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| *I feel this is vaguely related to the story but not to my actual blog post* |
In “A Hint of an Explanation,”
Greene certainly does not hesitate to point out the various, pitfalls of religion.
In the scene beginning on page 74, when David describes his home town in East
Anglia, he immediately goes into the “tradition of hostility to us [Catholics]”
(74) by the Protestants over an atrocity
committed by their ancestors a couple of centuries back. I think the word
tradition is very pointed here, because the word is so often associated with
religious belief, as every religion has its own traditions. Here he shows how
this tradition has, over time, become ingrained into the social structure of
this small town. He is ridiculed and called Popey Martin by other children at
school, yet at the time he doesn’t know why other then it “had something to do
with my religion” (75). Probably, the children who mock him have no reason to dislike
Catholics— they probably don’t even know what Catholicism is outside of the
fact that they follow the Pope. They simply follow the example of their
parents, who followed the example of their parents, and so on.
When they come out
of mass every Sunday, it always coincides with the time that the mass (as in group,
God help you if you call a “worship service” a Mass) of Protestants passes by
on their way to “the proper church—[David] always thought of it as the proper
church. [The Catholics] had to pass the parade of their eyes—indifferent, supercilious,
mocking” (75). This happens every Sunday, over and over again, a
tradition unto itself. The constant ridicule and hostility makes him, as a
young child, feel that his religion is improper, illegitimate, and makes him an outsider even in such a small town. And all this hostility is aimed at him simply for his being in a different religious group than the Protestants, even though they share most of the same beliefs, the same Bible, the same Savior, the same Commandments, etc. I think that Greene, in describing this, clearly points out the illogical obsessions and wrongs that tradition and religious belief can compel people to commit if they are taken too far.
I think this obsession comes up most pointedly with Blacker, who I see as a religious fanatic for Atheism. His quest to obtain a consecrated Eucharist becomes an obsession and a focus for him, simply so that he can examine them under a microscope and prove that there is no difference between it and a normal wafer, as evidenced by his constant repeated question "what's the difference?" (77).
I don't think Greene is condemning religion in any way, the David, on the train, is immeasurably happy with his life and convinced of the presence of God, yet remains open to discussion and does not shut off any ideas which contradict his own. At the same time, the agnostic narrator who often doubts his own belief in God is also described as open minded and willing to be convinced with enough evidence.
Question: Does Greene reveal any personal resentment against the Protestants in this story?
1 comment:
I believe that in this story, Greene is casting the most negative light not on Protestants, but on atheists like Blacker. John correctly points out that, David describes the scorn he receives from Protestants in his town in a negative light, but he seems to give reasons as to why there might be disagreements between Catholics and Protestants. Blacker’s obsessions in discrediting religion, on the other hand, seems to be fanatical, uncalled for, and is the driving force for David to eventually join the priesthood.
While the Protestants in his town simply give him a nickname like “Popey Martin” (75), and almost exclude his father from a club, it seems their intent is not malicious. I agree with John that especially for the children, they probably have no good reason to dislike Catholics at all other than the history between their religions. Removed from this “parade” of Protestants is the loner, Blacker. His intents and actions are malicious, obsessive, and at some points even disturbing. He bribes, and threatens David for a host, all just to “put the two of them under a microscope” (77) to see if they’re any different. Clearly, his actions have no justification and this is why David describes him as simply fueled by his hatred.
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