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Chapter 9
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
The next morning, Wither calls Mark to a meeting with him and Miss Hardcastle. The two tell Mark that they have evidence that could convict him of Hingest’s murder, but they will suppress this evidence as long as Mark remains loyal to the N.I.C.E. and doesn’t leave Belbury. They remind Mark to send for Jane, then dismiss him. Mark leaves, planning to visit Jane in Edgestow and warn her, but his path is blocked by what seems to be Wither’s ghost. He strikes the ghost and continues on.
Wither’s role as the Deputy Director of the N.I.C.E. has “withered” his mind and sense of self to the point that he seems to haunt Belbury. The group Mark was once so eager to be included in turns on him and blackmails him to bring Jane to them. This pushes Mark too far, and he is unwilling to betray his wife even though their marriage is strained.
Themes
While he waits for a bus, Mark stops at a pub, where he sees the effects of his propaganda in the praise local men have for the N.I.C.E. He travels to Edgestow, which has been taken over by the N.I.C.E.’s “Emergency Regulations” officers. Mark discovers that Jane is not at home, and he sees evidence that the Dimbles visited. He goes to see Dr. Dimble, who refuses to reveal Jane’s whereabouts to him. Dimble reveals that the N.I.C.E. tortured Jane, and Mark is horrified to realize Dimble thinks Mark was complicit in this. Dimble blames Mark for helping the N.I.C.E. take over the nation’s press, insisting that no one could be so ignorant of what the N.I.C.E. is doing. Mark promises to leave the N.I.C.E., and though Dimble doesn’t trust him, he agrees to help.
Mark starts to confront the consequences of his actions in the N.I.C.E. as he meets the townspeople and sees martial law imposed on Edgestow. The direct correlation between Mark’s propaganda and the N.I.C.E. being granted emergency power emphasizes how the N.I.C.E. uses deception to manipulate the public into viewing it as a force for good. Dimble points out that Mark certainly knew what he was doing—he was aware, after all, that he was writing propaganda. And thus, Dimble doesn’t trust that Mark has fully switched sides, since Mark already showed he was willing to be complicit in helping evil.
Themes
Mark leaves Dimble’s flat unsure what to do. Before he can make up his mind, he is arrested for Hingest’s murder. At the same time, Dimble drives to St. Anne’s. When he joins the rest of the Company, Ransom informs him that Jane has seen a vision of how to find the sleeping, buried Merlin. They will need to enter a tunnel that begins outside the N.I.C.E.’s territory in Bragdon Wood, which Ransom speculates was a deliberate choice made by the prophetic Merlin. Ransom sends Dimble and Denniston to follow Jane to search for Merlin. Ransom asks Jane to pledge obedience to Maleldil, but she only agrees to obey Ransom.
Every time Mark considers leaving the N.I.C.E., the Institute employs more force to keep him in their power. In contrast, Ransom asks Jane if she will pledge her allegiance to Maleldil. He accepts her refusal because he believes she will eventually choose to follow Maleldil of her own volition, and because obeying Ransom in this case is close enough to obeying Maleldil. The fact that the defiant Jane is willing to promise to obey any man makes clear that she is taking to heart Ransom’s advice on the importance of humility.
Themes
