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
When Petrus first returned, he brought with him two sheep, whom he now has tied to the stable, where they make so much noise that David asks him to move them. Petrus, however, ignores this request, saying instead that the sheep are for a party he’s having that Saturday, when he’ll slaughter them. “I invite you and Lucy to the party,” he says. Frustrated that Petrus refuses to move them, David does the job himself an hour later, letting them graze. In the days before Petrus’s party, David begins to feel a strange sense of attachment to the sheep, though he isn’t usually such an animal lover. Still, he wonders if he could buy them from Petrus in order to save their lives. Instead, he decides not to go to the party.
David’s compassion toward the sheep is worth noting, since he isn’t generally a very compassionate or empathetic man. In the aftermath of Lucy’s rape, though, he is a bit more capable of feeling sympathy toward others, perhaps because the attack has forced him to see how terrible it is when a person prioritizes their own desires over another’s wellbeing.
Themes
On Saturday, David asks Lucy if they should go to the market, and she tells him that he should decide; they don’t go. At a certain point, David smells a fire and realizes that the sheep must already have been slaughtered, since Petrus is clearly beginning to roast them. And though this makes him sad, he eventually agrees to accompany Lucy to the party. She has dressed nicely for the occasion, saying that this is a “big day in Petrus’s life.” After all, the party is in celebration of the land-transfer from Lucy to Petrus, which has just officially gone through.
Despite David’s newfound sensitivity toward the sheep, it doesn’t take much for him to change his mind and go to the party. As such, readers see that, although he is perhaps a bit more empathetic in the wake of Lucy’s rape, this change doesn’t necessarily refigure his entire worldview. His belief that he’s incapable of change might, in some ways, be true.
Themes
Halfway through the party, Lucy comes to David and asks him to leave with her. She explains that she has just spotted one of her three attackers in the crowd of partygoers. Hearing this, David rushes outside and finds the person in question. It is the youngest attacker, the one who stood outside with David when the other two initially went inside. “I know you,” David says, coming straight up to him. “Who are you?” responds to boy, though David feels that his tone says, “By what right are you here?” Before anything can happen, Petrus approaches both of them, speaking quickly to the boy in Xhosa, which David doesn’t understand. Trying to explain, David says that the boy was one of the three attackers, but Petrus insists that the boy says otherwise. When David says he’s going to call the police, the crowd gives a murmur of disapproval.
Once again, the shifting racial dynamics of South Africa bring themselves to bear on Disgrace, since David senses that part of the young man’s aggression toward him is rooted in the idea of who has the “right” to occupy a place. Although David belongs to the race that used to rule South Africa and subjugate the black majority, now he is the odd man out at a Xhosa party, where he and Lucy are the only white people. As such, he struggles to accept the fact that he is no longer automatically entitled to power—even when facing someone who has committed a terrible crime. This new dynamic makes the entire situation much more complex than it would otherwise be.
Themes
Back in the farmhouse, David is about to call the police when Lucy stops him. “It’s not Petrus’s fault,” she says, pointing out that if David summons the police, Petrus’s entire party will be “destroyed.” David can’t fathom this line of thinking, stressing that Lucy shouldn’t be “protecting” Petrus and that she should press “real charges” against the boy. In turn, Lucy tells her father not to shout at her, saying that she can live her life however she wants without having to explain her decisions. “As for Petrus,” she says, “he is not some hired labourer whom I can sack because in my opinion he is mixed up with the wrong people. That’s all gone, gone with the wind.” She then reminds David that he doesn’t know what she’s been through, but he insists that she has to stand up for herself. “No,” she says, ending the conversation.
David demonstrates his inability to support Lucy in an inobtrusive, subtle way. Rather than gently giving her the kindness and direction she might need, he emphasizes what he thinks she should do, ultimately failing to consider the emotional and psychological turmoil this rather aggressive approach might create. Lucy also picks up on his struggle to accept the changing social order in South Africa. This is why she reminds him that she can’t simply fire Petrus, underlining the fact that such practices—which are built upon the racist power hierarchy of apartheid—are “gone with the wind.”
Themes
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Alone, David walks back to the party and stands in the back of the crowd as a man speaks in Xhosa. As he looks around, he notices the young attacker staring straight at him while others also glare at him. This doesn’t bother him, however. In fact, he’s glad that they all notice him, glad they know he’s there instead of cowering inside “the big house.”
David’s desire to be seen by the young attacker and the rest of Petrus’s group indicates how important it is to him that he assert his dominance. Unwilling to accept that as a white man he is no longer in an automatic position of power, he brazenly disrupts Petrus’s party.
Themes
