The Call of Cthulhu

Lovecraft’s story focuses on the limits of human knowledge and the belief that in a vast, indifferent universe, it is better for humans not to contemplate that which lies beyond their understanding. Venturing into the unknown, prehistoric, and occult is likely to take us beyond the edge of sanity and bring us to ruin.

The story announces its principal theme in the opening sentence: “The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents” (159). To establish this theme, Lovecraft spends much of the first act describing what “human knowledge” looks like. Thurston is a careful rationalist who relates his story in almost excessive detail. He provides exact dates—and even times—for the events of his story, as well as his uncle’s exact cause of death, as determined by his physicians.

We learn that Angell was just as careful as Thurston. He was a well-respected scholar; and the field of archeology is empirical, with findings being documented down to the last detail. In this vein, Angell’s notes reference scholarly texts, and his entries contain dates and addresses, for example, “1925—Dream and Dream Work of H. A. Wilcox, 7 Thomas St., Providence, R.I” (161). This careful documentation establishes Angell as a reliable source.

With Thurston’s skepticism, Lovecraft conveys to the reader that Thurston is trustworthy, not inclined to jump to supernatural conclusions. The challenge for writers of gothic horror fiction is to convince the reader to accept the story’s supernatural premise. One method is to have a skeptical protagonist undergo a conversion of belief because the text can thereby anticipate and resolve the reader’s objections.

The second act expands the investigation of the Cthulhu Cult. The investigators include the American Archaeological Society and a respected police inspector. However, even though two branches of investigative skill and a great deal more human knowledge are being brought to bear on the Cthulhu Cult, it remains mysterious.

Always accompanying descriptions of the cult are references to African and other non-Anglo-Saxon races. The cult sits on the margins of “civilized” society and is connected to “mixed-blooded” seafarers (170). The “voodoo orgies” that Legrasse’s team was investigating led them to a region “of traditionally evil repute, substantially unknown and untraversed by white men” (169). Adjectives like “ugly,” “hideous,” and “aberrant” invariably accompany descriptions of anyone related to the cults. Lovecraft positions non-white races as a cosmic “other,” beyond the bounds of humanity, which Lovecraft implicitly defines as Anglo-European. Thurston’s horrified fascination with the Cthulhu Cult stems largely from his realization that a non-white ethnic group has a set of beliefs powerful enough to destroy white civilization’s values and people.

In the third act, the terrible reality of Cthulhu and the Old Ones bursts through Thurston’s skepticism. Though Johansen is ignorant of the Cthulhu Cult, his account aligns exactly with the information Thurston has learned from his great-uncle’s investigation. Thurston reaches the boundary of what Eurocentric rationalists are capable of understanding. The sunken city of R’lyeh is built according to a non-Euclidean geometry that human eyes and bodies cannot assimilate. As the sailors first explore and then attempt to flee the city, they are thwarted by their inability to navigate a landscape the rational mind cannot understand.

Thurston’s decision to write down his findings about the cult but keep them secret speaks to Lovecraft’s theme of the scope and limits of human knowledge. Thurston burns the files related to the Cthulhu Cult, but he chooses to keep them. He wants the information to be found, and his story to be told, after what he feels will be a murder disguised to look like an accident. He ultimately passes the responsibility of hiding or revealing the information to someone else.