The attack on David Lurie and his daughter changes David Lurie from a womanizer who expects to be in control of women to a man that both respects women and allows them to have control over him.
Firstly the attack changes David physically. Before the attack David was a well kept person. David says that old age was getting the better parts of his looks from the days that he could just look at a woman a certain way and they would reply with a similar glance, but as we could see in the novel, David still has his fare share of women. After the attack, however, David’s looks go with his fire that was lit on him. He is stuck with a burnt ear, head wrapped in bandages, and his eyes covered with a patch. This physical transition symbolizes how he is changing with respect to woman.
David’s attitude towards the respect of women also changes. Before the attack David would sleep with any woman he found attractive almost as if women were put on the earth for David. David even says himself he is a “womanizer” (7). Before the attack he also treats women as if they are there to do what he says. We get this from David’s response to the people he sleeps with. He enjoys “passive” women much more than women that have minds of their own (19). After the attack, however, his opinion over woman changes completely since his daughter is rape. He begins to question if what he has done before was rape as well as feeling guilty for what happened with Melanie. He also changes in that, instead of women being there for him, he is there for a woman now. With his daughter being severely depressed, he takes over her daily chores and works for his daughter as if it his purpose.
Through his physical appearance and attitude, David’s idea over women has changed significantly after the attack on his daughter and him.
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Yes, I'm the first to comment! You were very selected with this blog. You've avoided summarizing every single events that happened in the novel. You picked only the incidents that relate to your analysis, and explained how each one of them support the notion that David has changed. It makes sense that David has changed for other besides himeself. He is now more open, and has concerns for others not just himself alone. This change marks the shift in his character and attitude toward life.
ReplyDeleteMore or less based on what you wrote, David is pretty much now acting a like a father whose wellbeing depends on his daughter and vice versa. You can also dive deep into his physical change by sayin something like he used to be a powerful man that most women found to be attractive, but now after the fire incident, he is now a wounded, powerless and pathetic man who depends on others for his survival.
Overall, you have a well thought out blog. Good job! You've done a terrific job! I bet you could have done it better :)
I like the way you analyzed his physical change. I had not thought of this as being symbolic. I like that you related his appearance and changing opinion of women through his physical change, but I wish you would have gone more in depth with this explanation. I don’t quite understand how you got from the appearance to Lurie’s opinion. However, I did like your second paragraph, and thought you had good explanations here. The final example, where you mention Lurie taking on Lucy’s chores clearly shows that he is now doing the work for the women. Overall, I liked your analyses of these chapters.
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