Disgraced Tackles Racial Tensions - Book Report/Review Example

Racial Tension and Trauma in Disgrace, Unclaimed Experience and I, Rigoberta Menchu In her book Unclaimed Experience, Cathy Caruth describes trauma as “an overwhelming experience of sudden, or catastrophic events, in which the response to the event occurs in the often delayed, and uncontrolled repetitive occurrence of hallucinations and other intrusive Phenomena” (181). Caruth explores the significance of history, political effect and how history is manifested in the present society. Further, she argues that reference to history is not meant to eradicate it but allowing it to resurface where it may not immediately comprehended. Disgrace and I, Rigoberta Menchu are novels presenting the effects of the historical racial tension and trauma to the contemporary society. Apartheid and colonialism resulted in racial tensions that led to death, discrimination and acts of terror against the society. This resulted in trauma that continues to haunt the victims. By narrating the past traumatic ordeals, trauma survivors receive a new awakening that enables them to overcome the trauma and prevent it from extending and inclusion into families and culture. Racial tensions, wars and genocides that were experienced during the twentieth century have long lasting psychological impacts addressed through literature. Cathy Caruth argues that traumatic events are too abrupt to be acquainted by the mind that experiences them; hence they are kept for a later date. As a result, people involved in traumatic encounters experience the events at a later date through flashbacks and nightmares (181). However, by sharing the traumatic stories verbally or written, a bridge is created between the listeners and the individual. Sharing of past traumatic stories enables the mind to process the events. The memory of the narrator might be individual or collective to represent the views of a given group. Caruth argues that traumatic events shatter the female victims’ “experience of time, self, and world” (Caruth 4) The novel Disgrace explores the history of South Africa during Apartheid. The author examines the tension and disagreements between the native inhabitants and the while colonizers, and the impact of the colonial aftermath to the current society. The novel depicts interracial prostitution and rape as a source of colonialism trauma. The story is narrated by David Luri, a 52 year old divorced professor, whose sexual encounter with his student, results in a huge scandal. David narrates his story from an individual perspective as well as that of a White beneficiary of colonialism. Throughout the story, David illustrates is individual consciousness and those of the while colonizers on apartheid and trauma resulting from the racial tensions. On the other hand, historical tension and trauma is manifested when Rigoberta Menchu a Guatemalan native describes to Elizabeth Burgos, how her family members died in the 1980 genocide. Although Menchu was not present in many of the accounts she narrates, she collectively assembled the stories as a way of narrating the painful history of her family and Guatemalan genocide. Menchu claims that her story represents the political suffering experienced by all the people of Guatemala “My personal experience is the reality of a whole people (Menchu 1). The historical narrations of these two stories make history because of the delayed comprehension of the historical racial tension and trauma. The novel Disgrace explores the magnitude of sexual harassment as an element of racial tension and trauma though David’s perspective. David’s relationship with Soraya, illustrates how he did not value the marriage institution in the society “It surprises him that ninety minutes a week of a woman’s company are enough to make him happy, who used to think he needed a wife, a home, a marriage” (Coetzee 5). When his relationship with Soraya ends, David’s sexual desire causes him to prey on his student. David justifies his action of rape as his right to desire. Through the eyes of the whites, David does not feel remorseful towards his actions as he disapproves the hearing of his case in the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He shows that he does not believe in repentance and he is not willing to repent his actions “These are puritanical times. Private life is public business. Prurience is respectable, prurience and sentiment. They wanted a spectacle: breast-beating, remorse, and tears if possible ... I wouldn’t oblige” (Coetzee 66). David justifies himself and blames Melanie for the rape. “Not rape, not quite that, but undesired nevertheless, undesired to the core” (25). David is an epitome of the white race against Melanie the black race. He exercises the superiority of the whites by sexually assaulting his student instead of being her protector. Land has often been the tool of racial declaration of power during the colonial era. Coetzee argues that it is inevitable to experience freedom in the absence of equality and liberty. Lucy owns a piece of land in the poor rural area inhabited by the black people where she farms. When she is raped by her neighbors, she feels it is a personal hatred. This implies that her neighbors felt that she was not entitled to own the piece of land because it belonged to the blacks. Cases of whites grabbing land from the blacks might have triggered her neighbors’ desire for vengeance and express their power in their land (Coetzee 156). Similarly, Menchu describes how the Spanish colonialists owned massive land which they grabbed from the natives. The wealthy Spanish landowners virtually enslaved the natives by coming up with policies that compelled the natives to work on the farms at no cost. The Spanish Imperialists exercised their power by forcefully acquiring land from the natives, rendering them landless and forcing them to work on the colonial land under harsh discriminating conditions (Menchu 269) David’s desire to make peace with Melanie’s father is similar to Lucy’s refusal to pursue justice for her sexual assault. Lucy is aware that she needs to remain silent on the matter if she desires to stay in the country, although she states that her silence is a personal matter “How humiliating,’ [he] says, and she agrees.... ‘But perhaps it is a good point to start from again [she adds]. Perhaps that is what I must learn to accept. To start at ground level. With nothing” (Coetzee 205). Lucy’s rapists made her an objective of racial justice; similarly, his father interprets her rape form a racial perspective. Racialization of Lucy’s rape by David hinders him from analysing the situation from a clear perspective, hence failing to help her get justice. Lucy’s rapists might have sexually assaulted her in revenge of David’s violence to Melanie, hence ending his racial privilege. Lucy describes the ordeal as personal “It was so personal….. It was done with such personal hatred” (Coetzee156). Lucy believes that her rape was personal because she is not black. She also prefers to keep silent about the matter because she believes it is the only way she will be allowed to stay in the society. Her desire to keep quiet is due to fear and ignorance similarly, the people of Guatemala have for long kept quiet about their problems due to ignorance and fear of oppression. “Our experience in Guatemala has always been to be told: ‘Ah, poor Indians, they can’t speak.’ And many people have said,” (Menchu 269). Historical pain is manifested through Lucy’s silence over her rape. The action of three black men raping Lucy, a white woman was carried out in revenge for the oppression of the blacks by the whites. Lucy and David’s conversations after her sexual assault, bring out the theme of racial attack when she states that “I think I am in their Territory” (Coetzee 158). However, the nation’s hope is manifested through a marital agreement by Petrus and Lucy. Lucy sets aside the notion of white as a superior race by accepting to adapt to the new social regime of racial equality. Caruth argues that double telling is the emotional state that is preceded by trauma Caruth 7). In this state, the survivor fails to identify her future after the traumatic event. As a result, the victim focuses on survival tactics. The “enigma of survival” (Caruth 58), is manifested when Lucy refuses to seek justice for her rape, and decides to marry the man who raped her to avoid expulsion from the society. Lucy believes that she will create a new future for the white and mixed race when she agrees to become a third wife to Petrus; because in post colonial, the whites have no weapons, no land and need redress. When reading testimonial literature, readers connect with feelings of the narrator and their traumatic experience. The story of Rigoberta Menchu saw many readers connect with the trauma, hence standing up to fight against oppression from the government of Guatemala. Stories depicting traumatic experiences often create attention to the plight of the victims. Menchu’s story resulted in the mobilization of the Mayan people in fighting against racial inequality and oppression. Menchu creates pity when she states that “They say we Indians are dirty, but it’s our circumstances which force us to be like that” (55). This indicates that the Indians experienced immense oppression and inequality from the government. She claims that the government imposed oppressive laws whose outcome was more fatal that physical abuse from. “He said it wasn’t our problem alone: our enemies weren’t the landowners but the whole system” (Menchu 137). Menchu further states that besides oppressing the Indians, the government implemented policies that were meant to alienate the Indians from the Government and from the Latinos too. “I didn’t know then that the same system which tries to isolate us Indians also puts up barriers between Indians and Ladinos” (140). In Disgrace Lucy who is raped by a gang of three men including his neighbor Petrus, prefers to keep silent about the issue and goes ahead to form a relationship with him in order to maintain her territory in the society. Caruth draws the relation between the forgetting unconsciousness, trauma and departure. She states that these three factors have a great impact in history. Lucy’s rape ordeal results in a pregnancy, which she believes symbolizes hope. Lucy and her father are threatened with expulsion from the community; Lucy decided to reach a marital agreement with Petrus to avoid eviction and loss of her property. She chooses to overcome her trauma through the forgetting unconsciousness by ignoring her sexual assaulter and marrying him for business. She believes Petrus will protect her from future acts of violence (Coetzee 208). Caruth argues that recalling of past traumatic events creates barriers in the victim’s life, making her unable to open up on their experiences. Involuntary reoccurrence of the traumatic experiences compel the victims to talk about their experiences “delayed, uncontrolled repetitive appearance of hallucinations and other intrusive phenomena” (Caruth 11). David’s mind is haunted by his past experiences. Although he narrates his story, his mind is unable to forget the past events that happened in his life “His mind has become a refuge for old thoughts, ideal, and indigent, with nowhere else to go. He ought to chase them out, sweep the premises clean. But he does not care to do so, or does not care enough” (Coetzee 72) Similarly, Rigoberta Menchu is haunted by her past, which she witnessed and experienced the impacts of racial discrimination on the Indian natives of Guatemala. “This hurt us very much. This is a kind of discrimination” (Menchu 269). It is through the narration of her traumatic past experiences that mass action was taken in search of emancipation of the oppressed people in Guatemala. Menchu realizes that the Indian community in Guatemala has remained in its past trauma because of their inability to share their experiences with the world “What happens is that, since we’ve never been given the opportunity to speak, express our opinions, or have our views considered, we haven’t bothered to make ourselves heard just for the fun of it” (Menchu 200). A new awakening can only be realized if the society shares its traumatic past situation. David, a former lecturer who lost his place in the society after rapping her student seeks for survival method by finding pleasure in caring for Dogs (Coetzee 205). Caruth illustrates that survivors of trauma find a new awakening as a means of handling their past ordeals. Rigoberta Menchu finds a new awakening in narrating the past traumatic stories of her people and fighting for new legislations that advocate for racial equity and rights of the Guatemalan natives “And so when we have to protect our lives, we are ready to defend them even if it means revealing our secrets” (Menchu 200). Caruth states that the awakening of trauma survivors starts with the assimilation of the present and the past self through communication to the world. Survivors experience emotional healing through narration of the experiences, and recognizing their humanity and identity (Caruth 105-110). David’s freedom is manifested through his special affection to a dog. This relationship illustrates his affection and humanization to life. David’s misfortunes have led him to assume humility as the animals he take care of (Coetzee 205). Similarly, Rigoberta Menchu assumes humanity by telling the whole world the deplorable situation in Guatemala while fighting for creation of laws that encourage racial equality. In conclusion, Disgrace, Unclaimed Experience and I, Rigoberta Menchu illustrates trauma brought about by various tension in the various societies. Unclaimed experience illustrates how trauma can be overcome by sharing the past horrific ordeals to the willing listeners. Disgrace illustrates the impacts of rape trough through racial and colonial perspective. I, Rigoberta Menchu, is a narrative of traumatic personal experience arising from colonialism and racial prejudice. Trauma is manifested though the emotions of the testimonies given in the book. As a result, the reader relates with the experience of the narrator. By narrating their traumatic experiences to the world, the narrators seek to acquire a new beginning in their countries and prevent the past trauma from extending into the present and future cultures. Work Cited Coetzee, J. M. (1999). Disgrace. New York: Penguin Books Caruth, Cathy. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 1996. Print Menchú, Rigoberta. I, Rigoberta Menchú. Comp. Elisabeth Burgos. Trans. Verso. Brooklyn: Verso, 1983. Print. Read More