Monthly Archives: September 2022

THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH: Chapter 8

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A rather comical illustration for the character of Professor Filostroto in That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis. Filostroto, in a grotesque experiment with a disembodied head, hopes to escape the natural order of life and death by creating a form of “immortal” (perpetual) artificial intelligence. Illustration by J. P. Cokes.1

MOONLIGHT AT BELBURY

Overview Question

In this chapter, as Mark and Jane become more involved at Belbury and at St. Anne’s, they begin to uncover some of the deeper implications of the two worldviews that are calling for their allegiance. This concerns especially the concept of nature--that is, the role of the natural world in each worldview. How does the modern worldview at Belbury, with its emphasis on the freedom and reason of the individual (free from moral or religious constraint) affect the way the people at Belbury think about nature, and how they propose to use and interact with it? At the same time, how does the traditional worldview at St. Anne’s, with its emphasis on the religious and moral tradition of the Bible where freedom and reason are constrained by obedience to God (the Creator of nature) redirect this community’s awareness of and interaction with nature along very different lines? Overview Question: 

What are the differences concerning the role of nature that Mark and Jane encounter at Belbury and at St. Anne’s, and why do these particular differences arise from each of the worldviews? 

As you read through the different parts of the chapter—with the various accounts of Fairy Hardcastle’s sexual deviance, and Filostroto’s vision for a disembodied existence of virtual immortality free from the difficulties of organic nature and the body, and then of Jane’s difficulties adjusting to the rhythms of life at St. Anne’s with gardens, animals, shared chores, and no British class structure—try to reflect on the role of nature in each account. Which of the accounts suggests a cooperation with the order of creation or nature, and which, a rejection of that order? 

It may also be interesting to note here that Lewis, in his book on the Medieval worldview, entitled The Discarded Image, tells of how the moon was regarded as a metaphorical boundary between the heavenly realm (where the angels dwell in heavenly order) and the earthly realm of “nature” (where fallen angels exercise their evil influence). We shall encounter this lunar metaphor more than once in the chapters ahead. In this chapter, lodged as it is both in the title and in Filostroto’s long speech to Mark, it probably is meant to suggest the lunacy that has infected the lifeworld at Belbury.  

 

An illustration for the character of Fairy Hardcastle in That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis. Fairy is head of the NICE police at Belbury, and uses this position as an outlet for her own controlling and sadomasochistic tendencies. Illustration by J. P. Cokes.1

DEEPER-DIVE QUESTIONS

1. The character of Fairy Hardcastle is a revealing study in the ethical results of the modern worldview at Belbury. Fairy often seems somewhat aloof to the ideological principles of the NICE, and yet Belbury affords her a platform for the controlling and sadomasochistic habits that rule her character. How would you assess the fit between Fairy’s personal formation, especially her sexual proclivities, and the worldview that guides Belbury, especially its view of nature? What parallels can you discern in the attitudes and ideas that dominate the topics of sex and sexuality in American culture today?  

2. After going “home” to St. Anne’s, Jane must get used to a very different social atmosphere at the manor–more easy-going, one might say, more “natural.” Jane has always seen herself as a modern liberated woman, and yet she finds it difficult to accept Ivy Maggs, her former maid, as an equal partner sharing chores in the community. Likewise, she doesn’t quite know what to make of an obedient bear and the other tame animals at large in the house. And she is still wrestling with the Director’s conception of marriage (Chapter 7), which also requires evidently a practice of submission and obedience. What conception of nature is at work at St. Anne’s, and why does it interfere in all of these ways with Jane’s former ideas and habits? 

3. In Part 3 of the chapter, Mark is finally drawn into and made nearly a full participant in the network between the NICE activists who cause riots, the leadership at Belbury who control the local police, and the propaganda media for whom Mark now works. What parallels for this collusion between government authorities, corporate leadership, law enforcement, and media propaganda can you discern in the events of American culture and politics today? 

4. Also in Part 3, Professor Filostroto proclaims to Mark in much greater detail his view of the ultimate goal at Belbury. This goal is to achieve a kind of virtual immortality through disembodied artificial intelligence (of which the experiment with the Head is a rough prototype). And Rev. Straik translates all of this into a contorted interpretation of traditional Christian beliefs and symbols; so that the NICE’s rather gnostic vision of a dis-embodied and immortal virtual existence is proclaimed by Straik as the real meaning of the resurrection and the kingdom of God. One can sense that Mark is both drawn in by this vision, and yet also repelled.  

What parallels for this vision of virtual existence, free from the difficulties of natural life, can you discern in the cultural trends and political battles of 2022? And what do you think should be the genuine Christian response to the various issues involved? (In your answer, consider the role of the body, of sexuality, birth, and the family, and of the inherent difficulties involved in natural life, and the place of these “sufferings” in the development of the Christian virtues.)

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  1. It may seem odd in a way to use these rather comical illustrations for what are admittedly very dangerous and harmful characters in THS–characters like Filostroto and Fairy Hardcastle. But then Lewis himself wrote with both insight and humor about the motives and short-sightedness of the demonic characters in his Screwtape Letters. So, perhaps there is a place for laughing against the darkness even as we try to take seriously the task of exposing it in our own time. 

THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH: Chapter 7

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If Chapter 6, Fog, focused at length on Mark’s miserable struggle to establish himself at Belbury; Chapter 7, The Pendragon, shifts the focus to Jane and how her self-understanding is challenged and begins to unfold in a wild roller coaster ride of new discoveries about herself and her potential as a human being in a very different kind of community at St. Anne’s.

THE PENDRAGON

Overview Question

From the opening sentence of THS, and scattered throughout the chapters, we encounter various clues concerning Jane’s ideas about marriage and sexuality, and these are always unresolved ideas. In the opening paragraphs of the story, for example, we find Jane struggling with her ideas about romantic love and with the reality of her marriage to Mark in comparison to the high ideals of the marriage rite in the Church of England. Then, when Jane first goes to St. Anne’s, she is caught up in a train of thought about sex and gardens, Freud and female beauty that leaves her rattled and ill-at-ease until, embarrassed and trying to compose herself, she pulls herself together to meet the people she has come to see. And then, clearly, when she finally meets Ransom, the Director of St. Anne’s (aka the Pendragon) she goes into a bewildering spate of emotional reactions that includes overpowering attraction to him as an almost mythical figure of masculinity and, at the same time, a strange disloyalty and indifference to her own husband, Mark. And all of this happens to Jane, of all people–a woman who wants, above all, to be (or at least to appear to be) in full rational control of her own thoughts and passions, and to write a cutting-edge dissertation on John Donne’s “triumphant vindication of the body.”  Overview Question:

Given what you know already about Jane’s worldview and her personal self-image as an independent, rational, egalitarian woman, how would you explain this meltdown in her composure and self-control when she first meets the Pendragon?

Of course, the wild career of Jane’s story in this chapter doesn’t end with her interview. Ransom tries to help her by introducing her to the role of faith, faithfulness, obedience, and submission in religion and in marriage. And when she leaves, she finds that she is indeed beginning to see her own beauty in a very new, though still confused and conflicted, light. And then she is subjected to physical and sexual abuse by Fairy Hardcastle upon her return to Edgestow, before deciding to go straight back to St. Anne’s to seek recovery.  The whole chapter, then, pulls back the curtain on the deep conflict in Jane between her preferred outward self-image, on the one hand, and the inward terrain of a still very disordered and confused though seeking self, on the other. And so, again, how would you explain this? Keep in mind the two worldviews (modern and traditional) and the two lifeworlds, including both the principles and the practices of each, that either prepare the soul or leave it unprepared for various kinds of challenges.

 

An English manor house that may, in some ways, suggest the kind of place where Jane went to seek help with her troubling dreams. And she found help that both challenged her self-understanding and welcomed her into a new sense of human calling and purpose.

DEEPER-DIVE QUESTIONS

1. “Pendragon” is, of course, the traditional name in the Arthurian legend for the line of kings that descend from King Arthur himself. Jane has not really wanted to meet with this man, this “Director,” also called Ransom and the “Fisher-King.” But her encounter with Prof. Frost in Edgestow, after having seen him first in a troubled dream, has jolted awake her sense of danger. Then, when she does meet with Ransom, she is “undone,” as the narrator tells us in Part 1; and she becomes distracted, giddy, “all power of resistance . . . drained away.” Given what you know about Jane so far (her feminism, her desire for rational control, her distaste for vulnerability, her modern worldview) what do you think could explain this sudden meltdown?

2. In a way, Jane’s conversation with the Director goes from bad to worse. She finds herself attracted to him. She argues with him about the nature of her marriage to Mark and the role of equality in marriage. And then when he tries to explain to her the connection between obedience to God and love for one’s spouse in marriage, she seems to lose herself in a kind of seductive fantasy about Ransom himself, until Ransom tells her to “Stop it.” He then goes on to try to help her understand the role of “obedience” (humility, faithfulness, submission) in romantic or erotic love (Part 2). What does this conversation suggest about the relevance and value of Ransom’s traditional worldview for Jane?

3. When Jane leaves the Director in Part 3, the narrator tells us that she is divided within her own mind and emotions between four different “Janes.” Identify these, and try to explain what each one means in terms of the spiritual journey that Jane now finds herself embarked upon.

4. When she arrives back in Edgestow, Jane is caught up in a riot that has been ginned up by the activists from Belbury. Jane is then taken prisoner for interrogation by Fairy Hardcastle, and subjected to painful physical and sexual abuse. In the turmoil of the riot, Jane manages to escape and to ask some strangers to take her “home” to St, Anne’s.  After this day of wild extremes and emotions—both of deeper good and of really horrible evil—how would you assess Jane’s decision to regard St. Anne’s as her home, rather than her own flat in Edgestow?

THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH: Chapter 6

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Within the space of two chapters (5 and 6) Mark Studdock goes through in microcosm and as an individual all four stages of the neo-Marxist “cultural revolution” described by Yuri Bezmenov. When this occurs at the societal and collective level it may also exhibit the characteristics of “mass formation” described by Matthias Desmet (see Introduction).

FOG

Overview Question

Another way to analyze the content of Chapters 5 and 6 is to evaluate what is happening to Mark as an individual within the framework of Yuri Bezmenov’s “Four Stages of Cultural Revolution” (as described in the Introduction). Given the four stages–1. Demoralization, 2. Destabilization, 3. Crisis, and 4. New Normal–how would you track Mark’s progress through these stages from his first interviews with Wither and Miss Hardcastle, to the job-insecurity that arises from Feverstone, to his frantic effort to regain solid footing with Curry, and finally to his capitulation to what he knows to be the nefarious yet required role of churning out propaganda for the NICE. This will reveal how the stages of Bezmenov’s model appear in the life of one individual; but the wider collective phenomenon will also appear in future parts of Lewis’s story. Overview Question:  

Given the four stages of Bezmenov’s model, try to locate Mark’s “progress” as he makes his way through the difficulties that he faces in Chapters 5 and 6. For example, at what point does he become demoralized, and when does this shift to the more serious stage of being destabilized? At what point does Mark enter a condition of crisis? And when does he finally cave into what is, at least for a period of time, his new normal?  

DEEPER-DIVE QUESTIONS

1.In Part 1, Wither continues to work on Mark with a style of communication that leaves Mark at sea about whether he has a job, or not. At the same time, Mark’s own self-absorbed motives, especially his ambition to be part of the inner circle, make him very vulnerable to this kind of manipulation. Describe the “fit” between Wither’s leadership style and Mark’s personality. What different character traits or virtues might have provided Mark with a means of resistance to Wither’s mechanizations?

2.  Absent the needed character traits to resist, Mark finally caves in and begins to do the bidding of the NICE. He begins to work as a fake news “journalist,” providing the kind of cover, spin, and suppression that are needed to keep the NICE from taking responsibility for their own destructive actions. What parallels can you see between the kinds of problems that the NICE causes, the kinds of articles that Mark writes to cover them, and the events and media coverage that have shaped public opinion in America over the last 5 or 6 years? Try to be specific and think of at least three examples.

3.  In Part 3 of Chapter 6, we meet again the Rev. Straik whose reflections on Jesus and the resurrection typify the role of religion in the modern worldview. What is that role, according to Straik, and where do you see a similar use of religion at work in the political and cultural battles of our time?

4. In part 5, Jane goes into Edgestow and runs into Professor Frost of Belbury, whom she has seen previously only in her dreams (see part 2). The nature of this man’s actions in her dreams, and the atmosphere of his person when she nearly touches him on the street, send a shock of repulsion through her. She hadn’t really wanted to go to St. Anne’s to see the Director, but now her desire to go is urgent. What do these hints suggest about what is happening in Jane’s inner life, quite apart from her initial or deliberative plans?   

THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH: Chapter 5

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Once again, the pre-covid cast for the THS movie directed by Antione Fuqua included a promising actor, this time for the role of John Wither, that creepy embodiment of prevaricating obfuscation and manipulating control.

ELASTICITY

Overview Question

In Parts 1 and 2 of Chapter 5, Mark is drawn yet further into the manipulations of the lifeworld of Belbury. Deputy Director Wither continues to flatter Mark’s vanity while refusing to give him a clear job description or to make a solid job offer. Fairy Hardcastle warns Mark not to expect a clear job description from Wither; and then explains how, if only Mark will do as he is told, he can begin to rise as a kind of activist journalist swaying public opinion for the NICE. And then Mark learns that his position at Bracton College is in jeopardy because Lord Feverstone has informed them that Mark is joining the NICE. When confronted, Feverstone simply shrugs Mark off with a dismissive comment. All of these passages portray in some detail how the modern worldview operates at the level of personal and interpersonal relationships. And this leads to our Overview Question for the week:

How do the different actions of Wither, Fairy Hardcastle, and Lord Feverstone in relation to Mark’s own servile mentality illustrate the basic principles and practices of the modern worldview and lifeworld at Belbury?

For additional help in answering this question, remember the brief outline that I provided with the Chapter 3 Overview Question: Yoram Hazony’s analysis of the “practices” that characterize both the modern and the traditional worldviews. In particular, keep in mind how the modern worldview valorizes above all individual freedom and reason, and rejects the need for religious, moral, or even familial traditions of loyalty, honor, and acknowledged hierarchy to guide and shape the freedom or the reason of the individual.    

As artfully evoked in the expression of actor Ewan McGregor, Mark’s lack of a transcendent religious and moral point of reference, and his desire above all to be counted among the elite, leaves him imminently vulnerable to the manipulations of nearly everyone at Belbury.

DEEPER-DIVE QUESTIONS

1. In Part 3 of Chapter 5, Arthur and Camilla Denniston take Jane on a picnic, and treat her in a manner that is quite opposite of how Mark is treated at Belbury. They propose a specific role for Jane: namely, to consider her dreams as a special gift that can be of great help to the community at St. Anne’s. When Camilla begins to put pressure on Jane to decide right away, however, Arthur reminds her that the Director of their community would not want Jane to join them under that kind of pressure or coercion. In contrast to Mark’s interview, what interpersonal conditions are given priority in Jane’s interview, and how do these reflect the principles and practices of the traditional worldview? (see again Yoram Hazony)   

2. How do the conditions of the two interviews reflect the customs and values of the two groups of people and the two worldviews that inform Lewis’s story, the modern worldview and the traditional worldview? In particular, what role do the values related to the family and religion at St. Anne’s play, in contrast to the emphasis at Belbury on the individual and his or her “freedom.”

3. Where, in our current cultural and political turmoil in 2022, do you see signs of the kind of individualism, disunity, coercion, cancellation, and manipulation of power that characterize Mark’s job interview at Belbury? Where are there signs of the open discussion, debate, transparency, and the freedom to deliberate and practice informed consent that are given to Jane?