How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"We never thought we were sending our daughter into a nest of vipers. No, Professor Lurie, you may be high and mighty and have all kinds of degrees, but if I was you I'd be very ashamed of myself, so help me God." (5.23)
Hate takes on many forms in Disgrace, and this is one of the quieter examples we get. Mr. Isaacs might reprimand David in somewhat benign terms – and seriously, he's not, like, throwing a chair at him or anything, Jerry Springer-style – but you can tell he's probably shooting daggers at David with his eyes.
Quote #2
The gossip-mill, he thinks, turning day and night, grinding reputations. The community of the righteous, holding their sessions in corners, over the telephone, behind closed doors. Gleeful whispers. Schadenfreude. First the sentence, then the trial. (5.57)
Schadenfreude is a fun term that you might want to remember for later, just in case you want to impress your teachers or some local philosophy-reading hipsters. It's a German term for the pleasure we get from the misfortunes of others. Imagine your rival asking your crush out and getting shot down. You'd probably feel a healthy dose of Schadenfreude. Now imagine David's coworkers feeling thrilled to see him suffer. If you were David, wouldn't you just despise them?
Quote #3
A flurry of anger runs through him, strong enough to take him by surprise. He picks up his spade and strikes whole strips of mud and weed from the dam-bottom, flinging them over his shoulder, over the wall. You are whipping yourself into a rage, he admonishes himself: Stop it! Yet at this moment he would like to take Petrus by the throat. (14.45)
David knows he shouldn't hate Petrus, but he just can't help it. Wouldn't you want to throttle someone who doesn't seem to care that your daughter was viciously assaulted?
Quote #4
The boy does not appear to be startled. On the contrary, the boy appears to have been waiting for this moment, storing himself up for it. The voice that issues from his throat is thick with rage.
"Who are you?" he says, but the words mean something else: by what right are you here? His whole body radiates violence. (15.102)
What makes a bad moment even worse for David is that the person he hates with every fiber of his being is so nonchalant about this confrontation. We feel the hate emanating from every hair on David's head, but of course he's trying not to cause a scene at the party, so he can't do what he really wants to do – kick the living daylights out of the boy.
Quote #5
Petrus is a good workman, it is an education to watch him. It is Petrus himself he has begun to dislike. As Petrus drones on about his plans, he grows more and more frosty toward him. He would not wish to be marooned with Petrus on a desert isle. (16.6)
The animosity between David and Petrus is totally personal, at least from David's point of view. For David and Lucy, everything is falling apart. For Petrus, things are coming up roses. Even more than that, Petrus has pretty much ignored all of David's concerns about the attack. Of course David dislikes him.
Quote #6
"It was so personal," she says. "It was done with such personal hatred. That was what stunned me more than anything. The rest was…expected. But why did they hate me so? I had never set eyes on them."
He waits for more, but there is no more, for the moment. "It was history speaking through them," he offers at last. "A history of wrong. Think of it that way, if it helps. It may have seemed personal, but it wasn't. It came down from the ancestors." (18.62-63)
Here, we get two different explanations for the hatred that Lucy felt from the men who raped her. On one hand, she felt it was an extremely personal act. David suggests, though, that it was a remnant of the injustices that existed in South Africa in the past, under which people like Lucy oppressed people like the attackers.
Quote #7
I have met him, he might respond. A right little prick, he might add. But he too is well brought up. (20.40)
David returns to Cape Town only to encounter a smug, successful young professor, Dr. Otto, who has taken over David's office. Here we find David longing to verbally slam this guy, but here in the city politeness keeps people from speaking badly about the people they hate.
Quote #8
Ryan is speaking. "Let her alone, man! Melanie will spit in your eye if she sees you." (21.71)
Ooh, harsh. Is it possible that Melanie's real opinion isn't being represented, and Ryan is playing the jealous boyfriend? Or do you think Melanie truly hates David?
Quote #9
He drives back slowly along the Main Road in Green Point. Spit in your eye: he had not expected that. His hand on the steering wheel is trembling. The shocks of existence: he must learn to take them more lightly. (21.72)
Here we get David's reaction to finding out that Melanie reportedly hates him. For someone who has lost his job in response to a complaint from this girl, doesn't he seem a bit surprised? Do you get the feeling that he's tried to convince himself that she was pressured into filing that complaint?