Paper 2 HL – Sample 1.1 – Disgrace, Pygmalion
The books Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee in South Africa in 1999 and Pygmalion G.B.
Shaw in Britain in 1914, could not be any different, both located on different sides of
the world and happened with nearly a century in-between. Still the main themes of
the books are very closely related, gender levels and social levels. The coloureds of
Disgrace have comparable rights to the lower classes of Britain in Pygmalion. Not
only classes have different rights, but also gender and parental issues have an
influence on the books.
The relationship between David Lurie and Lucy Lurie is very different than a
standard father-daughter relationship. Lucy earns a living from selling flowers and
vegetables on a market and housing dogs on her farm, and David is a professor on
the university of Cape Town. The two could not be more different, except disgrace
combines them. David has been fired from his profession as professor for having a
relationship with one of his students, and Lucy has been raped by three coloured
men and got pregnate from this event. Although the three men are strangers, Lucy
calls the rape “personal” and says they have “marked” her. After this event there is a
clear division between “men vs. women” and David belongs to the side of these
three men. David's affair could also be seen as rape, David’s position of power is an
advantage over the student, Melanie. When David has been prosecuted, the
boyfriend of Melanie tells David; “to stick his own kind.”
The gender difference is also very clear in Pygmalion, Mr. Higgins uses the woman
Liza Doolittle to win a bet. When Liza finds out about this bet, she runs off and hides
at Mrs. Higgins place. Higgins mother does not tell her son that Liza is hiding in her
house. She chooses the girl over her son. Liza's father also wants to sell his own
daughter to Higgins for “five pounds”, A regular father would protect their offspring
while he tries to sell it for a couple of whiskeys. The class differences in Britain are
not only by income, but also on the accent of the language they speak. Higgins can
define where a person is from just by the accent they speak. Higgins teachings can
disrupt this system by having Liza Doolittle speak with an upper class accent while
she is lower class.
These two books both have family relationship issues, in Disgrace Lucy and David
and in Pygmalion is Mr. Higgins and Mrs. Higgins and Mr. Doolittle and Liza Doolittle.
These women believe that the men do not understand what they are feeling. David
only wants justice and wants the rapist to be prosecuted. Mr. Higgins only wants to
win the bet and does not see what effect it had on the emotions of Liza. Mr. Doolittle
has always been lower class, just as Petrus working on the farm. Both fight their way
up, Mr. Doolittle get a huge inherence and Petrus threatens Lucy with the rape, and
for protection Lucy signed the land over to petrus. The lower class in Britain is
comparable to the coloureds of South Africa, their rights are suppose to be equal as
everybody else, but still the rich and white are the ones ruling the country.
Even thought the books could not have any relation to each other, because they are
from whole different society systems and different times. Pygmalion’s social issues
© Brad Philpot, InThinking
www.englishalanglit-inthinking.co.uk
1 are comparable to the post-apartheid of South African Disgrace. Gender and
parental problems occur in the books. Although parents always want the best for
their children, Mr. Doolittle is not concerned by what happens to his offspring. David
could not stop the rape of his daughter, that is also the main reason why she keeps
him as far as possible from the truth of the real story. Mrs. Higgins understands the
feelings of Liza and chooses her side rather than her son's. © Brad Philpot, InThinking
www.englishalanglit-inthinking.co.uk
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