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Chapter 2 - part 3

The final book in Lewis' theological science fiction Space Trilogy.

Chapter 2 - part 3

Postby Kanakaberaka » November 4th, 2008, 11:29 pm

Synopsis - The next morning Mark offers to stay with Jane rather than go with Lord Feverstone to Belbury. Yet Jane turns down Mark's offer, preferring not to lean on her husband. Jane does not allow her inner doubts to interfere with her husband's plans, or her own pride. When Lord Feverstone arrives, Jane is not fooled by his act. But she does not share her opinion with Mark. And so as Mark goes off to his interview at Belbury, Jane resolves to go to St. Anne's to meet Miss Ironwood.

This section stands in contrast to the previous one. Jane was so terribly emotional in the dark of the night. Now she appears outwardly calm in the light of the morning.

The first full paragraph of this section is about Mark's "projection" of Jane being voluptuous because of his feelings about her. This reminds me of the opening chapter of The Abolition of Man where Lewis criticises the authors of a text book for their comments about Coleridge's observation about a waterfall being sublime rather than merely pretty. The authors of "The Green Book" dismissed Coleridge as having sublime feelings about the waterfall rather than objective observation. Is Lewis saying that Jane really is voluptuous rather than just arousing the feeling in Mark?

In spite of her misgivings, Jane turns down Mark's offer to stay at home with her. She complains to Mark that "there's no need to talk as if I was a neurasthenic." Neurasthenia was a term coined by George Miller Beard in 1869 for a type of depression charaterized by fatigue and anxiety. It is quite appropriate since it was belived to be caused by the stress of urbanization. And of course the destruction of the natural world to make way for "Modernism" is what the N.I.C.E. is all about.

While arguing with Jane, Mark cuts his upper lip while shaving. Now he has ruined his chance of a good first impression with Wither by showing up with a bloody blob of cotton-wool on his face. Mark has hurt his pride even more than his face because of this.

When Lord Feverstone finally does arrive, he mistakes Jane's cleaning lady, Mrs. Magg's for her. Jane sees right through Feverstone's mask in an instant. She wonders what it is that Mark sees in this obvious phony. And yet she says nothing to Mark about him. Lewis illustrates women's intuition in this incident. He seems to present it as a God given talent in contrast to men's objective view of the world.

By the end of this section, Mark is on his way to Belbury with Feverstone and Jane has resolved to journey to St. Anne's to meet with Miss Ironwood in spite of her misgivings.
so it goes...
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