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Post by gillianlaird on Jun 20, 2024 19:48:40 GMT
The use of God and Christianity is a facet of The Man Who Lived Underground that I find extremely intriguing. We meet Fred Daniels and are immediately told that he is a man of God who participates heavily in his church. In fact, when he is taken in, brutally beaten, and accused of a crime he did not commit by the police, Daniels consistently asks them to contact the head of his church. It almost seems that, in his mind, proof that he goes to church and believes in Christ inherently means that be is a good man who is incapable of anything nefarious. Did anyone else view it this way? Ironically, by the time he makes it underground, his faith in God seems to already be dwindling.
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jun 21, 2024 1:55:52 GMT
Yes, well observed here Gillian-- I think he spends the entire time above ground hoping that his faith and his pastor will save him. Turns out that the police officers couldn't care less about what church Fred attends or what his brand of faith is-- they're dead set on pinning the murder on him and it doesn't matter in the slightest.
To me (and maybe this is a reach), I instantly throughout of the Holocaust, and what many Jews felt like was the abandonment of the Chosen People by their god. The apparent callousness and efficiency of the Nazis was also something groundbreaking-- they just didn't let anything stand in the way of their mission.
Of course, this novel was written in 1942-43, so I don't think Wright had any knowledge of what was transpiring in Germany (though he did have experience with the very godless Soviet regime). But that does give an indication as to what was happening in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, when the rise of authoritarianism across the globe was very much set against the sort of theistic nationalism that sprung the Great War.
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Post by reluedders on Jun 21, 2024 18:42:03 GMT
Gillain-
I made this note in my novel as well, about why did it seem that he abandoned his faith so quickly while underground. I thought a lot too about why the author kept circling back to Fred hearing the choir singing while he was underground. I wonder if that has something to do with his faith and/or lack of it in the end?
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Post by gillianlaird on Jun 21, 2024 19:35:38 GMT
Gillain- I made this note in my novel as well, about why did it seem that he abandoned his faith so quickly while underground. I thought a lot too about why the author kept circling back to Fred hearing the choir singing while he was underground. I wonder if that has something to do with his faith and/or lack of it in the end? What stood out to me is when Daniels wants to approach the choir and say to them: "'Don't do this to yourselves!'" Following this moment, Wright makes a point to have the main character feel guilt for such a desire. "His emotions subsided and he came to himself. What was he saying? A sense of the life he had left aboveground crushed him with a sense of guilt. Would not God strike him dead for having such thoughts?" I feel like the protagonist might be bargaining with himself here. Perhaps he is jealous of what he perceives to be the choir's ignorance. When referencing the life he lived aboveground, he is essentially referring to a life that looks very similar to their's. While living that life, it can be argued that Daniels praised a god who would never let something such as his current circumstances happen to one of his good and devout followers. Perhaps, now that Daniels knows the truth, he wants the choir to stop "wasting their time." |
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Post by dcomeaux on Jun 25, 2024 0:37:56 GMT
Gillain- I made this note in my novel as well, about why did it seem that he abandoned his faith so quickly while underground. I thought a lot too about why the author kept circling back to Fred hearing the choir singing while he was underground. I wonder if that has something to do with his faith and/or lack of it in the end? I also have a sticky note in my novel asking why he dropped his faith so quickly when it seemed it was something so dear to him in the very beginning. It is something that I am still wondering about now that I am finished with the novel. Also, when he first heard the choir sing through the wall underground...it set him off, and continued to do so. |
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Post by Rylee Wenzel on Jun 26, 2024 20:23:56 GMT
Hi Gillian! This was something I made note of as well. What stuck out to me was this idea of faith being tested. When he was being accused, he was adamant that his faith would pull him out of it and believed that he would be let go if only they knew he was a man of God. But when he was underground, his faith was tested more viscerally (this is the best word I could think of) and he was more willing to disregard his faith entirely. I guess this could speak to the kind of person he is. Or that maybe in harder times it is harder to stick with your beliefs.
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