In the beginning of the book the reader get the idea of this immoral, echoistic man. By the end one has started to see him in a different light.
In the beginning, he is indeed disassociated from any real morality. The way he seduces Melanie, even when it's clear that she's troubled, shows how little he empathizes with those he comes across. Additionally, she never is any source of great passion for him, but just something he feels compelled to pursue. By the end of the novel, he has dropped this high impression of himself and lives a simpler life, helping out at the dog shelter and devoting himself to helping his daughter. He has gone from extremely narcissistic to relatively selfless.
