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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in That Hideous Strength, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Obedience, Exclusivity, and Humility
Modernization vs. Tradition
Divine Conflict
Deception and Confusion
Gender and Marriage
Summary
Analysis
Some time after World War II, Jane Studdock reflects on the church service at her recent wedding, which was the first time she had been to church in years. She doubts her husband, Mark, will return home from his work at Bracton College in time for dinner. The couple has grown distant since they married six months ago. Jane is lonely and bored, and she tries to inspire herself to work on her doctoral thesis. She abruptly recalls last night, when she dreamed of a terrified prisoner conversing in French with a good-looking man before the good-looking man unscrews the head of the prisoner and frees a different, ancient man. She tries to focus on her writing, but she is overwhelmed by a desire to get out of the house.
The novel takes many supernatural twists and turns, but it begins with Jane and Mark’s relationship, which forms the emotional core of the book. They are newly married, but already their affection for each other is waning. Both Studdocks retreat into emotionless academic work to avoid addressing their marital issues, but Jane’s attempts to be a clear-headed and objective academic are derailed by macabre and mystical dreams.
Themes
Meanwhile, Mark Studdock walks to Bracton College of the small University of Edgestow. He is a sociologist who’s new to the College, and he is grateful for the friendship of Curry, the Sub-Warden of the College. Mark meets Curry on the way to the College Meeting, and they discuss the members of staff on their side of a disagreement at Bracton. Curry mentions that Lord Feverstone, whom Mark doesn’t know, has returned to Bracton and will attend the College Meeting. Feverstone is rarely at Bracton, but the College keeps him a Fellow because he is well-connected. Curry reveals that Feverstone helped appoint Mark to Mark’s own Fellowship at Bracton, and Mark is uncomfortable with the reminder that he was once an “outsider” of Bracton.
Mark places a great deal of value on his friendship with Curry, which he believes makes him an “insider” of Bracton College’s social groups. His belief in the importance of cliques and friendships in academia is, the novel insists, correct: Feverstone does little real work for the College, and he only remains employed there because he is friends with the right people. In fact, since Feverstone lobbied for the College to hire Mark, Mark is by extension only employed because of Feverstone’s friendships.
Themes
Bracton is home to ancient architecture and the walled-in Bragdon Wood. In the Wood is a centuries-old well shrouded with legend. It is known as “Merlin’s Well” and is rumored to predate England itself, and every Warden of Bracton drinks ceremonially from the well.
The presence of Merlin’s Well in Bragdon Wood establishes a connection between nature and cultural traditions. The Well is untouched by industrialization or modernization, allowing it to remain as it was in the days of Merlin and King Arthur. The significance of Arthurian legend to England’s national identity will later become a driving theme of the book.
Themes
The story moves back to the College Meeting, where the faculty of Bracton is debating the sale of Bragdon Wood to the National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.). The N.I.C.E is an influential research organization supported by the government and unrestricted in terms of finances and bureaucracy. If the N.I.C.E purchases the Wood, it will likely take over the entire University. Curry delivers a persuasive speech against the sale of the land, but Feverstone points out that the Wood requires a new wall, which will cost more than the College can afford and will eliminate the possibility of salary increases. More men join the debate, including those whom Curry’s clique normally drowns out, and finally the matter is postponed until the evening.
Curry’s clique of Fellows has social status at the College, but one member of the group voicing an opposing opinion is enough to disrupt the group’s influence. Mark is correct that being included in an in-group at Bracton grants him some power, but this passage shows that that power is ultimately meaningless when it comes to enacting real change. In contrast, the N.I.C.E. is an exclusive group with seemingly unlimited power and resources, which positions it as an appealing alternative to Curry’s clique.
Themes
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The Meeting moves on to discuss incorporating the N.I.C.E. in the University of Edgestow, and most of the men present don’t understand what the proposed incorporation entails, to what extent the N.I.C.E. is already active at the University, or even the current relationship between the University and the College. Conversation continues through the day, and after Mark calls to tell Jane that he will miss dinner, the majority of the staff decides to sell the land to the N.I.C.E.
In this Meeting, the N.I.C.E. begins to exert its influence over Bracton College and the University of Edgestow as a whole, and the Institute does this by obscuring its intentions and methods of operation. That vagueness pushes the College Fellows to convince themselves to sell the Wood, even though they have only a limited notion of what the benefits and drawbacks of that decision might be.
Themes
After leaving the house, Jane goes shopping. She prefers “severe” and “serious” clothes to distinguish herself from other women and make men take her seriously. She encounters Mrs. Dimble, the kindly wife of Jane’s former tutor, and the two have lunch at the Dimbles’ house. Mrs. Dimble reveals that Bracton is evicting the Dimbles as part of the sale of Bragdon Wood, and she refers to Mark as “one of the villains” of the scheme. Jane, lonely and still haunted by her nightmare, cries in front of Mrs. Dimble in a way she never did with her own mother.
Jane responds to prejudice against women in academia and the workplace by emulating the men who are prejudiced against her. She believes that the only way to gain men’s respect is to distance herself from femininity, which prompts her to look down on other women who don’t follow that same path. Her disdain for traditional womanhood contrasts the matronly Mrs. Dimble, who fulfills the archetypal feminine role of the comforting mother.
Themes
Mrs. Dimble’s husband Dr. Dimble talks to Jane about Arthurian legend, describing how the characters of the myths reflect the cultural diversity of ancient Britain, from Roman Christians to British Druids. He notes that Merlin seems to be both Christian and Druidic, and that the “devil” who fathered him is never clearly identified as good or evil. He wonders if Merlin is the “last trace” of an otherwise forgotten tradition, and he wonders if the N.I.C.E. will prove the legends true by unearthing Merlin’s still-living body when they dig up the Wood. Jane is disturbed at the similarities between the legends and her dream.
Dr. Dimble suggests that although objective good and objective evil do exist and can be identified, they are complicated and intertwined. Britain as a nation is not solely one or the other, just as its history is dominated by clashes between different religious and ethnic groups. The book aligns itself strictly with Christian morality, yet Dr. Dimble posits that Merlin can represent the best of a lost tradition while being both Christian and Druidic.
Themes
