That Hideous Strength

“‘I often wonder,’ said Mr. Dimble, ‘whether Merlin doesn’t represent the last trace of something the later tradition has quite forgotten about—something that became impossible when the only people in touch with the supernatural were either white or black, either priests or sorcerers.’” 

Dr. Dimble discusses how muddled good and evil were in Merlin’s time. When dealing with the supernatural, there is often overlap between what present-day minds would consider good and evil.

“‘We all have our different languages; but we all really mean the same thing.’” 

Wither states that there are many different methods that ultimately lead to the same outcome.

“‘If Science is really given a free hand it can now take over the human race and re-condition it: make man a really efficient animal. If it doesn’t—well, we’re done.’” 

The consensus of the N.I.C.E. is that all of humankind must be trained to think differently, and in scientific terms. This “efficiency” will ensure the survival of the human race, even though humans will be so radically transformed that they will barely be human. 

“Freud said we liked gardens because they were symbols of the female body. But that must be a man’s point of view.” 

This quote is telling in that it shows Jane’s distrust of men in general. Throughout the book, she struggles with giving any form of leeway to men.

“‘The reason you cannot be cured is that you are not ill.’” 

This important revelation highlights that Jane’s “problem” of dreaming is not an illness but something that will work as a major plot device: she is a seer, and these dreams help save humanity. 

“‘You’ve got to get the ordinary man into the state in which he says ‘Sadism’ automatically when he hears the word Punishment. And then one would have carte blanche.’” 

Miss Hardcastle believes punishment is wrong as it is finite, whereas rehabilitation can be prolonged infinitely. The N.I.C.E. wants to program people to believe this, too.

“Though she did not formulate it, this fear of being invaded and entangled was the deepest ground of her determination not to have a child—or not for a long time yet. One had one’s own life to live.”

Jane’s realizes that she doesn’t want kids because she doesn’t want to give up any of herself to another, especially not Mark, who represents all men. Her views change by the end of the novel. 

‘“I wonder, by the bye, do human beings really like being happy?’” 

Mrs. Dimble’s sad, yet astute, observation highlights how much pain and misery humans seem to be capable of wielding and inflicting on others.

“Both were young, and if neither loved very much, each was still anxious to be admired.”

Though Mark and Jane have a strained marriage, each wants to be loved in their own way by the other. This is an indication that love between them is ultimately possible, though it will mean setting aside ego and being obedient to one another.

“As he stood there a loud melancholy howl arose [from the animals] […] which shuddered and protested for a moment and then died away into mutterings and whines.” 

Here, Mark sees the place where animals are vivisected. The description is one that can be extended to all of humanity if it falls in the clutches of the N.I.C.E.

“There is one sense in which every narrative is false; it dare not attempt, even if it could, to express the actual movement of time.” 

The narrator explains how time seems to drag on for Mark so much that it feels like an attack. Time, then, shouldn’t (and usually can’t) be addressed objectively in writing because it comes off as a lie.

“He knew that in such matters the error in either direction is equally fatal; one has to guess and take the risk.” 

Many people believe that there is one fatal decision; the narrative suggests that a step forward or back could be fatal and that a person has to decide what they’re most comfortable with.

“But, for him, it all slipped past in a chatter of laughter, of that intimate laughter between fellow professionals, which of all earthly powers is strongest to make men do very bad things before they are yet, individually, very bad men.”

The quote highlights just how strong groupthink and circles are, especially for someone like Mark. By taking part in the deviance of a group he ensures that, later, he will allow individual deviance.

“Tell him from me that the N.I.C.E. is the boxing glove on the democracy’s fist, and if he doesn’t like it, he’d best get out of the way.

This quote foreshadows what extremes the N.I.C.E. is prepared to go to in order to achieve its own ends.

“She felt she had come near to forgetting how big the sky is, how remote the horizon.” 

Lost in fog and helplessness, Jane felt suffocated. When she reaches St. Anne’s and sees clear sky, it’s literally a moment of “the sky being the limit,” meaning all things are possible.

“‘They would say,’ he answered, ‘that you do not fail in obedience through lack of love, but have lost love because you never attempted obedience.’” 

The Director tells Jane that obedience is the most important attribute of love, not equality. While Mark hears some of this, too, it’s worth noting that the male Director tells this the female Jane most often. 

‘“They never warned you that obedience—humility—is an erotic necessity.” 

Jane doesn’t want a child and she isn’t sure she can reconcile with Mark. In a sense, she doesn’t want to experience the humility of sex and the obedience inherent in giving oneself to another like that. Nonetheless, she does seem to want to by the novel’s end.

‘“In us organic life has produced Mind. It has done its work. After that we want no more of it.” 

The N.I.C.E. wants to eradicate all organic life on earth, with the mind being the most important organ/concept.

“He thought that Merlin’s art was the last survival of something older and different […] going back to an era in which the general relations of mind and matter on this planet had been other than those we know.” 

The Director also sees Merlin as a product of a bygone time when matter and mind were more closely linked, and when good and evil weren’t so binary.

“There was now at last a real chance for fallen Man to shake off that limitation of his powers which mercy had imposed upon him as a protection from the full results of his fall.” 

The Director sees that what the N.I.C.E. wants to achieve is what humankind has been trying to obtain since the fall—the forbidden knowledge only accessible to God.

“[…] his youth approached the moment at which he would begin to be a person.” 

Mark finally decides to claim his life and make his own decisions. As such, he grows up. Interestingly, this quote can be seen as being at odds with the idea Lewis lays out in Quote #1. 

“‘Just as you have to become spiritual before affections are distinguishable from charity.” 

The Director makes the case that humans are capable of friendship and affection as humankind understands the terms, and this is synonymous with someone who is charitable from a sense of love and altruism in spirituality as opposed to someone merely being nice because they momentarily feel like it. Charity is a duty.

“The approval of one’s own conscience is a very heady draught.” 

Mark is overcome with action and a desire to do the right thing, as his conscience has now evolved and he’s listening to reason.