The group of pretend-anarchists make their way towards the town of Nancy where they visit a friend of the Colonel, who is sticking with them through thick and thin, it seems. They arrive at his house and inform him of their predicament. He remains very skeptical but decides to help the Colonel and his friends by giving them a car. The cars however are somewhat in need of prepare. Meanwhile they had realized that the anarchists have aquired horses and are chasing them. They believe that they got the horses from the Inn they stopped at the previous chapter and they speculate that the inn-keeper may have been forced against his will to give the anarchists the horses. Just as they got the car started the Secretary, mounted on a horse, attempted to stop them. The manage to escape him by incredible good luck of the car starting.
It was dark now, even more dark than usual because a storm was approaching. The car seems to have no lights, but they were given one by doctor Renard, the friend who had lend them the car. The lamp seems to be something of an ecclesiastical lamp from an old church. Meanwhile, with their fast car they are aiming for the policestation where they believe they will be safe. Suddenly two more motorcars, the others owned by Doctor Renard, speed past. Ratcliffe remarks that like the inn-keeper Dr Renard was forced to give the cars. They find their road blocked by townsfolk, who were up in arms. At first they assume that the people were either with them or just gathered for a town gathering mostly because of the presence of Dr Renard. However when he began firing at them they retreat. The colonel leave them to talk to his old friend while they get away. Then they see that the Innkeeper, who was established as a Christian in the previous chapter, among the people chasing them; the shock is so great that Syme exclaims “The evening star has fallen!”
They crash their automobile into a lamp post and make their way towards a pier which they decide to defend while the Gendermerie come to help them. Meanwhile the whole town was heading towards them to fight them. In a world gone mad the pessimistic former Marquis says that the only hope he has is placed in the unseen Inspector. The rest venture that he may be dead, but the Inspector say that “he must have been the only person Sunday must have found hard to kill”. Then comes the last great shock; the Colonel and the Secretary is leading the mob towards them! Outraged Syme takes the lantern given by the very same Colonel, knocks him down with it, then addresses the Secretary, exclaiming that they fight to the end, but only after throwing the lantern into the sea. Then the Secretary reveals that he is in fact also a policeman of the same (or should I say Syme) department, making the exasperated Dr Bull throw his sword into the sea. Now they have to face the cruel President Sunday himself...
This has got to be one of the most difficult chapters in the book (last two chapters however takes the cake!) mostly because it has several allusions to several ideas and themes and threads running through the story.
Of all of the chapters in the book, this is by far the most nightmarish, because it seems everything is turned upside. Old allies turn against them as if they had been infected by madness, giving their pursuers the means in which to catch up with them. Then the people of France turns against them, even though they have no real reason to turn to anarchy. Then finally the police begin firing at them; the police are off course the symbols of Order, and now they are serving anarchy. The world turned upside down, even if it was all a misunderstanding. However when it was cleared up that they were all on the same side, it only made things more obscure.
Also now all the twists concerning the normal members of Central Anarchist Council are spent; I’ve spent a lot of time thinking of these twists, which are rather predictable. Anyone could have guessed it given the history of the other anarchists, but there is one thing that changes it dramatically from normal twists in normal plots, namely that it does not clear up the plot in anyway; the twists only open up a larger, deeper level of absurd mystery. All that remains for them is to see Sunday himself, who will only raise more questions than answers.
The whole setting of this chapter especially has an unreal feel to it; at one part, as the sun is casting a golden glow on the village, it is mentioned that it resembles a stage-light more than a real glow. Also some of the policemen question wether or not anything is real; Dr Bull specifically believes he is locked up in an Asylum in Hanwell (a suburb of London), though the rest don’t share his skepticism. Bull also says that he refuses to believe normal people like “navvies” (a labourer helping in excavations) and “counter-jumpers” (an often derogatory slang phrase for store clerks).
Syme also says “When duty and religion are really destroyed, it will be by the rich”, which almost sounds Anarchistic in itself, though it is something of a sentiment Chesterton himself holds; a dislike for the wealthy, which is very much evident at times throughout Thursday.
Also, finally, there is Inspector Ratcliffe who, despite his absolutely hopeless pessimism, finally says that he places his hope in something he has never seen; he places his hope in the Great Inspector, who has drafted them into the Last Crusade; whose voice they have heard in the dark though never heard. This is a very apt metaphor for God, actually, but considering that God is also Sunday, makes this view almost self-contradictory. However some believe that Sunday the Anarchist represents the universe and paganism, but I’m getting ahead of myself; I’ll deal with in my next chapter.
Quick Note: Syme says that they are going to defend the pier like Horatius and his bridge. According to Wikipedia, Syme was probably referring to Horatius Cocles, a Roman Hero who defended a bridge into the city against invading forces; while he defended the bridge the people he were defending it for destroyed the bridge to curb the invasion. Accordng to many accounts Horatius drowned in the Tiber while swimming back from the battle.
Some Questions:
When it is revealed that the Inn-keeper has turned against him, Syme cries that “The morning star has fallen”. What exactly does he mean with this?
Inspector Ratcliffe remarks that they are the last of mankind and that the human being will soon be extinct. Is he referring to the advent of the Nietzchean idea of the Übermensch, (a theory that Chesterton thoroughly disapproved off) or maybe to something else? It just seem strange to say that these people are no longer human in the normal sense of the word.