David Laurie

“For a man of his age, fifty-two, divorced,” David Laurie still acts like an immature teenager and gives into his desires without fear of retribution. Although desire is common among humans, adults are usually expected to curb those urges. Instead of following the rules of the society to which he belongs, Laurie rapes a student, a blatant abuse of the power he gleaned from being a white male professor in post-apartheid South Africa. While he prefers to regard himself as one of the Romantics who embrace and express their powerful surges of emotion, to other members of society he can come across as manipulative, impulsive, stubborn, irresponsible, and a womanizer. He manipulates women into sleeping with him and rarely gives them voices in the story. He even has sex with the wives of his colleagues. His impulsiveness becomes apparent when he rapes Melanie and also later when he attacks the boy. His stubborn attitude is most evident during the hearing in which he pleads guilty to sexual harassment and of tampering with grades but adamantly refuses to admit any wrongdoing on his part. The members of the committee want him to show remorse for his actions and offer to lighten his punishment if he agrees to issue a statement of repentance. He does not deserve to be fired because he denies a lapse in morality, but rather for his abuse of the power given to him by the university. Anyone can claim to be sorry; whether or not they actually are is another story. It is imperative to note however, that instead of taking responsibility for his actions and their consequences, he uses word play in order to portray them in a less severe light. For example, he refers to one of his interactions with Melanie as “Not rape, not quite that, but undesired nevertheless, undesired to the core.” Even his ex-wife addresses his tendency to delude himself and others when she informs him “. . . you were always a great self-deceiver, David. A great deceiver and a great self-deceiver.”

Laurie’s transgression resulted in publicity from which he sought refuge in the country. Upon arriving at his daughter’s house, he is faced with the brutal reality of post-apartheid South Africa where wounds are still fresh and hatred remains unbridled. He is no longer the respected figure he was in the city and after the attack he becomes an even more pathetic character. Not only is his appearance altered from being set on fire, he is transformed from a respected intellectual to the dog-man. In addition to beginning to see dogs as creatures with souls, he also shows more respect towards women. Laurie becomes more of a father figure, taking care of his daughter and showing genuine concern for her well-being.