Dear Internet,
Well, I
am back. Did you miss me? No?
Yeah, I did not think so. Looking
at the difference of page views shows that straight enough. But hey, what should I expect. I said I was going to be gone for two
weeks. Why would anyone look for new
content when there plainly was going to be none? I do not know. Maybe I am getting traffic considering that I
have over 100 of these entries now?
Well, more or less with the see-saw leaning on the "less" side
considerably. But that is neither here
nor there. Right now, I want to talk
about "The Ball and the Cross."
The last
time I was away from the Backlog I grabbed all of G.K. Chesterton's Father
Brown stories, short one or two mind you.
This time, I only grabbed a single novel. This is mostly due to the fact that this time
I knew I would have less available time reading than I did last time. That is not to say that I did nothing in particular
or accomplished little. I accomplished a
lot, but none of it weighing heavily upon the Backlog, so I will not talk about
it here. "The Ball and the
Cross" is one of Chesterton's less known novels. I base this on one single fact. The All Knowing Wiki does not even dedicate
an article for the book but instead just has a digital version of the whole
book on the commons site. So, there goes
my "go to" crutch, but that is for the best.
"The
Ball and the Cross" follows the adventure of two individuals who are trying
to kill one another but are prevented from doing so by a plethora of outside
influences among other reasons. There is
the Catholic, Evan MacIan, and the atheist, James Turnbull. While walking down the street, MacIan reads
an article written by Turnbull hanging in the window. The article is a denouncement of the Virgin
Mary, saying that she is either fictitious or an elaborate lie. MacIan thrashes at Turnbull's window into a
dozen or more broken pieces in response.
The two men brawl and are brought before a court. MacIan pays the fine and covers the cost of
the broken window. However, the two men's
quarrel is far from over. They insist on
a duel. The one fights for the honor of
Mary while the other fights against the cross.
As they attempt their duel, they are prevented by the police and chased
through the streets of London. The book
continues as the pair try time and time again to go through their duel of ideas
and ideals.
Now, of
course, seeing as this is a book by Chesterton, do not expect it to be a
straight forward adventure story. One
might think this considering that the novel opens up with a short scene concerning
a fling ship sailing over St. Paul's Cathedral, but I will ignore that aspect
for an analysis entry some other time.
Chesterton's works are filled with the battling of ideals and
ideals. As the two men run over the
breath of England, they find themselves and the duel between them to be
examined from a number of different angles and philosophies. A Tolstoian tells them that they should not
fight because fighting does not solve a thing and will soon go out of
fashion. This only spurs the two men to
fight with renewed vigor. An English
practitioner of some Pacific tribal religion tells them to kill one another for
his own amusement and that of his pagan god.
This makes the two men in turn want to throw down their swords. So on and so on, the two men and their fight
are examined and reexamined while they avoid the police. What they inevitably are caught by turns out
to be much more sinister.
The
book is a good read to say the least, even if the wording is a bit heavy at
times. You can easily take the book for
the plot that it presents to the reader, but that would discount it a
considerable amount. The plot is filled
with suspense in regards to the matter of the duel and the escape from the police,
but there is more. For every character
that the two come across on or are interrupted by, the plot reacts accordingly
while maintaining the suspense of the duel.
The matter of which of the two men will win the fight constantly keeps
the reader on the edge of their seat.
MacIan and Turnbull are not only being chased by the police but also
chasing the truth of their conflict.
There are times that Chesterton delves deeply into the book's
philosophical and theological nature, which slows down the flow of the book,
but it is an important slowdown.
The
book's philosophy is one that examines less the philosophies of the two men and
more the ones held by the populace.
"The Ball and the Cross" is a social commentary book that
still rings true 103 years after it was published. The reactions of the secondary individuals
are the same that would spout forth today.
Take the nature of how the general view upon religion is that it should
be kept within the confines of a place of worship instead of being within the
hearts and minds of people as they interact with one another. This view is the same that is addressed in
"The Ball and the Cross" concerning English attitudes of the
time. It is a silly notion that holds no
weight and only goes to show the hypocritical notion of the society that holds
such a notion to be true. If the English
society of the time and that of the modern one truly held this notion to be
true, they would not allow the atheist to display his thoughts and beliefs in a
shop window. Instead, they only care
when a Christian belief is brought into the public realm. Then all hell breaks loose. The book goes one by one through various
attacks upon the two men from outside themselves. It is astounding how many of these attacks
are still occurring today.
"The
Ball and the Cross" does a lot of things right. It presents a story first and a philosophy
second. It is entertaining and thought
provoking, and it provokes in the right direction. The book pushes the reader to the end to find
the conclusion instead of going in circles for hours on end with no direction,
spouting blatant lies and muddled insults while masquerading as intellectual prophetism. If you are familiar with my postings, you can
figure out who and what I am talking about.
Instead, Chesterton does what a normal person would do. He examines the arguments and plays them out
to the logical conclusions. It is sad that
the illogical is often considered legitimate sometimes.
Yours in digital,
BeepBoop
P.S. Next is "Sonic and the Secret Rings." The stream will most likely not happen due to
a technological difficulty that I am not going to correct any time soon.
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