearby market. Her father
helped her to buy the farm when the commune break apart and she convince her father that she has truly fallen in love with the place. She
has already expanded her business quite successful and has added a large number of dogs and wants to branch into cats. She also sales flowers,
potatoes, onions and cabbage in every Saturday morning where she is occasionally helped by black neighbor called Petrus in her work.
b. The character of Petrus
Petrus is a black man who is hired by Lucy to help her. In the new South Africa he buys a part of Lucy’s land and he builds a house for
himself on it. He has two wives: an older woman who lives in Adelaide and younger pregnant wife who lives with him on the farm. Petrus still
helps Lucy with her tasks but now he must be paid.
B. The Characteristics in Disgrace
1. David Lurie
a. David is a lover of women
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David is a man who has found pleasure in women in his whole life. His own past family life which growing up among women made him a
lover to women. We may see it at these sentences: “He himself has no son. His childhood was spent in a family of
women. As mother, aunts, sister fell away; there were replaced in due course by mistress, wives and daughter. The company of
women made him a lover to women and to an extent a womanizer”. p. 7
David has allowed his sexual desire to lead him. As the opening
sentence of the novel state the matter, of how David has ‘solved the problem of sex rather well”. p. 1 His solution to his sexual desire is by
having weekly visits to an exotic prostitute called Soraya who offers him sexual gratification. A solution that is surprisingly makes him a happy
man, “ninety minutes of woman’s company are enough to make him happy’ p.5. But one day it all ended when David accidentally saw Soraya
with her two children and realizes that she has a family life. He attempts to replace Soraya by having sex to many women:
former wives and tourists. He also has “affair with the wives of colleagues, slept with whores” p. 7 and even make love with a new secretary in his
department. The narrator describes David as an aging but still handsome and attractive, so he is easily finds other women.
“With his height, his good bones, his olive skin, his flowing hair, he could always count on degree of magnetism. If he looked at
women in a certain way, with certain intent, she would return his look, he could rely on that”. p. 7
He is also willing to force, to use his personality, his money and his position to get his way with women. Even “if he wanted a woman he had
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to learn to pursue her, often to buy her” p. 7. Suffer the loss of his weekly visit with Soraya and feeling his life as “featureless as a desert’ p.
11, David notices one of his young female students, Melanie Isaac sit at the University garden and pursue her. David uses his position as a teacher
to intimidate Melanie who is still junior enough and uses his power as an adult for his sexual satisfaction.
As a teacher, David has a power to influence his students, including Melanie. This is why Melanie couldn’t reject when David invited her to
his apartment and having sex with her. The writer assumes that this accident could be happen because Melanie is afraid with her lecture, in
other side, David feels that he can ask for the student to do what he wants. As a man who has divorced twice, David was a woman lover and he
usually puts his desire with the prostitute. b. David is arrogant
Even though David is aware of the fact that his affair with Melanie could result as scandal from the beginning, but he behaves indifferently of
this risk and says if the scandal would happened, ‘what will that matter?’p. 27 When the scandal is opened up, he charges of sexual
harassment. There is a university’s committee to investigate the whole scandal.
The committee sincerely wants to help David and wants him to accept counseling sessions, a minimal demand of the committee, he refuses and
sees that he does no need counseling and nothing wrong in his desire
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towards his student. He says that as a grown man he is not receptive to being counseled. He is beyond the reach of counseling.
‘The question comes from the young woman from the Business School. He can feel himself bristling. ‘No, I have not sought
counseling nor do I intend to seek it. I am a grown man. I am not receptive to being counseled. I am beyond the reach of
counseling.’p. 49 The committee wants him to apologize in public but he is reluctant
to understand of his wrong doing. In front of the university’s committee, David is also unwilling to cooperate in order to save his professional
career. David pleads guilty of the charges but he says that he is not willing to apologize. Here the narrator tried to explain his attitude.
‘I am guilty of the charges brought against me.’ ‘Don’t play games with us David. There is a difference between
pleading guilty to a charge and admitting you were wrong, and you know that.’
‘Very well. I took advantage of my position vis-à-vis Ms Isaacs. It was wrong, and I regret it. Is it that good enough for you?’
‘The question is not whether it is good enough for me, Professor Lurie, the question is whether it is good enough for you. Does it
reflect your sincere feelings?’ p. 54 From the conversation above, it shows that David doesn’t want to
loose his dignity by confessing that he was wrong and guilty of the charge brought against him. He also rejects the kindness of his friend, which ask
him to admit that he is wrong. If David admits that he was wrong, he still has a chance to continue teaching in the college.
We may see that David is also arrogant, in front of the campus media that awaits him after the university’s hearing. He says he has no
regrets and that he ‘was enriched by the experience’ p. 56 when the reporters ask him whether he had any regrets for his actions. David says he
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has never been passionate but Melanie has made him ‘a servant of Eros’ p. 52. For David’s view, his actions may not be considered a crime but
an act of passion. A passion that is not allowed in society at large and definitely not allowed between teacher and student.
c. David is anti hero Anti hero is a main character in a novel and modern drama.
Antihero is described as having lack of courage, does not resign as a hero but as the powerless victim from events which occurred unexpectedly, from
mistaken and from his positionstatus in the society.
1
The anti hero is characterized as lack of traditional hero qualities, such as trustworthiness,
courage, and honesty. 1
Powerless victim
After leaving the university in disgrace, David moves to Eastern Cape with his daughter Lucy. At the time of David’s arrival everything
is fine, and then everything change, when David and Lucy attacked by three strangers. He changes from powerful person into a powerless. He
is unable to save himself when the three of strangers blow him on the head, fainted, and lock in the lavatory. He tries to recover but ‘his legs
are somehow blocked from moving’ The man gives him a push. He stumbles back, sits down heavily.
The man raises the bottle. His face is placid, without trace of anger. It is merely a job he is doing: getting someone to hand
over an article. If it entails hitting him with a bottle, he will hit him; hit him as many times as is necessary, if necessary break
the bottle too. p. 94.
1
Hartono, Dick dan B. Rahmanto, Pemandu di Dunia Sastra, Kanisius, 1992, p. 15
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They try to burn David, luckily he still alive although his hair and his right ear are burned; his eyelid is swelled and his scalp
blistered. David powerless condition also appears when he could not save his daughter. During he was locked in lavatory, he realizes that
his daughter is in the hand of strangers. He must do something to help his daughter but he is locked by the lavatory. He batters the door,
yelling his daughter’s name and suddenly the door opened by one of the strangers. David says to the stranger to take everything what they
want and asks to leave his daughter alone but the strangers seem do not care of it and locked him in the lavatory again. All he can do is just
asking to himself ‘is it possible that what the house has to offer will be enough for them? Is it possible they will leave Lucy unharmed too?’
p. 95 But the worst crime committed of the three strangers are raping Lucy while David locked in the lavatory. The three of strangers also
killed Lucy’s dogs and take David’s car. David is helpless, powerless to protect his daughter and himself.
David is shocked by the incident and he feels like no power to anything.
‘For the first time he has a taste of what it will be like to be an old man, tired to the bone, without hopes, without desires and
indifferent to the future’ p. 107.
Moreover David sees himself as a ‘fly-casing in spider web, brittle to the touch, lighter than rice chaff, ready to float away’ p.
107. Things become worst for David when his daughter confesses that she become pregnant by the rapist and plan to have the baby. She adds
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that the one of the strangers is related to Petrus, his daughter neighbor, and become a member of Petrus household.
2 Lack of courage The next day after the incident at the farm the policemen come
to Lucy’s farm and begin to investigate. Lucy tells the whole story of the incident but does not report the rape when she is being interviewed.
David knows that it was an untruth story but he has no courage to contradict her story, ‘nevertheless he does not interrupt’ p. 109.
David is also has no courage to apologize among the public or to responsible to what he has done for his student, instead he escapes and
lives with her daughter in Eastern Cape. He has no courage to change his character, he know that he is driven by desires by having affair
with many women and with one of his female students which is the main reason he lost his job. Even he continues his desire by sleeping
with Bev Shaw, Lucy’s friend who voluntarily runs an animal clinic and married. Seems he has never learned his lesson that he has to be
more careful in his actions. 3
Selfish In the beginning David is aware that his sexual relationship with
his female student is a mistake but he behaves indifferently. He knows that Melanie is ‘no more than a child’ p. 20 but ‘his heart is lurches
with desires’ p. 20. He seeks an excuse that ‘a woman’s beauty does not belong to her alone, she has a duty to share it’ p. 16. A hero never
selfishly thinks of their own personal desire to another.
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The narrator suggests that his pursuit of Melanie is predatory in nature p. 10. David ignores every indication that Melanie repulses
him, all he cares is about his own desire. For instance when David forces himself on her at her cousin’s house even though she does not
want him to come in but ‘nothing will stop him’ p. 25. He continues his selfish sexual desire and even state ‘she does not resist. All she
does are averts herself: avert her lips, avert her eyes … not rape, not quite that but undesired to the core’ p. 25 when he seduce her.
2. Lucy Lurie
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