Soraya Character Analysis in Disgrace

A prostitute David visits in the beginning of Disgrace. David sees Soraya every Thursday night and feels that their appointments completely satisfy his sexual desires. However, he happens to see her in public with her two sons one day, and this brief encounter drives her away from him. The next Thursday, she tells him that she won’t be there in the future because she has to go home to care for her mother. And though he knows he shouldn’t, David eventually tracks her down and calls her at home, but she tells him that he’s “harassing” her and that she never wants to hear from him again.

Soraya Quotes in Disgrace

The Disgrace quotes below are all either spoken by Soraya or refer to Soraya. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Because he takes pleasure in her, because his pleasure is unfailing, an affection has grown up in him for her. To some degree, he believes, this affection is reciprocated. Affection may not be love, but it is at least its cousin.

Related Characters: Soraya, David Lurie

Page Number and Citation: 1

Explanation and Analysis:

This is an explanation of David’s relationship with Soraya, a prostitute he visits in Cape Town on a weekly basis. Coetzee goes out of his way to note that David “takes pleasure in” Soraya, suggesting that it is because of this pleasure that he has grown to like her. As such, readers see that David is a man who places a high amount of value on physicality and the fulfillment of sexual desire. In fact, he’s so wrapped up in the “unfailing” pleasure Soraya gives him that he doesn’t seem to care that the “affection” he has for her isn’t Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem acc

He has toyed with the idea of asking her to see him in her own time. He would like to spend an evening with her, perhaps even a whole night. But not the morning after. He knows too much about himself to subject her to a morning after, when he will be cold, surly, impatient to be alone.

That is his temperament. His temperament is not going to change, he is too old for that. His temperament is fixed, set. The skull, followed by the temperament: the two hardest parts of the body.

Related Characters: Soraya, David Lurie

Page Number and Citation: 2

Explanation and Analysis:

In this passage, Coetzee explains that David wants to advance his relationship with Soraya by asking her to meet during her free time. What he fails to consider, of course, is that their relationship is purely transactional—the reason he feels any affection for her in the first place is because it’s her job to make him feel this way. Interestingly enough, though, this isn’t what keeps him from asking her out. Instead, he characteristically focuses on himself, knowing that he would be “cold” and “surly” to her in the morning if she were to spend the night with him. This Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus po

It surprises him that ninety minutes a week of a woman’s company are enough to make him happy, who used to think he needed a wife, a home, a marriage. His needs turn out to be quite light, after all, light and fleeting, like those of a butterfly. No emotion, or none but the deepest, the most unguessed-at: a ground bass of contentedness, like the hum of traffic that lulls the city-dweller to sleep, or like the silence of the night to countryfolk.

Related Characters: Soraya, David Lurie

Page Number and Citation: 5

Explanation and Analysis:

As David considers his arrangement with Soraya, he realizes that she gives him all he “needs” in the way of romantic and sexual satisfaction—or, in truth, only sexual satisfaction, since he comes to believe that all he has ever really craved is a relationship built upon lust and carnal fulfillment. This comes as a relative to surprise to him, since he “used to think he needed a wife, a home, a marriage.” After all, he has been married twice, and his life as a professor has lent him a certain sense of stability. However, what he discovers by sleeping with Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas deb

Soraya Character Timeline in Disgrace

The timeline below shows where the character Soraya appears in Disgrace. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...fifty-two, twice divorced, and has “solved the problem of sex” by visiting a prostitute named Soraya every Thursday afternoon. In an apartment rented by the prostitution agency, he and Soraya have... (full context)

David frequently “unburdens” himself by talking to Soraya about his private life, but she doesn’t tell him stories in return. Despite his willingness... (full context)

The fact that his ninety-minute sessions with Soraya satisfy him so much surprises David. Indeed, he “used to think he needed a wife,... (full context)

Several days later, David calls the prostitution agency and asks for Soraya, but they tell him they can’t give out her information. He books an appointment with... (full context)

...something a person can ask a doctor to do, so he continues to obsess over Soraya, eventually tracking down her number and calling her at home. When she answers, she says,... (full context)

David is bored after Soraya leaves, so he spends the majority of his time in the library, researching Lord Byron... (full context)

Soraya Character Analysis

Soraya Quotes in Disgrace

Chapter 1 Quotes

Soraya Character Timeline in Disgrace