Ch. 2 - The Secret of Gabriel Syme

[Chris OConnor]

Ch. 2 - The Secret of Gabriel Syme

[Pheidippides]

Now that was one heck of a way to end a chapter

[Moire]

Loved this chapter! I wondered why Syme was so cool. He didn't seem to be upset or in fear. I wonder how wise it was to reveal who he was before he got out of that creepy place. I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the book. I don't really want to read ahead because it's more enjoyable to read each chapter as we go along.
What I saw in this chapter was the debate, ad nauseam, over atheism versus Christianity. When Gregory says, "We hate Rights as we hate Wrongs. We have abolished Right and Wrong.” my first thought was "moral relativism". I often hear there is no right and wrong and that it is just religious morality. Syme sarcastically says, “And Right and Left,” said Syme with a simple eagerness, “I hope you will abolish them too. They are much more troublesome to me.” I believe he's pointing out the absurdity in Gregory's position, in his mind that is. I'm curious where all this goes and if my thought will be upheld or not.

[giselle]

I thought this chapter was oddly titled in that Chapter one seemed to lead us toward the mysterious secret that Gregory was about to reveal ... but it turns out that Syme's secret trumps him. With all these guns, I guess Gregory should be taken seriously right? Is there a morality in his actions and those of his anarchist compatriots?

[stahrwe]

Giselle, I took the title of the Chapter to be one of several meanings;

The Secret of Gabriel Syme may mean the secret that Gabriel is keeping; that he is a policeman; or

It might mean the secret about Syme which Gregory is keeping.

or

It might mean the secret about Gregory and the anarchists which Syme is keeping from the police.


Are their any other possibilities?

[stahrwe]

Moire,

I suggest that you are being too specific about the debate. At this point in the book the debate appears to be black and white; but that will change later in the book. I can't reveal too much about that without spoiling it but try to suppress your focus on Christianity's presence or religion in general. If you don't, it will cloud your ability to appreciate what is happening. I will give everyone a clue; Things and events are often, perhaps nearly always not what they appear to be.

enjoy

[stahrwe]

Chapter Two
The Secret of Gabriel Syme
Chapter Summary and observations

Gregory – The Atheist and Syme take a cab to an obscure pub in another part of London. Though dingy and apparently a rundown place the it features gourmet food and wine. While Syme is smoking a cigar the table where they are seated spins and descends through the floor and continues down until it comes t rest in a large subterranean cavern. Gregory leads Syme through a passage to a large door. Gregory tells the guard on the other side of the door that he is Joseph Chamberlain,* the guard opens the heavy door revealing a long corridor lined with weapons of all kinds which ends in a meeting room where the walls are lined with bombs.

Gregory, protected by Syme’s vow of secrecy,* tells Syme that their purpose is to abolish, God, right and wrong, in fact all authority of any kind. Gregory reveals a strategy he has employed in the past to conceal his intentions by disguising himself as a bishop, a capitalist, and an army officer, but his identity was uncovered every time. Finally based on advice from the head of the organization and he disguised himself as an anarchist, the theory being - no one would take him seriously and he could say whatever he wanted.

Gregory now reveals to Syme the STRUCTURE of that the Central Anarchist Council. It consists of seven men named after the days of the week; Sunday is the President. The London representative, named Thursday, has just died very suddenly, and the London branch is to meet that night to choose his successor . That is why he and Syme are there and Gregory is confident that he will be elected to the post.

Syme now asks Gregory to take an oath of not to reveal Syme’s true identity to the anarchists. Gregory agrees, and Syme tells him that he is an undercover policeman with Scotland Yard, and that the existence of the anarchist group has been known to them for some time.

Gregory draws a pistol apparently intending to kill Syme but is stopped as the other members begin to arrive giving the password of ‘Joseph Chamberlain’.

Once again Chesterton has introduced humor here. The idea that anarchists follow a rigid organizational structure including voting and have selected as their model perhaps the most organized of all structures in our lives, the calendar.

*an actual Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party. He was a noted radical and was the father of Neville Chamberlain though that fact has no bearing on this story as it was originally published in 1907.

[Ptimb]

Loved this chapter! I wondered why Syme was so cool. He didn't seem to be upset or in fear. I wonder how wise it was to reveal who he was before he got out of that creepy place. I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the book. I don't really want to read ahead because it's more enjoyable to read each chapter as we go along.
What I saw in this chapter was the debate, ad nauseam, over atheism versus Christianity. When Gregory says, "We hate Rights as we hate Wrongs. We have abolished Right and Wrong.” my first thought was "moral relativism". I often hear there is no right and wrong and that it is just religious morality. Syme sarcastically says, “And Right and Left,” said Syme with a simple eagerness, “I hope you will abolish them too. They are much more troublesome to me.” I believe he's pointing out the absurdity in Gregory's position, in his mind that is. I'm curious where all this goes and if my thought will be upheld or not.

At this point I think Syme is still cool because even after everything he has seen it all still strikes him as a bit silly. When Syme jokes about abolishing right and left, I think he is alluding to the problem of maintaining purposeful direction of an organization or individual who has removed orderly coordinates (abstract or physical) from their thinking or I could just be reading too much into it as I tend to do. I really liked this line of reasoning--> ‘You want a safe disguise, do you? You want a dress which will guarantee you harmless; a dress in which no one would ever look for a bomb?’ I nodded. He suddenly lifted his lion’s voice. ‘Why, then, dress up as an anarchist, you fool!’ This actually works. When a crowd was threatening to storm Domingo Cavallo's building, he escaped wearing a mask of his own face.

[youkrst]

When a crowd was threatening to storm Domingo Cavallo's building, he escaped wearing a mask of his own face.

[Ni55a]

Right, well, there has been some great commentary on this chapter already. But from a pure enjoyment meter - in my opinion, this chapter was brilliant.

To be honest, when I first started reading this novel I thought it was going to be one of those overly existential ones that lose you in the end. Yet chapter two ramped it up a notch. The same law versus chaos theme is there, but all of a sudden it became a story as well. Gregory's stubbornness, his faith in a promise (which a part of me scoffed at for his naiveness, while another part of me gloried in his trust of humankind), his arrogance in contrast to wanting to prove himself to this practical stranger. And Syme - with a tempered arrogance (yet arrogance all the same, likely borne out of confidence) and cool as a cucumber demeanor.

And the end of this chapter! Loved it!

Can't wait to read on and see where this dichotomy takes us.