Disgrace

by

J. M. Coetzee

Ettinger Character Analysis

An old man who lives near Lucy’s farm. Unlike Lucy, Ettinger has decked his property out with all kinds of security, fearing attacks like the one Lucy and David experience. After this attack, Ettinger advises Lucy and David to buy some guns, offering to lend them one of his own for the time being. And although Ettinger’s hypervigilance is perhaps validated by what happens to David and Lucy, they tend to view him as a paranoid old man.

Ettinger Quotes in Disgrace

The Disgrace quotes below are all either spoken by Ettinger or refer to Ettinger. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Desire and Power Theme Icon
).
Chapter 12 Quotes

Spoken without irony, the words stay with him and will not go away. Bill Shaw believes that if he, Bill Shaw, had been hit over the head and set on fire, then he, David Lurie, would have driven to the hospital and sat waiting, without so much as a newspaper to read, to fetch him home. Bill Shaw believes that, because he and David Lurie once had a cup of tea together, David Lurie is his friend, and the two of them have obligations towards each other. Is Bill Shaw wrong or right? Has Bill Shaw, who was born in Hankey, not two hundred kilometres away, and works in a hardware shop, seen so little of the world that he does not know there are men who do not readily make friends, whose attitude toward friendships between men is corroded with scepticism? Modern English friend from Old English freond, from freon, to love. Does the drinking of tea seal a love-bond, in the eyes of Bill Shaw? Yet but for Bill and Bev Shaw, but for old Ettinger, but for bonds of some kind, where would he be now? On the ruined farm with the broken telephone amid the dead dogs.

Related Characters: David Lurie, Lucy, Bev Shaw, Bill Shaw, Ettinger
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:
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Ettinger Quotes in Disgrace

The Disgrace quotes below are all either spoken by Ettinger or refer to Ettinger. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Desire and Power Theme Icon
).
Chapter 12 Quotes

Spoken without irony, the words stay with him and will not go away. Bill Shaw believes that if he, Bill Shaw, had been hit over the head and set on fire, then he, David Lurie, would have driven to the hospital and sat waiting, without so much as a newspaper to read, to fetch him home. Bill Shaw believes that, because he and David Lurie once had a cup of tea together, David Lurie is his friend, and the two of them have obligations towards each other. Is Bill Shaw wrong or right? Has Bill Shaw, who was born in Hankey, not two hundred kilometres away, and works in a hardware shop, seen so little of the world that he does not know there are men who do not readily make friends, whose attitude toward friendships between men is corroded with scepticism? Modern English friend from Old English freond, from freon, to love. Does the drinking of tea seal a love-bond, in the eyes of Bill Shaw? Yet but for Bill and Bev Shaw, but for old Ettinger, but for bonds of some kind, where would he be now? On the ruined farm with the broken telephone amid the dead dogs.

Related Characters: David Lurie, Lucy, Bev Shaw, Bill Shaw, Ettinger
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis: