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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
While Jane, Dimble, and Denniston continue searching for Merlin, Wither sits awake in his office. He hardly ever sleeps, and years of work at the N.I.C.E. have eroded his mind enough to blur the line between sleeping and wakefulness. A N.I.C.E. employee informs Wither that Merlin’s tomb is empty, and that other employees and police officers are looking for the wizard. In Mark’s cell, Frost explains that the N.I.C.E. has been drawing extreme emotions from Mark so that he can forgo emotion in favor of objectivity. Mark is no longer willing to be manipulated, but he pretends to listen.
Wither’s constate state of haziness makes clear that serving evil forces out of self-interest will ultimately worsen people’s lives. Wither has power in the N.I.C.E., but it is meaningless because he is barely awake to enjoy it. Frost and the N.I.C.E. champion objectivity, but their version of objectivity is based on their subjective disdain for nature and religion. They falsely equate objectivity with removing all natural and divine influences on human life.
Themes
Frost tells Mark that the consciousness of the Head is not that of Alcasan, but a “Macrobe,” an unearthly species far more intelligent than humans. Far from aligning with the N.I.C.E.’s professed goal of ending war, Frost and the Macrobes aim to bring about a war that eliminates the “dead-weight” of society and preserves the “technocracy,” until the group that Frost believes to be the peak of humanity are the only humans left. Mark recognizes that this goal is evil, but he is tempted by the thought of gaining access to this ultimate in-group.
The “Macrobes” that lead the N.I.C.E. are the evil eldils of Earth. Frost has given them a more scientific-sounding name in “Macrobes” to deny their true natures and classify them within his rigid worldview. Frost’s description of a “technocracy” that should rise to power at the cost of all other lives makes explicit the connection that the book draws between eugenics and transhumanism (which advocates for improving humanity with manmade technology). The possibility of joining that technocracy tests Mark’s newfound resolve.
Themes
The remaining residents of Ransom’s Manor sit together in a discussion of animal nature, prompted by MacPhee’s assertion that Mr. Bultitude is incapable of feeling friendship or having a personality. Ransom argues that MacPhee’s distinction between humans and animals is flawed because, while humans are uniquely capable of affection, the need for companionship is universal. The conversation turns to the eldils, whom Ransom admits are not made for human company, but whom (like Maleldil Himself) became less alien after the birth of Jesus. The conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Merlin at the Manor.
In the book’s mythology, Maleldil is both God and Jesus, because God and Jesus are one and the same. Jesus is the human form of Maleldil, while “the Old One” that other chapters and books allude to is the more ancient, more alien form. This complicated kind of dual nature mirrors the way in which humans are like animals, and are thus connected to the natural world, and yet are also distinct from them.
Themes
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At Belbury, Wither and Frost inspect the unconscious “tramp” apprehended by the N.I.C.E. officers, whom they suspect to be Merlin. The man wakes and doesn’t seem to understand Wither’s attempts to greet him in Latin, instead wordlessly requesting food and beer. Alone in his cell, Mark steels himself against the temptation of the N.I.C.E., holding Jane in his mind as what he must fight for.
Mark’s understanding of Jane has changed. He no longer sees her as a burden he must provide for or a marker of his own status, but as a person who is more righteous than himself and who deserves the little protection he can give her.
Themes
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