Disgrace

As a reader who has respect for the author’s intentions, I truly felt sad as I read about the action David Lurie did not take at the very end of J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace. Leading up to the end, an affair with a student, being burnt in an attack by intruders, a daughter who was raped but doesn’t want the intruders to be brought to justice, letting unwanted dogs lick his hand, holding the unwanted dogs down as they are being euthanized, and honorably sending the dogs’ bodies through the incinerator, David appeared to be changing. After all that he has been through, I was astonished when David carried the dog, who had grown close to him and howled with the music, into the surgery room to be put to sleep. Bev Shaw asks, “I thought you would save him for another week… Are you giving him up?” In response, David says, “Yes, I am giving him up” (220). David has given up not only on the young dog, but also on himself.

After this small exchange of words, the only question that remains is why did David go through with the euthanasia? Before we can even answer that question, we need to establish the fact that Bev works for the Animal Welfare League and sterilizes and euthanizes because she cares about animals. She helps take care of sick and injured animals. Plus, she also is the only one who will make a dog feel comfortable by putting it to sleep. Although she calls it slaughter, the way Bev accomplishes this terrible fate is by petting, scratching, and talking kindly to the dogs before their disgrace is over and their souls transfer into a graceful world.


There was a time when David had to pull over and cry in his car because he could not get used to the killing of dogs. It seems like David has a newfound respect for Bev’s work because he understands how difficult it is watch a dog walk into a room with its tail wagging and never to walk out again. But then, David wonders if euthanizing a dog is a cruel act or a kind act and whether or not Bev is a “liberating angel or a devil” (144). He even calls himself a “murderer” and lets the dogs lick his hand (143). David’s conflicting feelings about the process of a dog’s disgrace of dying leaves him wanting to honor the corpses but at the same time feeling stupid for being a “dog undertaker.”

Just like the dogs’ corpses burn in the incinerator and his head was burnt by the intruders, David’s meaning of life has dwindled down to ashes. He wants justice in the world. But justice is hard to achieve when all parties are not on board. The unwanted animals, who did nothing wrong, are not brought justice when they are being euthanized. Although they are two completely different situations, just like David’s daughter Lucy did not report her rape, David did not save the dog in the end. Lucy’s rapists are out there in the world living a free life. The dogs, who did not commit a violent act or break a law, are dead. One of Coetzee’s intentions for the novel is to show how rare justice is. David had the total power to save the dog, but he didn’t. I was upset because it was his disgrace or dishonor that an innocent dog died by euthanasia when David gave up. David has given up on finding justice for his daughter, for the dogs, and for himself.