In the novel “Disgrace” David, the main character had many experiences. Normally it is the life experiences which shape people’s lives. From the onset of the picture painted of David is that of a very arrogant, insensitive, unsympathetic, self-obsessed, and selfish man. He seems to think that his achievement in the academic world is very important in life. This was because of his constant obsession with language use. The way he handled the questioning by the committee at the university into the case against him of sexual harassment also gave a very negative image of his personality. His initial reactions when he met Bev who owned the animal clinic did not do much to give any impression of his love for animals. Despite all these, as the story progressed, it became apparent that there were some fundamental changes that took place in his character and this discussion will give an elaboration of them.
Initially When David was still a professor of modern languages at the University College, specializing in romantic literature; he had been seemingly a man happy with his job. He was dedicated to the field of work he was involved in and had even written three different books in it. The changes that were effected in the country from the tyrannical apartheid to the democratic chaotic system of the post Apartheid era also affected the University he taught at as it was changed into a technical University. With the rearrangement of things, he became an Adjunct professor. He had been made to teach courses in communication skills, an area which to say the least, he finds unappealing and purely nonsensical.
This change of events coupled with the frustrations he faces after the prostitute he used to visit for sexual satisfaction leaves him, takes the joy of teaching away from him. His teachings became no longer passionate and out of conviction, but rather a mechanical duty, something he just did for the sake of it so as to be able to earn a living. This lack of passion for his work eventually bring about distractions which make him get into a compromising relationship with a student in his class and eventually he had to leave his teaching job due to the repercussions.
In response to the incident of his relationship with Melanie, David was taken to the academic tribunal for hearing of the charges of sexual harassment which were leveled against him. He did not defend himself against them. The committee had wanted to force an apology from him for his actions but he did not oblige and rather just gave an excuse for having been involved with Melanie. His explanation was that he had “not been himself, but a servant of Eros.” Of course, this did not satisfy the committee as they did not think it was a true reflection of his sincerity, therefore he had to leave the university. He further states that the relationship with Melanie enriched him in response to the press. All in all, his attitude towards the incident was a very arrogant one at first. When he came back from Salem, he had drastically changed his attitude. He looked for Mr. Isaacs, Melanie’s father, and apologized to him for what had happened between him and Melanie. There must have been a great level of sincerity and remorse in his apology because Mr. Isaacs even ended up inviting him for dinner at his home. This is a great show of change in David.
There were a number of changes that took place around Lurie and had negative effects on his social preference of things. One of the changes was that he called Soraya the prostitute he used to visit when she was at her home and she had to leave him, therefore bringing to a stop their regular liaisons. He had thoughts of her and her colleagues shuddering over him “as one shudders at a cockroach at a washbasin in the middle of the night” and wondered if he could get the doctor to castrate him the way someone would neuter a domestic animal. These are just some of the thoughts which shaped and defined David’s view and near heartless feelings for animals in general. His thoughts did not give a reflection of someone who had empathy, compassion for animals, but rather an ingrained insensitivity to the plight of animals.
As things progressed, after the incidents with Melanie at the university and he had to leave teaching for a while, he went to visit his daughter Lucy in the outskirts out of cape Town in Salem at a remote farm where she lived. While there she told him, “this is the only life there is. Which we share with animals.” In the book, his status is reduced numerous times and close to the life of an animal. As he was staying with his daughter, he lacked something which he could do to occupy his time. His daughter suggested that he goes to help at the animal clinic with Bev.
The first time he had met Bev, the proprietor of the animal clinic, David found the fact that she spent the whole day with animals very repulsive, he found her unattractive in that nature as she smelled of the animals. But he finally decided to volunteer to work with her. He did not seem to have much of a choice anyway, but he ended up actually becoming a caretaker of dying animals. As he continued working with Bev helping with treating and etherizing the animals, his view about animals came to change. Initially, he had had the conviction that animals did not have any souls, but during his stay at Lucy’s place, he became fond of some sheep belonging to Petrus and when he saw Petrus not giving them much attention in terms of feeding them, he took his time to take to a place where they could graze. His fondness with them was to the extent that when they were slaughtered at the party thrown by Petrus, he was disturbed. After working with
Bev for some time at the clinic, had become sympathetic with animals and one day when he was driving he thought of the plight of the animals put to rest at Bev’s clinic and he broke down having to stop driving. This was very unlikely for the former David when he had still been teaching at the University.
Despite David’s initial repulsion of the thought of Bev smelling of the animals she worked with all day, it is interesting to note that he came to actually love the animals and became fond of them. He no longer noticed any smell or repulsion from Bev, but instead, his change in views even took a sexual twist when he had a one-night stand with Bev.
David’s newfound love for animals is further exhibited in the relationship he had developed with a dog called Katy. This relation blossomed mainly after David and Lucy had been assaulted at Lucy’s house. He became fond of the dog and would regularly take it for walks. He thought of it regularly and even had the thought of giving it a part in the writing he wanted to work on.
In the biggest part of the novel, it is evident that David’s interactions and associations with people, handling of issues, and life, in general, are mainly shaped by his background of intellectual accomplishment in literature and language. He is attentive to the use of language even in its normal everyday use in conversations. This usually made him have a great deal of thinking over the words that people used. He would think about the context of the usage of the words and any connotations attached to the words. This kind of obsession went far in signifying his disconnection from the society he lived in. as the story came nearer to closing, he had a sudden change of heart on this issue of obsession with language use. His reflection of it was that the language use became “tired, friable, eaten from the inside as if by termites” and him being a practitioner was void “like a fly-casting in a spider web.”
For a man who had reached the high status of a university professor with three published books, his obsessions, and ideas of the use of language, theories of how justice should be, he had humbling experiences that changed his outlook of life and he had to give it all up and instead opt for a simpler David. He stopped imposing his ideas on his daughter went to live close to the countryside from where he could visit her regularly. “He gave up more than a dog ever could.”