The Man Who Was Thursday: Difference between revisions

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{{quote| "''First of all, what is it really all about? What is it you object to? You want to abolish Government?''"<br />

'''''[[The Man Who Was Thursday]]''': A Nightmare''''' is a metaphysical [[Thriller]] by famed author [[GKG. K. Chesterton]], and stands alongside his [[Father Brown]] stories as his most famous work.

The book deals with the conflict of Order and Chaos, and serves to deconstruct the concept of the [[Bomb-Throwing Anarchists|Bomb-Throwing Anarchist]] (which was popular at the time) in favour of dealing with philosophical anarchism, that Chesterton felt to be actual nihilism that seeks to abolish not just government and authority, but the very concepts of good, evil, and God. It contains elements of the spy novel, [[Mystery Fiction]], [[Satire]], humour, and horror, and has also had a rather eclectic variety of fans in the literary world, including Michael Collins, [[Jorge Luis Borges]], and [[Franz Kafka]].

* [[Beneath Notice]]: Subverted; Sunday's method of keeping the anarchists away from suspicion [[Sarcastic Confession|is for them to claim explicitly to be]] [[Bomb -Throwing Anarchists]], while appearing to be (eccentric) respectable gentlemen.

* [[Bored Withwith Insanity]]: Syme embraced Order and rejected radicalism because his whole family was made up of radicals for various causes and ideologies.

{{quote| Being surrounded with every conceivable kind of revolt from infancy, Gabriel had to revolt into something, so he revolted into the only thing left -- sanity.}}

* [[Cold -Blooded Torture]]: Tuesday is threatened with this.

* [[Colour Color-Coded for Your Convenience]]: A character with '''{{color|maroon|red}}''' hair is ''almost'' always Good in Chesterton. Less frequently, [[Blond Guys Are Evil]], especially if the blondness looks somehow artificial ("'''{{color|yellow|gilded}}'''"). However, this novel subverts this with the honourable protagonist Syme (who is blond) and the antagonist(?) {{spoiler|Gregory (maybe), who is red-haired.}}

* [[Did We Just Have Tea Withwith Cthulhu?]]

* [[Dress -Coded for Your Convenience]]: At the climax of the story, each Council member is dressed in clothes featuring a motif based on what was created on his respective day in [[The Bible|Genesis]]: Monday has a single white stripe for the light created on the first day; Tuesday, blue parted robes; Wednesday, a tree/green motif; Thursday, the sun and moon; Friday, fish and birds, and Saturday, beasts and a man. {{spoiler|In addition, Sunday is in all white robes, and Gregory in all black.}}

* [[Duel to Thethe Death]]: Syme [[Hit Me Dammit|intentionally provokes one with the Marquis de St. Eustache]] to prevent him from getting to Paris to carry out an assassination. (It's not actually to the death, though.)

{{quote| {{spoiler|"My red hair, like red flames, shall burn up the world ... "}}}}

{{quote| {{spoiler|"...I think you can take him to stand for Nature as distinguished from God. Huge, boisterous, full of vitality, dancing with a hundred legs, bright with the glare of the sun, and at first sight, somewhat regardless of us and our desires."}}<br />

* [[Masquerade Ball]]: ''See'' [[Dress -Coded for Your Convenience]].

* [[Paper -Thin Disguise]]: See also [[War On Straw]] and [[Crowning Moment of Funny]]; Gregory's [[Epic Fail]] attempts at undercover agent work.

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: Syme's method of getting himself elected to as the new Thursday and baiting the Marquis/Wednesday into their [[Duel to Thethe Death]]. See also [[Beneath Notice]].

* [[Short Title: Long Elaborate Subtitle]]

{{quote| "The history of the thing might amuse you," he said. "When first I became one of the New Anarchists I tried all kinds of respectable disguises. I dressed up as a bishop. I read up all about bishops in our anarchist pamphlets, in ''Superstition the Vampire'' and ''Priests of Prey''. I certainly understood from them that bishops are strange and terrible old men keeping a cruel secret from mankind. I was misinformed. When on my first appearing in episcopal gaiters in a drawing-room I cried out in a voice of thunder, 'Down! down! presumptuous human reason!' they found out in some way that I was not a bishop at all. I was nabbed at once. Then I made up as a millionaire; but I defended Capital with so much intelligence that a fool could see that I was quite poor. Then I tried being a major. Now I am a humanitarian myself, but I have, I hope, enough intellectual breadth to understand the position of those who, like Nietzsche, admire violence -- the proud, mad war of Nature and all that, you know. I threw myself into the major. I drew my sword and waved it constantly. I called out 'Blood!' abstractedly, like a man calling for wine. I often said, 'Let the weak perish; it is the Law.' Well, well, it seems majors don't do this. I was nabbed again."}}

* [[We Need a Distraction]]: See [[Duel to Thethe Death]].

* [[World of Cardboard Speech]]: Syme gives one at the climax of the book; it also serves as a [[Shut UP, Hannibal]] to {{spoiler|Gregory's}} [[Motive Rant]]/[[Hannibal Lecture]].

** Eh, that's subjective. I thought that {{spoiler|Gregory's}} [[Hannibal Lecture]] was not refuted, given the question that occurs to Syme.

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