65 pages • 2 hours read
G. K. ChestertonThe Man Who Was Thursday
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1908A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “The Two Poets of Saffron Park”
Saffron Park is an artist’s colony in London populated by self-proclaimed poets, scientists, and philosophers. Among the people in the park is Lucian Gregory, a red-haired, anarchic poet. Gregory’s theory of poetry is that artists and anarchists both delight in disorder and are therefore the same. He adds, “An artist disregards all governments, abolishes all conventions. The poet delights in disorder only” (3).
Protagonist Gabriel Syme, meanwhile, is “a poet of law, order, and respectability” (2). He meets Gregory in the park, and the two debate poetry. Syme counters Gregory’s claims that poetry is chaos and says law and order are poetic. He adds that law and order are man’s victory over chaos. The two continue to debate their respective points of view as Gregory’s sister, Rosamond, watches.
Syme’s dismissive attitude antagonizes Gregory. He declares Gregory is not a serious anarchist and walks away. A concerned Rosamond joins Syme and ask him if he thinks her brother would use bombs to hurt people. Syme tells her Gregory could never really be an anarchist because he enjoys attention too much. Syme rejoins Gregory who is irritated by Syme’s claim that he isn’t a serious anarchist. He tells Syme he will prove his authenticity, but first Syme must swear he will never reveal what he is about to see. Syme agrees, and the two men leave the park in a horse-drawn carriage.
Chapter 2 Summary: “The Secret of Gabriel Syme”
Syme and Gregory enter a dark, rundown bar that nevertheless serves delicacies like lobster mayonnaise. Gregory offers Syme champagne and explains that the incongruity between the hotel’s atmosphere and its excellent amenities is an example of the anarchist’s strategy of hiding in plain sight.
After dinner, Gregory warns Syme not to be alarmed when their table begins to move. While the two men are still seated at their table, it shoots down a shaft and stops abruptly. Gregory escorts Syme down a long passage lined with rifles and revolvers. He knocks five times on a large steel door and is admitted using the password “Mr. Joseph Chamberlain.”
Gregory and Syme enter a circular steel chamber with walls lined with bombs. Gregory sits down on the bench, savoring his victory over Syme. Syme asks Gregory, “What is it really all about? What is it you object to? You want to abolish government?” (11). Gregory answers that he wishes “to abolish God! We wish to deny all those arbitrary distinctions of vice and virtue, honour [sic] and treachery, upon which mere rebels base themselves” (11).
Syme asks why, when so much secrecy surrounds the meeting place, Gregory openly declares himself as an anarchist. Gregory explains it is the brainchild of the president of the Anarchist Council, whom he describes as “the greatest man in Europe” (12). His philosophy is that if anarchists present themselves as anarchists, no one will believe them.
Syme asks about the council and learns it consists of seven men, each named for a day of the week. Sunday is the president. The purpose of this week’s council meeting is to elect a new Thursday. Gregory is confident he will be named to fill the vacancy. Syme tells Gregory he has a secret but extracts a promise he’ll never tell anyone. Gregory agrees, and as they hear the other members approaching, Syme reveals he is a detective with Scotland Yard.
Chapters 1-2 Analysis
These chapters establish the author’s fast-paced writing style. The plot unfolds quickly, with surprising twists and turns, and it vacillates between reality and fantasy. The banter between Syme and Gregory is quick, dry, and sarcastic. After Gregory opines about the “wild joy” (13) he will feel when elected as the next Thursday, Syme wonders out loud, “Why is it I think you are quite a decent fellow? Why do I positively like you, Gregory? […] Is it because you are such an ass?” (14).
Saffron Park and its occupants have a fantasy-like quality: “That young man with the long, auburn hair and the impudent face—that young man was not really a poet, but surely he was a poem […] the whole insane village seemed as separate as a drifting cloud” (1).
The word choices often have spiritual undertones and are rich with religious symbolism. Gregory has hair that “curved into the slow curls of a virgin in a pre-Raphaelite picture” with a face that was “almost saintly” (2). Syme is described as “a very mild-looking mortal, with a fair, pointed beard and faint, yellow hair” (2). Syme identifies himself as Catholic, and there are mentions of his commitment to the religion in the first two chapters.
The main characters’ names hold religious significance. In the Christian Bible, Gabriel was an angel who brought sacred communications from God to mortals. Lucian means “illumination,” and Lucifer, which is similar, means “morning star.” Lucian’s sister is named Rosamond, which means “pure rose” or “rose of the world” in Latin. She is the only female character in the book, and in the context of the last chapter, she is an archetype of Eve. The interactions between Syme and Gregory establish the universal theme of good versus evil. Syme advocates for law and order, while Gregory believes in chaos and anarchy.
Although the exact year isn’t mentioned, the novel is likely set during the Edwardian era (1901-1910). During the previous reign of Queen Victoria, Great Britain experienced extreme social conservatism, the rise of spiritualism, and the emergence of new technologies, such as the steam engine and the light bulb. While it shared many qualities with the Victorian era, the Edwardian era corresponded with a greater awareness of wealth inequality among the working class and growing dissatisfaction with the aristocratic ruling class. Thus, the anarchist movement influenced social and political life. Anarchists rebelled against the ruling class, the disparity between the rich and the poor, and the limited rights afforded to the average person. The circumstances of Edwardian society are reflected in the story.
Chesterton isn’t consistent in his name of the organization in his text. On page 12, Gregory refers to Sunday as the president of “the Central Anarchist Council”; on page 16, the anarchist organization is referred to as the “Central European Council.” Further, on page 19, the council is the “Supreme Council of Anarchy;” and on page 21, the “General Council of the Anarchists of Europe.” Thus, the notion of anarchy is embedded in the consistently-shifting name of the group.
Related Titles
By G. K. Chesterton
