The+Historical,+Political+and+Social+Conditions+of+Setting

"**—Disgrace** is not a hard or obscure book**—**it is, among other things, compulsively readable**—**but what it may well be is an authentically spiritual document, a lament for the soul of a disgraced century."
 * —The New Yorker**

From The Novel // Disgrace

// Disgrace is set in **post-apartheid** South Africa. The novel explores themes of __race, exploitation, and apartheid__, although it has legally ended, its shadow still haunts the country. **Robbery, rape, and vandalism are a common occurrence**. The effects from a history of oppression and violence cannot be silenced. The author, J.M. Coetzee, introduces **racial tensions** when David Lurie arrives in Salem. His daughter, Lucy, is one of the few white farmers living in the area. A black African named Petrus lives in the back of her property. He is in a subservient position helping with the chores of the farm. The racial tensions become more stressed when Petrus is accused of helping a robbery on her land. He disappears when three men attack and comes back with building supplies to renovate his new house. The division becomes clear when Lurie confronts Petrus. The end of the novel does not allow for such a clear distinction when Lucy becomes pregnant with one of the robbers' children and thus becomes a part of Petrus' family, though unwillingly. In __the new South Africa, violence is unleashed in new ways, and Lurie and his daughter become victims. The novel presents a bleak look of the country. It took its inspiration from social and political conflict of the country.__ Apartheid To understand the complex issues of **Apartheid** and the history of the word and its effect on South Africa one must perceive the histrotical background of events attached to it. The term //apartheid// ("apartness") was introduced in the **1930s** and used as a political slogan of the **National Party** in the early 1940s, but the policy itself extends back to the beginning of white settlement in South Africa in 1652. In __1948,__ after the __Afrikaner Nationalists came to power__, the apartheid system was legalized. In South Africa, under apartheid, **blacks were stripped of their citizenship**. The government created the homelands out of the territory of __Black Reserves__ founded during the British Empire period. The homeland system disenfranchised black people residing in "white South Africa" by restricting their voting rights to the black homelands, the least economically-productive areas of the country. **The government segregated education, medical care, and other public services with inferior standards for blacks.** The black education system within "white South Africa", by design, prepared blacks for lives as a labouring class. Written by Z.S, R.N, J.J. References: Sherrod, Cheryl. "Major Themes." __Gradesaver__. 2008. 2 Apr 2008 <[|http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/disgrace/themes.html>.] Robinson, Alonford. "Apartheid." __Africana__. 1999. 2 Apr 2008 <[|http://www.africanaencyclopedia.com/apartheid/apartheid.html>.]