Manifestation of Shame and Guilt in the Process of Individuation in J.M. Coetzee''s Disgrace

• Main Authors: Chung Pin-yu, 鍾品玉
• Other Authors: Liao Pen-shui
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/41202327162756289615

碩士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 92 === The Booker Prize for fiction was awarded in 1999 to the South African novelist J. M. Coetzee for Disgrace. The novel explores the troubling tensions between races, generations and sexes in South Africa. Coetzee uses the story of a South African professor’s fall from grace as an allegory for post-colonial and post-apartheid life. In this thesis, I attempt to present the two characters’, Lurie and Lucy, process to individuation through the manifestations of shame and guilt. Each of the characters has gone through the experiences of shame and guilt. In order to reach individuation, the characters have to overcome their inner shadow, as well as confront the anima/animus nature inside them. Therefore, through a Jungian reading, the readers can get a better understanding of how the characters’ psychological changes lead them to the process to be differentiated individuals. This thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter introduces the main ideas and motives of my thesis, as well as the context of the novel. In the second chapter, I will distinguish the similarities and differences between shame and guilt according to Jungian approach are discussed. In the third chapter, how Lurie and Lucy come to realize individuation despite of their downfalls is depicted. Finally, chapter four sums up the outcome of the process of individuation and analyze the characters’ newly established relationships among one another. In short, Disgrace is a provoking novel, which reflects the social, racial, gender, and historical issues in South Africa.