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?