The Central Role of Lurie in Coetzees Disgrace Essay

The Central Role of Lurie in Coetzees Disgrace - Essay Example Thus, a story â€Å"speaks to† each person in a similar fashion. â€Å"By reading a moral story, a child learns how important it is to â€Å"live† a virtue and gains a deeper understanding of the moral life†( Narvaez 157). On the other hand, Ormond (47) concurs with this notion when he suggests that â€Å"from a Vygotskian perspective, gradual entry into adult activities enables children to engage in behaviors and thinking skills within their zones of proximal development.† In this case, the author’s development of character revolves around the language, the perception and the thoughts of Lurie, who appears to direct the character associated with all the aspects of character development. Against this background, this paper will discuss the central role of Lurie in the author’s development of different characters throughout the book. The book clearly presents the position of men and women as well as sex and the disgrace that comes with it. The author writes these ideas through the eyes of Lurie, where the reader is exposed to his spoken dialogue as well as the unspoken thoughts – which portray his discourse, desire and passions. Even though the novel is written in third person, the language, perceptions and the thoughts of Lurie dominate the narrative, which shows that character development for all others is filtered through that of Lurie. However, exposure to Lurie’s person does not present intimacy; so much as it portrays his isolation. Through the story, Coetzee represents different characters through that of Lurie. For example, he presents the position of all others – through the subjective outlook of Lurie. However, this is not entirely true; as it appears that his shallow outlook of women is what has caused his two previous divorces and his inability to connect with women. This leads to the contrast that he is