Melanie's Voice

My story begins with a man. One afternoon, while passing by the college garden at Cape Technical University I hear someone greeting me from behind. As I turn around, there he is, standing before me with a friendly smile. I return the gesture with my own courteous smile to a friendly stranger. I wonder for a brief moment before I recognize this old man as David Lurie, the professor of my Romanticism class. He continues with the conversation with questions about the weather and my whereabouts and I answer casually each question. However, I am shock to hear Professor Lurie inviting me to his house for a drink. What can I say to this awkward situation? Does he know his invitation has broken the rules and social norms that society has set up for the relationship between a student and a professor? What are his intentions? Well what can his intentions be anyway? I’m just being foolish; he is my professor after all. Maybe he is just being kind and wants to invite me over to meet his family and discuss more about class. I will just be extra cautious about this interaction. I just hope no one recognize that I am spending time with a professor or else it will be very embarrassing and awkward. Bewilder, I finally convince myself to answer “OK. But I have to be back by seven-thirty” (Coetzee12).

Professor Lurie’s home is nothing compares to what I imagine and expect it to be and I am becoming very aware of the fact that we are all alone. Brushing off my nerves, I begin to direct my attention to his bookshelves once he head to the kitchen. I cannot help but think how boring his life must be as I tilt my head and read the titles of the books on the shelves. There is no doubt about this man’s interests in Romanticism. Well at least this count for something that I would expect from his home. When music reaches my ears, I was drawn from my thoughts to the old man who has just come back with some drinks and a plate of biscuits and cheese. As I take a seat on the couch beside him, I hear him asking “Are you enjoying the course” (Coetzee12)? At once I feel more relief as we seem to be discussing more about academia, which are the topics that professors and students should only discuss about. I answer cautiously, “I liked Blake. I liked the Wonderhorn stuff” (Coetzee12). “Wunderhorn” (Coetzee13) I hear him correcting me. I thought to myself Wonderhorn, Wunderhorn, whatever, I don’t really care. I do not find Romanticism to be interesting anyway. I choose to take Romanticism because it was between this class and learning about Shakespeare again. So it was a matter of which one is worse. I ponder on my thoughts as Professor Lurie continues to talk about poetry and literature. I want to die as he drags on and on. I find it very tiring to continue pretending that I am interested in what he has to say. Suddenly, everything changes as he asks me to stay for supper. What does this man want? Is my acting that good that he is really convinced that I am interested in what he have to say? A little guilt tugged on my heart as he continues to insist with more hope that I will agree. Finally, I agree but I need to make a phone call to tell my flat mate that I will not be back for supper. The phone call takes longer than I expect as she was concern about my well-being. However, I insist her that I am having a discussion with my professor over supper and I will return right after.

I come back into the living and take a seat next to Professor Lurie on the couch. He then asks me the reason I am taking a course in Romantic poetry and I reply truthfully that “I didn’t want to take Shakespeare again. I took Shakespeare last year” (Coetzee14). Afterward, I help Professor Lurie cook supper and we share the meal joyously with a little conversation now and then. After supper, I feel very uncomfortable as he takes my hand and we both head to the sofa. We sit side by side and watch a boring film about a man named Norman McLaren. Boy this is boring. I decided to take the chance and go home right when the movie ends. However, he begins to talk about his fascination and work on Byron, a Romantic poet I presume. Given another opportunity, I begin to excuse myself but was cut off when he shockingly request that “I’m going to invite you to do something reckless. […] Stay. Spend the night with me” (Coeztee16). I was not as shock as I thought I should be. Somehow and somewhere in my subconscious I already knew that the moment he asks me to join him at his home will lead to this. The thing that puzzles me most though is why I agreed to come if I have some kind of bad intuition about this. Also, why is he risking everything to ask me this? As he sits there waiting for an answer, I quickly reply out of curiosity “Why” (Coetzee16). His answer is laughable but I prevent the sound from escaping my mouth as I shut them tightly. As he graze his hand against my cheek, I teasingly reply to his answer with a question of my own “And what if I already share it” (Coetzee16). He seems to be captivating me in a moment of shock and utter surprise. It is as if at this moment, I am not considering the reality of his age and position and the eyes of society. I am just a girl who has caught the eye of a suitor and he is courting me with praises and sweet talk. However, as he quotes Shakespeare, my mind loses all interests and curiosity that is keeping me here. I stand up and take me leave whether he is finish or not because I am finish listening to him.

Due to the limited information that we receive from David Lurie, it is hard to give Melanie Isaac a voice. Her character is mostly open for interpretations. As the novel progresses to the second, third and fourth encounters with David, Melanie’s character becomes complicated because it is hard to find concrete evidence from the novel to support our interpretation as to why she allow David to violate her and then why she file the complaint. There are simply too much events that is revolving around Melanie after her first encounter with David. Yet, the novel leaves our countless questions about Melanie unanswered as her voice is denied time after time. Thus, I choose to give her a voice in her very first encounter with David Lurie as we see more of Melanie’s expressions and attitude towards David. In addition, here we see that David and Melanie spend the most time interacting with each other through conversations and we have the advantage of defining Melanie's character not through David's observations and presumptions.

Melanie never stated why she accepted David’s invitation to go to his home. Clearly, she was aware of the fact that society is not very tolerable with the idea of a student and a professor meeting outside of school. Thus, using the text, I establish Melanie’s reason to be simply because she cannot refuse his offer. After all, he is her professor and she was probably being polite. In addition, the notion of trusting an authority figure is inevitable. I did illustrate that she was shock and that she kind of have an internal battle with herself. Good judgments tell her to refuse the offer but then again, seeing him as her professor can dismiss some of her concerns and anxiety. In many ways, Melanie appears to be finding excuses like thinking she is just being too cautious to not rationalize the negative thoughts and feelings she have. I ended her encounter with David in the garden with a more student like behavior and concern. That is, in the end, Melanie is naively worrying about how embarrassing she will look if she is spotted with a professor while dismissing her concern and anxiety.

Clearly, she listens to her better judgments at the events of the drink, supper and movie pass by. Besides expressing her boredom and how uncomfortable she is becoming, Melanie still tries to be polite. However, she shows that she shares no interests in Romantic poetry with David as she states that “I didn’t want to take Shakespeare again. I took Shakespeare last year” (Coetzee14). So far, I have established Melanie’s character to be a normal student who was just trying to be polite and goes to her professor home with the thought that nothing bad can come of it. In a sense, I was directing Melanie towards a naïve characteristic that will be easily manipulated by David. However, our perspective of Melanie’s innocent character is subjected to change as it becomes evident in her response to David’s request that she sleeps with him. Her reply was “Why […] And what if I already share it” (Coetzee16). Normally, given the situation, a student would excuse herself from the situation immediately. However, Melanie stays and appears to tease David with her witty remark. Furthermore, the reason she seems to leave David and his request at the end of the encounter was not because she finds it unethical. Rather it was because he ruins her mood by quoting Shakespeare. At this moment we see a shift in Melanie’s character from young and naïve to almost mischievous and promiscuous.