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Chapter 20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Disgrace, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Desire and Power
Shame, Remorse, and Vanity
Violence and Empathy
Love and Support
Time and Change
Summary
Analysis
David meets Rosalind for coffee, and though she notices the injuries he sustained from being lit on fire, he brushes off her questions. Moving on, Rosalind mentions that she heard about his trial, saying it sounds like he was “too stiff and defensive.” In response, he says he was trying to make a point by standing up for “freedom of speech” or, for that matter, the “freedom to remain silent.” Rosalind subtly mocks him for being too idealistic, though she also suggests he might have been tricking himself into believing in his “principles” when, in reality, he was simply “caught with [his] pants down.”
Although it’s harsh of her to point this out, Rosalind makes a good point when she suggests that David’s refusal to apologize during his hearing was nothing more than an attempt to avoid taking responsibility for his actions. By telling himself that he was standing up for certain “principles” (about “freedom of speech” and desire), he effectively managed to frame his dismissal as a result of his stubbornness, not of his immoral actions. This, in turn, has enabled him to ignore some of the moral implications of what he did. It also once again turns his concrete actions of sexual manipulation into something that sounds more abstract and theoretical.
Themes
Rosalind also notes that she saw Melanie in the university play, saying, “You have thrown away your life, and for what?” When David argues that he hasn’t thrown away his life, she insists that he has, saying that she’s worried about his future, since he has little money and no job. Flustered, she tells him she doesn’t want to get into an argument, and as she gets up to leave, she says, “When you are tired of bread and jam, give me a call and I’ll cook you a meal.”
Unlike Lucy, Rosalind is critical and judgmental of David because of his affair with Melanie. However, it’s worth noting that she does still care about him, which is why she offers to cook him dinner if he ever needs it, though the way she says this implies that she thinks he’s making a martyr of himself by pretending he’s completely fine. Indeed, she tells him to come to her when he’s done eating “bread and jam,” suggesting that he’s acting as if his meager new existence isn’t bleak and miserable.
Themes
Unable to resist, David goes to Melanie’s play, reveling in the thrill of seeing her onstage. Partway through, though, he feels spitballs begin to pelt the back of his head, and when he turns, he sees Melanie’s boyfriend, Ryan, the one who vandalized his car. Having attracted David’s attention, Ryan starts making noises at him, creating such a disturbance that David leaves the theater, though this doesn’t save him from Ryan, who follows him out and tells him to stay away from Melanie, saying, “Let her alone, Man! Melanie will spit in your eye if she sees you.”
The fact that David goes to Melanie’s play is a further indication that he isn’t truly remorseful for what he’s done. Although he went to her house and made a show of bowing repentantly before her family members, this was only to relieve himself of his own guilt, since in the privacy of his own life he continues to lust after her. What’s more, by appearing at her performance, he demonstrates once again that he doesn’t care about how his actions might affect her. Seeing David would certainly unsettle Melanie, but he doesn’t consider this—or if he does, he doesn’t care.
Themes
On the drive home from the theater, David picks up a prostitute and parks in a cul-de-sac. When they finish, he studies her head as it rests in his lap. She is evidently quite drunk or high, and he realizes for the first time how young she looks. Despite this, he feels “contented,” thinking, “So this is all it takes! How could I ever have forgotten it?” “Not a bad man but not good either,” Coetzee writes in reference to David.
The thoughts David has after having oral sex with a prostitute again illustrate just how much he has stayed the same. In the very beginning of the novel, he considers how thoroughly “contented” he feels after sleeping with Soraya, and now he reminds himself that this is “all it takes” for him to be happy. In this sense, his desires have remained the same, and though Coetzee notes that this doesn’t necessarily make him a “bad man,” he goes out of his way to state that David isn’t a good man, either. Coetzee manages to present David as a deeply flawed person without actually condemning him, a choice that allows readers to make their own assessment.
Themes
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