"The Man Who Was Thursday"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains how Chesterton's Catholic background had much to do with his inspiration for writing this story. It examines how the connections to the Book of Genesis, as well as the Book of Job, run deep and how there is more than one question to be answered after reading this story.

From the Paper:

"The Man Who Was Thursday" is subtitled "A Nightmare", which gives some hinting towards the ultimate explanation of the story, but it does nothing to help with the deciphering of the extensive use of metaphors contained within the twisted tale. From start to finish the elements of the story were chosen carefully to extract the maximum amount of meaning and manipulation towards the ultimate goal of the author. Upon reading the story, you are bombarded with some believable and some rather unbelievable plot twists. As the story progresses further in to the "nightmare" the story grows more and more bizarre until it loses control. The last chapter's nighttime party in the garden is full of questions and visions that grow more and more vivid, as dreams do, when the dreamer grows closer to waking. As William Morton Payne put it, in his review in 1908, "like most dreams, the story grows more wildly impossible as the awakening is neared."

More papers on "The Man Who Was Thursday":

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• Analytical Essay # 8818 : "The Man Who Was Almost a Man"

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