At times, the violence in Disgrace hits you right over the head – we mean, it's hard to ignore it when David gets knocked out and, you know, lit on fire. Then there is the violence we don't see but know happens, like Lucy's rape. We also see extreme violence acted upon the dogs in the kennel when the tall man slaughters them one by one. But then there also actions that are characterized as violence even when the person doling it out doesn't realize that it can be viewed that way; for example, David is stunned to hear the committee refer to his affair with Melanie as an instance of abuse; he certainly hadn't seen it that way. Violence can be intentional or unintentional, but in either case, it permeates this text.