What are the main themes of Disgrace?

One of the more disturbing elements of this excellent novel is the presentation of sex, and in particular on how it is viewed as a method of communication. Of course, communication happens between the two individuals who are having sex, but this novel also argues that communication also happens between society as a whole and the couple or a member of that couple.

Let us consider Lurie for one moment. He ignores his partners Melanie and Soraya when they are not having sex and therefore is shown to abuse and misuse their relationship. Lurie's daughter and her partner, on the other hand, are depicted differently because of the way in which their relationship violates certain norms of society, which Lurie suspects might be the motive for the rape in the first place. In one of the most disturbing scenes in the book, Lurie is locked in the bathroom and is therefore emasculated as a man while he has to listen to three men agressively raping his daughter. He is literally placed on the sidelines and is powerless to prevent it. Lucy however considers that the rape was an act of communication as the men used the act of rape to mark their territory and as a response to their own repression. In addition, she sees it as a way for them to exert power over others through the only means that is open to them, because they live in a society where no agency whatsoever is given to black men. Lurie's desire to seek justice in response to this event shows his lack of understanding of how justice does not really exist in the standard sense in his society at all.

How is the theme of change explored in Disgrace?

This prize-winning novel focuses on the way in which circumstances force David Lurie to change from the rather arrogant, selfish middle-aged man who begins the narrative to the somewhat more sensitive and more self-aware individual that we recognise at the end of the text. If we consider how David Lurie is presented at the beginning of the novel, we can see him as a man who is annoyed at his old age and how it means he is unable to enjoy himself sexually as easily as he was able to in his younger days. However, throught the course the novel, David as a character is shown to change through his dismissal and then through his relationship with his daughter. This is symbolically represented through the opera that he writes. Initially his plan was to tell the tale of a middle-aged Byron and his affair with a young beautiful woman. The parallels are clear. However, note how the text describes how his plans for the storyline change as his own character develops:

Byron, in the new version, is long dead; Teresa's sole remaining claim to immortality, and the solace of her lonely nights, is the chestful of letters and memorabilia she keeps under her bed, what she calls her reliquie, which her grand-nieces are meant to open after her death and peruse with awe. Is this the heroine he has been seeking all the time? Will an older Teresa engage his heart as his heart is now?

David shows his maturity and his increased self-awareness through his understanding that he is perhaps seeking a woman his own age and also through his empathy with the woman as she herself faces aging. This represents his change from a hedonistic, pleasure-seeking and ultimately selfish male to a man who is able to give as well as receive pleasure and love. You would do well to explore the opera as an important symbol in the text and consider how its changes mirror the changes in the central character.

What other themes, besides "change", are present throughout the novel Disgrace?

There are a number of themes we can point to in Disgrace, some of which are well-developed and others which serve to support the larger concepts of the novel. The idea of change, certainly, is central to the text but arguably is on par with the theme of personal rights in this novel. 

The rights of both Melanie and Lucy are violated, yet they are also given re-definition in the aftermath of the violation. After Lurie's affair with Melanie is ended, there is a reinforcement of the social boundaries which are meant to protect her from people like him (in positions of power at the university e.g., professors). Lucy has a chance to direclty define her own values regarding privacy and her rights, which are contrasting to those of her father.

Lucy's independence mirrors that of her father, and when they are placed together, their interaction demonstrates the way immovable forces interact.

The issue of this definition is, perhaps, the heart of the second half of the novel. It is up to Lucy to determine what she claims as her own rights and therefore what she understands as justice. 

Another two themes of the novel are abstraction and isolation, as Lurie engages with Byron and moves in his own intellectual space. He also joins Lucy in the isolation which she has chosen and which for him is an exile, living as an alien in a space that is undefined, for him, and dangerous. 

We can also look at usurpation and invasion as themes in Disgrace. In this country Lurie and Lucy are decidedly non-native and can therefore be considered intruders. Lurie also intrudes into the life of Melanie and Soroya. 

Sex and power can be viewed as a coupled theme as well. Sex, in Disgrace, can be seen as a "way of exerting power over others" both in the case of Lurie and his girlfriends and in the example of Lucy's rape.