FROM ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE

During the car ride home, Lucy couldn't help but feel so aggravated. David would never understand, and can never understand what she is possibly going through. How could he when he never even realized the impact he had made on Melanie's life? "Lucy, it could be so simple. Close down the kennels. Do it at once. Lock up the house, pay Petrus to guard it. Take a break for six months or a year, until things have improved in this country. Go overseas. Go to Holland. I'll pay. When you come back you can take stock, make a fresh start." Lucy does not understand how those words were coming out of his mouth. How can he say it's so simple? Was that not where he was at fault in the beginning? Had he not learn that he can not just pick up and leave as if nothing had happened? Did it never occur to him how what he had done might have impacted Melanie's life?

"If I leave now, David, I won't come back. Thank you for the offer, but it won't work. There is nothing you can suggest that I haven't been through a hundred times myself."

"Then what do you propose to do?"

"I don't know. But whatever I decide I want to decide by myself without being pushed. There are things you just don't understand.

"What don't I understand?" Lucy sat dumbfounded. What does he know about women?

"To begin with, you don't understand what happened to me on that day. You are concerned for my sake, which I appreciate, you think you understand, but finally you don't. Because you can't."

How can a man, her father, who committed almost the same crime as these three men, even have the slightest connection to how a woman would feel? How can he possibly understand how difficult it must be for a woman and all the complications that arises due to their actions? The many questions that run through Lucy's mind causes her so much anger and frustration, yet David continues to voice his opinions and things from his perspectives.

Analysis:

The novel is told centering around David Lurie and helps readers see things from his perspective. His relationship with Lucy is a test and also a mirror reflection trying to hint and remind him of his own life. From this short passage on page 157, one can see that David Lurie is persistent and pushy, and assumes he knows what's best for Lucy and how to handle the situation. On the other hand, Lucy is trying to remind him of his position in society and what he has done, who he has become. Her situation becomes a mirror reflection of David's incident with Melanie. She tries to remind him about how he picked up and left to the country, and what good that has done- what has it solved? How can he know what's best for Lucy if he didn't realize how hard it must have been for Melanie?

"Hatred...When it comes to men and sex, David, nothing surprises me any more. Maybe, for men, hating the woman makes sex more exciting. You are a man, you ought to know.(158)" Lucy wants to remind David that he's a man, and she's a woman, he can't personally know what is good for a woman and how to deal with things. He only has a opinion and his own perspective of how a woman's life is. He can't physically experience what she had to experience, he can't live her life for a day, so he has no right to say it's simple.

"And I did nothing. I did not save you." That is his own confession (157).

When it came to Lucy, David becomes a parent again, he worries, he cares, he even admit his own wrong. As we can see later on, his relationship with Lucy reflected how he must have misunderstood and mistreated Melanie, and how he has to own up to his own mistake- and admit he was wrong. He also comes to realize he has no right to try and control the lives of women and has to learn to let them do as they please, but only worry and try to help. He had learned to let go of Lucy, just as he had learned to let go of his favorite dog. Keeping the dog for another week would not have done any good to the dog except let the pain linger and create false hope for survival. Pushing Lucy and holding onto her as if she was a child would only cause him to misunderstand her more and holding onto her would only cause him false hope of trying to control her life and grasping that power that he began to lose.