by The Bigsleep J » February 2nd, 2006, 1:50 pm
When we last left Syme and Gregory both were on a boat-trip to the Moulin Rouge, both armed with a large basket of cottage cheese and port… Just kidding.
Syme had in the previous chapter revealed that he was a policeman and now Gregory wanted to kill him or turn him over but his reminded that both of them are in the same boat “and jolly seasick” too. Syme might die, but Gregory might at least be discredited as a reliable anarchist. But Syme can’t tell the police about all this either because of his oath, so both are snookered – both are in a situation where they have equal chances of loosing and winning. Syme (through clever talk) gets a seat at the meeting and soon the election is underway.
When Gregory delivers his speech is turns out to be a humanistic and kind speech, but many of the other anarchists don’t approve of the speech. It strikes them as being too kind, but they don’t really voice their disappointed. Syme however senses this and begins to impose himself on the anarchists with a speech so fiery and passionate that they elect him as Thursday despite the pleas of Gregory.
The chapter ends with Syme and Gregory speaking final words to each other. Syme says that Gregory is a gentlemen who has kept his word while the other only manages to call him a devil. Syme has the final word and went down to the dock, off to meet Sunday.
*****
And now some Disorganized thoughts
There is stark contrast between the Syme of the first two chapters and the Syme of chapter three and the rest of the book. In the first part Syme acts slightly like an idiot – a book learned fool who happens to stumble into a strange situation. In this chapter we learn that he is clever and quick-witted, the way he steers the anarchists to elect him as Thursday. Obviously the Syme of the first two chapters were only a mask, of Obviously the Syme of the first two chapters were only a mask, a clever deception to gain access to the Anarchists. But Syme did not plan being elected to Thursday at the beginning of the evening so he is literally willing to die for the cause where others would not have.
This chapter also has a lot of black humour, like Buttons saying that the attempts to bomb Brighton pier would have killed more people “under happier circumstances”. The last Thursday ironically also died “through his faith in a hygienic mixture of chalk and water as a substitute for milk, which beverage he regarded as barbaric, and as involving cruelty to the cow. Cruelty, or anything approaching to cruelty, revolted him always.” This ironic on many levels, seeing that he seems to care more for the cow than the people he’s blowing up. It reminds me of an incident where the director PETA sent a letter to Yasser Arafat complaining about a donkey being used in a suicide-bombing by Palestinians. The letter did not complain about the killing of innocent people but just about “leaving the animals out of this conflict.” She later commented on it stating “It is not my business to inject myself into human wars.” I wonder if this is not Chesterton poking his friend George Bernard Shaw, a vegetarian, in the ribs. Shaw, I heard, supported the Boer War (for instance) yet considered farming with animals cruel.
I think to some degree Gregory’s speech is a bit of an inconsistency. His speech doesn’t seem to reflect his rebellious spirit that came through so much in the two chapters and which comes forward in the last chapter as well. Its more like a pacifistic anarchist’s speech, not the insane sociopath who congregate underground in the book, nor those who meet at the Council of Days in Chapter 5 & 6 who speak of unspeakable horrors. In short, it does not really feel right.
Insert supposedly witty but random absurd comment here and add water