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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
Wither scolds Miss Hardcastle for losing Jane and reminds her that manipulation is a more effective way to recruit followers than force. Wither sends Miss Hardcastle to face “the Head,” and Filostrato escorts her, advising her to be completely still, silent, and obedient.
Filostrato’s advice for how Miss Hardcastle should behave is similar to Mr. Fisher-King’s advice to Jane. However, obedience to the Head of the N.I.C.E. means aiding a villainous lust for power, while obedience toward Fisher-King’s “Masters” means trusting a greater plan and humbling oneself before it.
Themes
Jane recuperates in Mr. Fisher-King’s Manor, where Mrs. Maggs tends to her. During her recovery, Jane finds an enormous brown bear living in the house, whom Mrs. Maggs introduces as Mr. Bultitude. Mrs. Maggs explains that Mr. Fisher-King can tame all animals. Jane also meets Mr. MacPhee, a scholar who doesn’t believe in Jane’s dreams and lectures her on the fundamental differences between men and women. Mrs. Dimble also resides in the house with her husband, and she explains to Jane that Fisher-King welcomed in the residents of St. Anne’s who lost their homes to the N.I.C.E.
Mr. Bultitude’s status as a resident of the Manor, and the peaceful coexistence of humans and animals there, contrasts the N.I.C.E.’s wanton industrialization and dedication to separating humans from nature. Mr. MacPhee is a curious resident of the Manor: he demonstrates sexist attitudes and denies the possibility of a divine source for Jane’s dreams, yet he is allied with Fisher-King. This perhaps suggests a more expansive and diverse group of people fighting for good—though it could also leave room for MacPhee to shift his views later.
Themes
Mark is in good spirits about the riot and his reporting on it. He meets with Frost, Miss Hardcastle, and Wither, who instruct him to write more articles supporting the popular opinion that the N.I.C.E. police should assume temporary control of Edgestow with Feverstone as emergency governor. They agree that Feverstone, who is no longer “quite in the Inner Ring,” is both a good figurehead for the N.I.C.E. and a good scapegoat to blame if the plan goes awry.
While Jane is pushing through distress and confusion to learn the truth, Mark cheerfully accepts the N.I.C.E.’s deceptions in exchange for status and inclusion. Meanwhile, Feverstone has lost status and thus becomes a potential scapegoat for the N.I.C.E., which demonstrates how fickle and ingenuine the kind of friendship Mark seeks is.
Themes
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Wither mentions that he has heard Jane is unstable and suggests that she come to the N.I.C.E. Mark opposes the idea of Jane judging him in his place of work, but when multiple discussions with colleagues suggest that this decision will cost him Wither’s favor, he wavers. In one such conversation with Filostrato, Mark learns that Filostrato aims to “purify” the world by replacing all organic life with manmade materials. Filostrato talks about a “pure” race native to the Moon that is almost severed from nature. Filostrato also reveals that the order for Mark to bring Jane to the N.I.C.E. comes directly from the Head.
Mark resists Wither’s attempts to get to Jane because he resents Jane’s judgment. His fear of Jane judging him suggests that he (perhaps unknowingly) considers Jane to be morally superior to him in some way. In the meantime, Mark continues to be drawn in by the N.I.C.E.’s ideals of “purifying” humanity. This kind of language draws an explicit parallel to eugenics, a pseudoscience practiced by the Nazis that intended to “purify” humanity’s genetics.
Themes
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Straik tells Mark that the Head wishes to see him, and Straik and Filostrato explain that the Head is François Alcasan, the guillotined man, who represents a new order of men who live beyond death. Straik and Filostrato tell Mark that conquering nature in this way is tantamount to becoming God, and now God wishes to speak to Mark. Mark is stunned and follows the men to a laboratory to meet Alcasan.
In Straik and Filostrato’s explanation of the Head, eugenics combines with blasphemy. The novel makes clear that the N.I.C.E.’s eugenic project is evil in itself because it depends on wiping out large populations of humanity, but this scene highlights that it is also evil because it puts humans in the role of God.
Themes
