The Schooldays Of Jesus
by J.M. Coetzee
Awards: Nobel Winner 2016
Nomination: Booker Longlist 2016
Date Read: March 23, 2023
David is now deeply enmeshed with Simon and Ines. Although they are now a family of sorts without a home, they become laborers on a farm on the outskirts of Estrella. David is just as precocious as always and wanders the farm where Simon and Ines pick fruit. He plays with the other kids on the farm and enjoys the wildness just as much as the others.
With the picking season over, the sisters who own the farm take a liking to David and believe he has a bright future. They agree to pay his tuition at a school of dance, the only one of its kind in Estrella. In order to attend every day, Simon and Ines move to the heart of Estrella, where Simon distributes leaflets and Ines works in a woman’s clothing shop. David begins to learn to dance.
Over time, the big questions of parenthood plague Simon and Ines, who already have difficulties in their own relationship as they don’t really have a relationship. Should they allow David to become a boarder at the school? Is he receiving a proper education? How do they reign in his precociousness a little? Should they succumb to David’s demands or tell him to take a hike?
As drama from the school unfolds and Ana Magdalena is found dead by the hands of Dmitri, they museum custodian, these same questions plague these makeshift parents event more profoundly. When the school crumbles entirely, how will they educate their son? They know the public schools are no place for him, plus they want to send him to a special school in Novella. Should they hire a private tutor?
All of these experiences slowly begin to show David the vastness of the human experience. He can see that some choose to harm others. Some choose to work hard and keep their nose down. Some choose to teach and become a dancer. The paths for humans are infinite.
David further knows Simon and Ines are not his real parents and uses that to his advantage. He argues that his “parents” don’t really know him at all, including his real name. He refuses to show them his dancing or to tell him what his real name is. He almost purposefully excludes Simon from his confidences, proclaiming that he wouldn’t understand.
I know that this trilogy is an allegorical tale, however, these characters are difficult to grasp – their motivations, understandings, awareness, determinations. Coetzee is a brilliant author and is most deservedly a Nobel laureate. This series doesn’t speak to me as much as his other work.
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