Introduction
The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton is an intriguing story. Dubbed a nightmare by the author himself, it tells the story of a poet named Gabriel Syme turned undercover policeman whose job is to put an end to the anarchist movement. He was hired by a man in a dark room, whose face he never saw, and given a card to mark him as part of this special task force. But his first meeting with an anarchist has the unexpected result of him being named Thursday, one six members of the council directly beneath Sunday, their president.
As the book is something of a mystery novel, I would like to look at it through the lens of revelation, and how the truth is revealed and hidden to the dismay of many of the characters. To do this I will look at three unveilings, that of Syme in the beginning to the first anarchists, the subsequent reveals of the other council members, and the final reveal of Sunday himself.
Development
Lucian Gregory
The first anarchist we meet is Mr. Lucian Gregory, a self-proclaimed anarchist and poet whom Syme challenges to a verbal spar at the beginning. When Syme claims that Gregory isn’t a true anarchist, Gregory makes him swear to secrecy whatever happens next, and then proceeds to show him the underground lair of anarchist activities. Following this, Syme makes Gregory swear to secrecy, before revealing he is a police officer himself.
What follows is a bit humorous and ridiculous. The rest of the anarchists arrive to choose a new member for the council, and Syme proceeds to convince everyone to elect him, unwittingly placing a policeman on the council of anarchists. Gregory is forced to watch, knowing that if he exposes Syme, Syme will expose him to the police.
What is interesting is the initial reaction of Gregory. The second Syme reveals himself, Gregory pulls a gun on him. But Syme points out the conundrum; neither can say anything about the other without breaking their word, so he might as well play along as the others arrive. But this revelation throws Gregory so off guard that he plays down the anarchist side of himself in order to not give Syme more ammunition and to protect the secrets of the anarchists. This only confuses the others, who see him as weak, and choose Syme instead, who plays his part convincingly as an anarchist.
The Council
As a councilor, Syme becomes Thursday, and finally meets the other members of the council. He sees each of them and is disturbed, as all of them seem normal except for a certain characteristic that throws him off. And then there is the President, Sunday. A hulking man who seems larger than life, and immediately fills Syme with dread. During the meeting, one of them is revealed by Sunday to be a policeman, and he has the same card as Syme. He is allowed to leave in peace. After the meeting, Syme realizes one of the other council members is following him, and ends up at a bar with him. It is revealed that he too is a policeman, and he had guessed that Syme was one too. Over the course of the rest of the book all of the council members are revealed to be policemen as well.
What I find interesting is the tension caused by each of these revelations. When Sunday first proclaims that one of them is a policeman, Syme is filled with an immediate sense of dread and puts his hand on his gun. It is later revealed that the other council members all felt the same way. He had found each of them to be disturbing for different reasons, and soon learned that all of them had had the same idea; I am a police officer, I need to look more like an anarchist. But these revelations almost always came with a near cost.
Since they all think each other to be anarchists, they are all embroiled in plans to stop each other. The Marquis is challenged to a duel, and nearly has his cover blown by them before he reveals that he isn’t about to commit a terrorist attack, but is actually trying to spy on Sunday who is about to arrive. Later, as more of them are coming together, they are nearly killed in a riot instigated against them by another of the council members who thought they were planning to set off a bomb.
The ironic thing in all of this is that they are trying to fight evil on its own level by using deception, but over and over this deception nearly pushes things too far. Revelation and the understanding of their ignorance in a given situation is the only thing that stops any of them from going too far.
Sunday
Towards the end of the book, all of the council members realize that they were all police, and decide to confront Sunday about it. As they confront him, all he does is mess with them until he tells them the truth of the whole matter, it was he who hired them all in the first place. A chase ensues, with him riding a cab, an elephant, and even a hot air balloon to escape. Finally, they are invited to his house, where he sits them all down. Gregory is revealed to be there too, the only true anarchist, and as Sunday finally explains himself, the world goes black, and it is revealed to be a nightmare.
Each of the characters have a different reaction to his initial revelation. One is afraid of him, one is afraid for him. Some are mad at him, and some are just plain confused. But the total flip of their script has a unique effect on each. Sunday himself, knowing all that has happened, is totally unaffected.
Sunday’s revelation was the one I expected the least. Sure, from the very beginning I expected him to be the one who hired them, and I thought it was a devious plan to keep his enemies close. From the very beginning, I was expecting him to be an Anti-Christ, some image of the devil. But as I finished the book, I realized he was nature, and then more than nature, the one who encompasses all of nature, a nightmarish version of Christ.
Each of the councilors see Sunday differently. The reason for their being named is finally revealed, their philosophies each represent that of a certain day of creation. Each sought to understand Sunday in their own way, each held fast to the words spoken to them in the dark when all else did not make sense. And as Gregory raves against them, railing for an end to all order and peace, Syme’s reaction is telling. Each of them struggled, but their struggle vindicates them, as they can say without fear before the accuser that he lies, they did suffer. And as Syme turns to Sunday to ask if he has ever suffered, he who seems so above it all, the full sense of nightmare descends, all goes black and he hears, “Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of?”
Conclusion
This is a book of revelation. It took me multiple reads to understand, but in the end, the message struck me to the core. Sunday placed them on the council so that they would be able to understand, so that they could feel the passion and the resolve needed of one who strives to be a dynamiter. The councillors needed to feel that this was a task given to them alone that they needed to accomplish, so that they could stand and fight against it with bravery.
The revelation in this book is not meant just for the characters, it is also meant for the reader. It is meant to reveal that the one who encompasses nature itself, the one we sometimes mistake to be nature, places difficult things in our lives, things that don’t make sense, things that make us feel that he is the villain, so that they may be overcome and we can stand before him at the end of all time with the certainty that we fought for him, for the truth.
