Abstract
The paper examines the novel "Elizabeth Costello" by J.M. Coetzee, which is about an older woman battling for animal rights and vegetarianism. The novel is analyzed in-depth at many different levels. The reviewer gives a character analysis of Elizabeth Costello, discussing her radical views and how they impact her relationships with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. The paper then gives a basic plot summary showing the results of Elizabeth's radical statements about animal rights, especially when she compared slaughtering animals to the murder of Jews during the Holocaust. The paper emphasizes how Elizabeth's views are emotionally rather than scientifically based. The reviewer believes Coetzee highlighted this aspect of her character to show how radicals, even those considered experts, can deliver unreliable information to support their extreme beliefs. The paper concludes with the reviewer expressing personal beliefs about the decision to embrace vegetarianism.

From the Paper
"Costello warns her audience that there is a high price to be paid for ignoring the horrors being perpetrated upon animals, a horror she argues is worst than the holocaust because it is an "enterprise without end, self-regenerating". She then pronounces that the slaughter of innocent animals and the experimentation exercised on animals will result in the laying of an almost biblical generational curse upon those who choose to deny what is happening all around them. She uses Germany as an example of the sin that an entire nation bears for its voluntary silence in the midst of horrible crimes."

Tags:animal rights, liberal politics, vegetarianism, South African literature

Abstract
This paper analyzes the synthesis of feminist characteristics that were introduced in the the Defoe novels and the Coetzee parody of Defoe. Additionally, it outlines some of the feminine traits with examples from the novels, then provides an analysis on the similarities and differences between all three. It also includes a look at the character Friday who is described briefly as reflecting compassion.

From the Paper
"Daniel Defoe's novels 'Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress' and 'The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders' depict heroines trapped in a patriarchal society and their struggle towards obtaining a successful life. In essence, the heroines in these stories are a clear representation of Daniel Defoe himself; a man of commerce, worldly desires and a strong, albeit wavering, commitment to religion. J.M Coetzee's 'Foe', an extension of the Defoe classic 'Robinson Crusoe', also begins with a female narrative. However, the narrative voice switches throughout the book, demonstrating multiple perspectives and choppiness in communication. While many argue..."

Tags:moll flanders, susan barton, roxana

Abstract
The paper argues that Coetzee's barbarism in this sense is more like what Strachey means, a failure to act civilized even if the social order is such that it would normally be characterized as civilized. The paper discusses how this defines the way that barbarism is not a universally accepted means of behavior, since the greater and more powerful Empire is now acting in a barbarous manner toward the enemy.

Tags:language, powers, history

Abstract
This paper analyses the role and presence of Foucauldian discourse and power in sexual and social relations in J. M. Coetzee's "Disgrace". It looks at some of the existing discourses and power relations in "Disgrace" in order to see how the characters are dominated by the power and discursive representations as the controlling forces found in the novel. In addition, the paper also studies the reactions of the antagonist and the protagonists to the social codes which are defined, legalized, and applied by the forcing discursive systems and power relations.

Outline:
Introduction
Power And Discourse: A Foucauldian Analysis
Postcolonial Power Relations And Discourse
Conclusions

From the Paper
"The study of power in sexual and social affairs in Disgrace promotes making a paradigm in which the modality of colonizer/colonized binary opposition is destroyed. Petrus is not a colonized Negro, but a man who "has a vision of the future in which people like Lucy have no place" (156). This sentence shows that the power shift is still in progress, because Lucy lives in the vicinity of Petrus, and she may marry him and submit her land to him. This alteration in power relations causes the formation of the specific discourses which brings about the blacks' reaction to the white's presence. These discursive collections do not eliminate David's pessimism to Petrus. He thinks that "Petrus engaged three strange men to teach Lucy a lesson, paying them off with the loot" (157). If so, David's unconscious signals the growth of the postcolonial power transition from colonizer to colonized. Lucy is aware of the reason for the blacks' hatred of the whites. She "acknowledges that whites are on the debit side of the ledger and henceforth will live as intruders in South Africa" (Bonnici 90). "

Tags:Petrus, lucy, south, africa, postcolonialism

Abstract
This analysis takes a narratoloigical approach and how it applies to the novel "Foe". Through this novel Coetzee seems to question the validity of the narrative theory, which believes that humans use narratives to make sense of their lives. The writer shows how the result is a bizarre and somewhat chaotic portrayal of the characters.

From the Paper
"One of the basic assumptions of a narratoloigical approach is that humans rely on narratives to make sense of their lives. Authority on narratives Julia Wood asserts that "humans make sense of themselves through stories, or narratives" (241). She goes on to say that these narratives are "most urgently sought out when experience does not make sense" (242). When an experience feels particularly bizarre, chaotic, or just doesn't fit into a preconceived construct, we seek to create and tell a narrative in order to make sense of the seemingly insensible. While this can be exemplified in innumerable ways in everyday real-life, authors also reveal this tendency with their fictional characters in novels. Characters constantly try to tell their story and want to create a narrative about an experience. Usually this narrative is effective in communicating with others and making sense of a situation. However, through writing Foe, J.M. Coetzee seems to question the validity of this principle."

Tags:characters, narratoloigical, theory

Abstract
This essay includes analysis of the way Friday is described by the author in comparison to the way he is described in 'Robinson Crusoe' by Daniel Defoe, a look at the importance of Friday's feet and what they represent, discussion of class implications,and the symbolism within the novel.

From the Paper
"In this essay, I intend to discuss the opinion that the character of Friday is central in the book Foe by the South African writer, J. M. Coetzee. I will look at the importance of his character and how he influences the story as a whole. I feel that the quote below is very true, and I shall go on to prove this in this essay. ""J. M. Coetzee deconstructs the text of Robinson Crusoe in his novel Foe, which subtly centralizes the character of Friday" (James McCorkle) Foe is a book in which Coetzee raises many interesting issues. The four main areas that are dealt with are: the treatment of the truth in narratives, pro-feminism, race and the treatment of ethnic minorities, and the truth about history. It also contains ideas about society and the class struggle. At one point when Susan speaks, it is almost as if Coetzee is talking about his own writing: "Alas my stories seem always to have more applications than I intend"" (Foe, 81) "

Tags:character, class, coetzee, crusoe, defoe, foe, island, race, robinson, symbolism

Abstract
The paper focuses on the protagonist's preoccupation with the idea of a post-modern 'oppressed subject' living in a democratic, capitalist society. The personal life and inadequacies of Senor C himself - which inspire in him an 'inner immigration' - are analyzed and contrasted against the framework of Senor C's at times contradictory and unrealistic political beliefs.

From the Paper
"In the post-9/11 geopolitical landscape, to critically engage with the moral and social implications of declaring war on a diffuse and indeterminate idea - on 'terror' itself, which, properly conceived, knows no geographical or national limit - means, inevitably, to confront what one might call the 'paradox of liberalism'. With the apparent 'advent of worldwide democracy' and, in the West, the concomitant resolution of so-called 'big issues' (civil war, overtly totalitarian governance, traditional warfare) there has been a problematic tendency of 'free' democratic states to attempt to launch an aggressive and sometimes ill-conceived abrogation of undemocratic elements (for example, terrorism, rogue states) which seeks, rather paradoxically, to secure, through force and coercion, a system of peace and freedom. In a post-Cold War, firmly capitalist polity, like the Australia in which Senor C, the protagonist of J.M. Coetzee's novel Diary of A Bad Year , lives, 'peace and security' is not just an elusive ideal but in fact is readily enjoyable but lulls, so Senor C leads us to believe, the populace into submission to a watchdog state whose existence is a violence in itself - a necessitation of the dominance of one over another. At its core, Diary of a Bad Year explores the relationship between the state and the subject who both willingly subjects himself state power and who must equally feel intense shame for the abuses and excesses of that power which circumscribes law to accommodate its banditry. In the novel there is no redemption for the oppressed that would, in other so-called 'post-secular' contemporary novels, be presented via supernatural forces or even in the narrative structure itself that pushes towards the resolution of its conflicts and thus implies a possibility for salvation. Predacity and its twins - fear and the subjection it impels - is couched in terms of the contract between the state and the so-called free market and the citizen who must march ineluctably to its drum or else stumble into obscurity, resorting to, as Senor C puts it, a kind of 'inner emigration'. While Senor C may cast this subaltern relationship with the state as inevitable - he points out, for instance, how even those people, like the French after World War II, who have a choice to begin afresh without the state as it is currently conceived cannot resist its pull - he nevertheless speaks of oppression and suffering in firmly political terms, as an extension of sociological processes, and so de-mystifies the source of human pain and suffering. The oppressed subject, therefore, is rendered so by the very forces which it is made to believe will ensure his security and freedom."

Tags:terror, post 9/11, oppression

Abstract
This paper explains that, on the surface, the title refers to the fall from grace, which the main character David Lurie has recently experienced in his professional life as a college professor, who has been left with nothing, neither romance nor vocational recourse. The author points out that the book begins by Lurie resolving to attempt to completely segment sexuality from his human interrelations with people; however, he begins to feel affection for one of the prostitutes he has implicated in his solution, an act that foreshadows his involvement with his student and his subsequent falling from his position and status in South African society. The paper relates that the title's second level or resonance refers to Lurie's lesbian daughter Lucy, who has to some extent chosen her disgrace or marginalized status.

From the Paper
"But merely because Lucy loves her work does not mean that she can avoid calamity. The issue of sexual disgrace again arises after the Lurie's daughter is raped, in a fashion that causes him to further call into question the issues of female sexuality and male protectiveness from a father's rather than a lover's point of view. Lurie realizes he was totally helpless to physically protect his daughter from sexual molestation. As a man and a father, he could not save Lucy from unwanted sexual danger, seemingly confirming what he sees as her apparent distrust and dislike of men."

Tags:sexuality, prostitutes, south-african, lesbian, dogs

Abstract
This paper explores J.M. Coetzee's view of a changing South Africa as seen through his novel "Disgrace." The paper discusses Coetzee's position as a white liberal in South Africa and shows how his views are reflected in the experiences of David Lurie, the novel's protagonist. The reviewer sees Coetzee and Lurie as experiencing a conflict regarding the post apartheid social and political climate. According to the paper, this results in cynicism and pessimism. The paper also points out that few Black characters appeared in the novel, and that these characters were described in a negative light. The reviewer saw this also as a reflection of Coetzee's ambivalence about the new South Africa.

From the Paper
"The truths surrounding Coetzee's views on racial politics are carefully embedded in his novels, leaving any ultimate meaning openly contentious. Within Coetzee's novel Disgrace are passages which reflect what Kwame Dawes: The Writings of J. M. Coetzee. Special Issue of the South Atlantic calls Coetzee's "conflicted white liberal sensibility." "

Tags:J.M., Coetzee, Disgrace, South, Africa, Apartheid

Abstract
This paper explains that J.M. Coetzee's "Disgrace", an allegory of rape and reconciliation of South Africa's past and present, depicts a "new", post-apartheid South Africa wherein deep societal changes and crimes of the past haunt the present, obscuring reality. The author points out that South Africa has one of the highest incidents of rape in the world; and, in "Disgrace", Coetzee exploits this characteristic to frame the political questions, which face the country. The paper relates that the book suggests that South Africa should recognize apartheid but to dwell on it and to blame it for the problems, will only lead to more grudges and distrust.

From the Paper
"Raped in her home by three black males, who she sees as wanting to subjugate her (159), she decides not to even mention the "truth" of what happened in order to keep peace. In Coetzee's new South Africa then, the men subjugate women as whites once did to indigenous people. Lucy's decision to give birth to the mixed-race baby represents an acceptance of past crimes and their aftermath but also a next step, for as she reminds her father, "it will be a child of this earth."(216) The infant can be seen as the new South Africa: biracial, born of hate and violence, yet one for whom "love will grow" (216). Furthermore, her refusal to return to Holland suggests that the migration trend among young white South Africans isn't the way to go. She stays "not for the sake of an idea," (105) but because to leave would be a "defeat," (161) an acceptance of the impossibility of harmonious race-relations in South Africa."

Tags:rape, allegory, reconciliation, post-apartheid, mixed-race