9. Male
The first sentence in the story says that the character of David Lurie is a man of a certain age Coetzee, 1999: 1. He is described as flatterer and he is
usually involved with woman. He uses his ability to produce beautiful sentences to get woman’s attention. ‘Because a woman’s beauty does not belong to her
alone. It is a part of the bounty she brings into the world. She has a duty to share it’ Coetzee, 1999: 16. However, David’s statement indicates that woman is
created to satisfy the sexual desire of a man. David does not give his best appreciation towards woman. His sexual needs bind him and he cannot avoid it.
Because of it, David is labelled as a ‘bad’ guy. David believes that man is the best creature. It influences him to think that
woman is in the lower rank. He always associates woman with unimportant things. It is clear in the quotation as follows.
What nosiness Curious how the whiff of scandal excites woman. Does this plain little creature think him incapable of shocking her? Or is being
shocked another of the duties she takes on-like a nun who lies down to be violated so that the quota of violation in the world to be reduced?
Coetzee, 1999: 147-148.
This statement shows his superior feeling. He, then, becomes too proud to be a man when he finds that woman really likes gossip.
10. Stubborn
In the story, the character of David Lurie is known as stubborn person. He does not really want to accept the others’ opinions although he realizes that it is
35 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
the best solution for him. He just keeps on his former understandings about the good path for himself.
Soraya, his former friend to share his bed, finds that David is stubborn. She already tells him that they cannot meet again because of some reasons but
David cannot accept it. He then does something that Soraya hates most. He rents a detective to look for Soraya. It becomes a serious problem when Soraya wants to
quit from this business, and both Soraya and David cannot meet a good resolution Coetzee, 1999: 8-10. In this case, Soraya sees how stubborn David is.
The committee from the University also finds him as a stubborn lecturer. They wants him to admit the sexual harassment as his fault and to take a
counselling service as a step to remedy, so he does not have to resign from his job. However, he does not want to do it. It is clearly seen in the following
conversation. ‘Now we are truly splitting hairs. You charged me, I pleaded guilty to
the charges. That is all you need from me’. ‘ No. we want more. Not a great deal more, but more. I hope you can see your way clear to giving
us that’. ‘Sorry, I can’t’ Coetzee, 1999: 58.
From the eyes of the committee, it is a hard job to make David understand
because he is a stubborn person. In this way, David seems to hold his views tight so that none can come in.
The dialogue between Petrus and David Lurie which talks about Lucy’s case somehow emphasises that David is a stubborn man. It can be seen in the
following quotation. ‘The insurance will not give me a new car,’ he explains, trying to be
patient. ‘Assuming it isn’t bankrupt by now because of all the car-theft in this country, the insurance will give me a percentage of its own idea of
36 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Kategori