Disgrace

The theme of disgrace is repeated in various ways throughout the book. The first instance of disgrace is when David chooses to violate his student, Melanie Isaacs. He makes love to her on several occasions, not minding the fact that she at first would struggle with him and towards the end would just lie there passively and wait for it to be over. He is so caught up in his urges that he fails to notice what he has done to the girl. As Melanie reports David to the school board and the story leaks out, David is disgraced in the eyes of his peers and his community. He is no longer a respected professor, just an old man who had sex with his student. Thus he feels that he has to leave his teaching position and go hide out in the country.

The next disgrace occurs on...