John Ipe considered retirement to be a dishonour because he had retired from an honourable post. After retirement, he was reduced to nothing, just a normal person who was once a very high ranking officer. He missed the respect that he enjoyed. At the same time, he was also affected by the fact that he has retired but his wife was still young as she was 17 years younger to him. Thus the negligence that was struck to him suddenly was the reason that he considered retirement to be a dishonour.