On Lurie's And Lucy's Choices In Disgrace:a Path To Authentic Existence

John Maxwell Coetzee,a famous writer in South Africa,won the Nobel Prize in 2003.Most of Coetzee's works are rooted in the land of South Africa.He usually describes the colonial life and ethnic conflict between the whites and the blacks without euphuistical speech.Most studies at home and abroad have analyzed the themes and animal images in Disgrace from the perspective of post-colonialism,new historicism,or ecocriticism,discussing the moral issues in society as well as ethnic conflict in the post-apartheid in South Africa.There have been few studies on Disgrace from other perspectives.This thesis attempts to analyze Disgrace with Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism.With the help of the three concepts of existentialism,namely the world is absurd,free choice,and responsibility and humanism,this thesis tries to probe into Lurie's and Lucy's path to authentic existence through their positive choices and actions after their wakening from the predicaments of life.The introduction briefly discusses John Maxwell Coetzee himself and his creative achievements,focusing on the literature review at home and abroad on Disgrace;and this part also tells the reason why existentialism is applied.The main body includes three chapters.Chapterone focuses on the predicaments of Lurie's and Lucy's life in the post-apartheid period.They are rejected and alienated by their significant others,family members,and the community.Chapter two mainly discusses the positive free choices of Lurie and Lucy after recognizing the predicaments.Lurie chooses to leave for a new life after the sex scandal,and he begins to learn how to get along with others;Lucy tries to break the secular oppression in patriarchy and she chooses a solitary life.Lucy also chooses to hide the truth of rape violence.Chapter three further explains that Lurie and Lucy's active,positive choices help them improve their personality,find their authentic existence.They have learned how to love and take responsibility for themselves,others,and society.Lurie has learned to respect and take care of the vulnerable groups and lives;and Lucy is willing to make contributions to ethnic peace by her sacrifice.Last,the conclusion part gives a summary.By applying Sartre's existentialism,this thesis discusses how Lurie and Lucy make free choices to get rid of the predicaments of life.And this thesis expounds that the path is what Lurie and Lucy become kind and responsible for themselves and others simultaneously,which is the authentic existence.More importantly,the choices of Lurie's and Lucy's did can provide a new way of mediating the ethnic conflict in South Africa.