The Man Who Was Thursday

Today I finished the book "The Man Who Was Thursday" by G. K. Chesterton. The story covers the adventures of a man named Syme who uncovers a secret society of Anarchists within the city of London. This society is discovered as he befriends Lucian Gregory, a madman poet from the west side of town. A pact between the two is made as Gregory and Syme swear to secrecy.

However, as Lucian Gregory unveils that he is apart of a secret society Syme unveils that he is actually an undercover agent for Scotland Yard, the headquarters of London's world renown police force. Gregory also reveals that a meeting of the group is about to take place and that he expects to be named the next man to be placed in the office of "Thursday". That night, as a meeting of the society is conducted, it is Syme and not Gregory whom is elected and thus begins Syme's quest to discover whom is behind this group and to meet the man called "Sunday".

As the story unfolds each of the characters called by a day of the week are found out to also be undercover agents. Each which appeared evil are actually good. In the end, even Sunday, whom was presumed to be the most evil man on the face of the planet is found out to be "good" and he holds a banquet for each of the men and thousands of others. During the banquet each of the seven men are dressed up in outfits and sit on seven thrones which resemble each of the seven days of creation. For instance, Monday is dressed in an outfit of black and white symbolizing the fact that on day one, according to Scripture, light and darkness were created. Each is dressed in subsequent attire and Sunday is described to be the one of "rest".

With all of this imagery, it is tempting to think that the tables have turned and that the story somehow is actually about the revealing of who God is or the author's "strange" description of Him. Yet, the appendix includes an article that G. K. Chesterton wrote in the Illustrated London News on June 13, 1936. In the article, he describes that the intention of his story was not this at all. In fact, the evil members of the society who turned out to be each good cops and the leader of the pack who is revealed to be not evil but good are all an effort to make a single point. The Pessimists of Chesterton's day who were calling good-evil and evil-good were all in delusion. For there can be no good nor evil without a standard. There can be no ability to distinguish the two without a clear-cut definition and this I am assuming must be God.

Chesterton's masterful story, in the end, is merely an attempt to show the lunacy that occurs when men disregard God and instead choose to call what they perceive to be good "good" and what they perceive to be evil "evil". Therefore, our understanding of what is Right and what is Wrong, what is Good and what is Evil, each depends upon our basic belief in the existence of a Creator. Without God, there can be no true knowledge of the two.

For this reason, G. K. Chesterton explains that his original title also had a subtitle - "A Nightmare". Thus, the title of the book is really, "The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare." For without the existence of God, one cannot know who are the cops and who are the Anarchists. One cannot decipher who is to be regarded as the ultimate example of Good and the Epitome of Evil. It is God and God alone whom defines our understanding of morality.

Those who choose to say otherwise live their life in a constant state of confusion and denial in which experience alone is their sole indicator of the differences. Such a situation as Chesterton rightly imagines as a "nightmare".

Joshua