Mother as an Imagery and a Metaphor in Life & Times of Michael K

Résumé

While the mother imagery is of vital importance for the protagonist K in J. M. Coetzee’s fourth novel, Life & Times of Michael K(1983), not much research has been done with regard to this imagery. This essay interprets the triple meanings of the mother imagery: “Anna K as K’s mother, Anna K and Mother Nature, Michael K as gardener mother”, and analyzes the role it plays in the transformation of K’s identity and self – identification as a gardener who strives for the war – tortured land.