Mind or Body : Patriarchal binary thought and the role of sex in Disgrace

Abstract: David Lurie, the main character in J.M. Coetzee’s novel Disgrace, is a white middle-aged man who lives in South Africa. He is a South African man but seems to think of himself as a European man and the story plays out in a post-colonial setting. In the story, sex and sexual violence are used by several characters as a means to communicate hierarchy and patriarchal power relations, intersected by race and sexuality. This essay explores how we can understand the plot and the role of sex in Disgrace, through Hélène Cixous’ theory of patriarchal binary thought. By using phallocentric oppositional word couples as examples, a close reading of the novel enables us to see how patriarchal binary thinking reveals the backbone of patriarchy in Disgrace.