Brideshead Revisited is a story rooted in Catholic ideas. The protagonist, Charles Ryder, becomes very interested in a family of practicing Catholics. Though he is not religious, he is fascinated with Catholicism and seeing it in action in Sebastian and his family member’s lives. Cordelia, the youngest member of the family, is especially devout. Most of her conversations with Charles involve Catholicism. At one point, he even asks her if she’s “still trying to convert [him]” )page 220). She answers that she’s not, but reminds him of a quote from the Father Brown story Lady Marchmain read to them a while back:“I caught him (the thief) with an unseen hook and an invisible line which is long enough to let him wander to the ends of the world and still to bring him back with a twitch upon the thread.”
She mentions that their mother read the quote on “the evening Sebastian first got drunk – the bad evening” (page 220). This is significant in that it shows Cordelia’s belief that though her dad, Sebastian, and Julia have wandered from the Faith God won’t let them go for long” (page 220).
This quote comes from G.K. Chesterton’s story “The Queer Feet” in “The Innocence of Father Brown.” Father Brown acts as a detective at a very exclusive hotel and catches the thief of silver utensils. Its context in that story is that it is used as a reply to the colonel when he asks about whether Father Brown has “caught the man,” in the physical sense of getting hold of him as a thief. Father Brown was answering in the spiritual context of “to catch,” the one used Biblically.
Basically, this quote rephrases the fundamental Catholic teaching that Christians are fishers of men, but the hook and line used are so powerful, dynamic, and universal that, though at first sight it may seem ineffective, it pierces everyone right in the center of their hearts. All of us have these morals built into us, and none of us can escape them. That’s how Father Brown was able to fish for the thief and save him from death (living in sin).
Lord Marchmain, the father of the family Flyte, has left Catholicism and his family in England to live with his mistress in Italy. At the end of the book, we witness him die back at home with his family. He also reconnects to Catholicism seconds before his death. This shows that he was caught by the hook his whole life, went to the ends of the world and came back at the simple administration of the sacrament by Father Mackay.
Along with Lord Marchmain, Charles was reeled in too. Towards the end of the book, he prays “an ancient, newly learned form of words.” (page 350). The beauty of Christianity is that though it is ancient, we learn it throughout our lives. And though not everyone is Christian, almost everyone is caught by the hook and reeled in slowly but surely.
I absolutely LOVED the quote you used about the invisible thread. That is such great imagery on Waugh's part and it really brings home the idea of religion in the story. It has the idea of fisher's of men, which you mentioned, but it also has the undertone of the idea of religion always being in the background of people's lives. I am a believer of once people are raised in religion it is there forever, and this quote indirectly touches on that idea because even though it is a quote from a story, it is what his mother has been trying to do to him for awhile. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteI loved it too! I like what you said about how once people are "raised with religion it is there forever." I think a lot of parents would love seeing it because I know it's sometimes frustrating when they raise their child in the faith - going to church every week, CCD, Catholic schools, etc. - and it just doesn't seem to stick with the kid/adult. However, maybe it's that wandering to the ends of the earth that the kid needs to help him or her experience life before they truly come to recognize God on their own (or with that twitch).
DeleteI completely agree, Maggie - I loved the quote from the story of Father Brown. Excellent imagery of what it means to have free will and a all-powerful, all-knowing God. That is differently a Catholic belief (and as I found in my philosophy class last year, a hotly contested argument throughout the ages). Perhaps another way to look at this from what was discussed in class today - if God is the fisherman and Charles is the fish, something has to "hook" the fish to the fisherman. I think one could make an argument that the family of Sebastian, working on behalf of God the fisherman, are the hook. In other words, they are the mechanism that brings Charles in. Another Catholic theme that pokes through here is the idea that God can use anyone (perfect or not, sinner or saint) to help accomplish his mission here on Earth. I mean, look at St. Peter... he outright denied Jesus and a couple of weeks later was given the keys to the Kingdom and declared the first Pope. Although Charles's new found "friends" are perfect or saintly, they do bring him into their lifestyle and religion.
ReplyDeleteBuilding off of Maggie and Liz's comments, it's very compelling to think of God not just as a fisherman but as this invisible character in the story. He's present and active but totally bodiless in the regular sense. (I mean he doesn't have his own separate self, e.g. Morgan Freeman as God in Bruce Almighty.) I'm used to thinking of the omniscient narrator as invisible and in control, but in this story, the narrator Charles guides us to the conclusion that God is the director and orchestrator of events. Silently, He moves everything so that His children might change and know love. To have his invisible threads thrown out on these characters, moves them in ways that they don't always understand. In fact, they probably rarely understand, but they do make conscious choices and take the harder paths. It's not easy for Lord Marchmain to swallow his pride, overcome his physical weakness, and make that tiny acknowledgement of faith. The lives that the characters end up with are certainly more outwardly difficult than they might have expected and originally, did not desire. But none the less, the thread pulls upon them and reminds them.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to cut myself off here for fear of ruining the ending.
I think Liz makes a great point about other people being the "hook" to God's fisherman. God definitely works through other people much of the time and I think that is very evident in this novel. I think Waugh does a great job of really illustrating the idea of a mysterious God. You always hear that "God works in mysterious ways" but sometimes it's hard to know what that means. All of the people that God can be thought to be "working through" in this novel are pretty much the kinds of people you'd least expect it from. It really demonstrates the idea that God works in everyone and everything and free will lets us choose to see that or not see it and accept it or reject it.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Once we judge others, we lose the free gift (grace) of being loved and positively changed by them. It's pretty awesome how God works.
ReplyDeleteAll of these comments are great and really help me understand what Waugh was getting at by writing this novel. Charles wondered literally everywhere before that invisible thread brought him back to God. It is through losing Julia and later the desire to serve in the military that Charles realizes that things of this earth cannot bring him satisfaction. I love how Charles went a round-a-bout way to find his faith, this illustrates how God allows us to make our own decisions and find our own way. He is always there providing the opportunities to come into communion with Him, but the choice is purely our own.
ReplyDeleteI sort of see the invisible thread as being the roadmap of Charles's life. The thread is like turn by turn directions on a GPS system, except you can not see it. This is a deeply rooted Catholic way of looking at our lives. Each one of us has a plan, and we have a path set for us to end up where we eventually do. Sometimes we do not realize why things happen to us, why our GPS route has taken us were it does, and that is why the thread is invisible. But in the end we reach our goal. Just as everything that happened in Charles's life led him to finding God.
ReplyDeleteGreat comment about Christianity being ancient, but at the same time always new. It's completely true. Even though all the traditions and scriptures are ancient, they are always being learned by new Christians and old Christians alike. Just because one is baptized into the Church does not mean they know everything they should. There is always more to be learned!
ReplyDelete