A Canticle for Leibowitz

Day 6: Chapters 12–13

• I. Setting
  • A. Time: the 32nd century; “The Awakening Generation,” the era of the “New Literacy”
  • B. Place: the court of Texarkana; the environs of Sanly Bowitts in the Empire of Denver
  • C. Atmosphere/Milieu
    • 1. War involving the plains tribes and the civilized states is imminent.
    • 2. Civilized states have arisen: the Empire of Denver, the Laredan Nation, the State of Chihuahua, the Mississippi Republic, Texarkana
    • 3. The civilized states have an alliance called the Agreement of the Holy Scourge.
    • 4. Centers of secular learning (called collegiums) have arisen.
    • 5. Texarkana is “a sprawling disorderly city built mostly with rubble from another age. A city without orderly patterns of streets. It had grown slowly over an ancient ruin, as perhaps someday another city would grow over the ruin of this one.” (103)
    • 6. Pagan hagiologies list Laplace, Maxwell, and Einstein
    • 7. Animosity between the citizens of Sanly Bowitts and the monks
• II. About the characters
  • A. Marcus Apollo
    • 1. A shrewd papal nuncio (diplomatic observer for the Vatican)
    • 2. Tall
    • 3. Wears black
    • 4. Sarcastic
    • 5. Does not care for Thon Taddeo
    • 6. When he looks at the peasant Thon Taddeo points out, he sees the image of Christ (the humane side of human nature)
  • B. Thon Taddeo Pfardentrott, D. N. Sc.
    • 1. Lean
    • 2. Wears watered silk at party (It is a watery-appearing silk)
    • 3. In his early thirties
    • 4. Sarcastic
    • 5. Proud: “The suggestion that there might exist literate persons who had never heard his name did not please him.” (101)
    • 6. Distinguished scholar, a rare genius in matters of natural science: electricity, planetary motion, gravity, and so forth
      • a. A born skeptic
      • b. Regards the AOL’s claims about the Memorabilia with suspicion; believes it is a hoax (though he grants the AOL may be ignorant of their forebears’ falsifications)
      • c. Seeks to ease life
      • d. Cannot believe that men as intelligent as the ancients are reputed to have been could have destroyed themselves
      • e. “He has a mind like a loaded musket, and it can go off in any direction.” (112)
    • 7. Almost reveals information regarding Mad Bear’s clan and Hannegan
    • 8. Nervously eager and polite during his conversation with Marcus Apollo
    • 9. When he points out the peasant to Marcus Apollo, he sees a subhuman moron (the bestial side of humanity).
    • 10. Illegitimate son of Hannegan’s uncle and a serving maid
      • a. Raised by Benedictines for 15 years to avoid embarrassment to his father’s wife
      • b. A political captive of the state
      • c. Competed with his cousin (Hannegan) academically – pointlessly
      • d. Feels like an outcast, deprived of love
      • e. Anti-clerical – or, at least, anti-monastic
      • f. Influential because he is Hannegan’s kinsman
  • C. Hannegan
    • 1. Mayor of Texarkana (Defender of the Faith, Vaquero Supreme of the Plains)
    • 2. Corpulent
    • 3. Illiterate
  • D. Mad Bear: Leader of the plains clans
  • E. Br. Claret
    • 1. Marcus Apollo’s clerk
    • 2. Like Marcus Apollo, he realizes the Alliance of the Holy Scourge is a fraud perpetrated by Hannegan.
  • F. Sarkal: Hannegan’s emissary to Mad Bear
  • G. Dom Paulo
    • 1. Abbot
    • 2. Thinning white hair, gnarled hands, a stooped body, and a rounded little paunch
    • 3. Given to strange forebodings; suspects trouble
      • a. Moody of late
      • b. Broods overmuch on the past
    • 4. Not well: suffers a gastric problem but aware of his own decline
    • 5. Has known Benjamin Eleazar for fifty years
  • H. Benjamin Eleazar
    • 1. Old Jew
    • 2. Lives on the Mesa of Last Resort
    • 3. Throws rocks at climbers
    • 4. Has chosen the life of a hermit
    • 5. Lonely
    • 6. Lays claim to be thousands of years old
      • a. 3209
      • b. 5408
  • I. Br. Kornhoer
    • 1. Writes to Taddeo about the Memorabilia and invites him to the abbey
    • 2. Building an electrical generator
    • 3. Sees his invention and Taddeo’s work as the dawn of a new age
  • J. Br. Armbruster: Librarian who sees technological progress as the end of the world
  • K. Fr. Gault: Prior and probable next abbot
  • L. The Poet-sirrah!
    • 1. An unwelcome guest at the abbey
    • 2. Wears a removable, artificial eyeball
    • 3. Frequent drinker
    • 4. Slob
    • 5. Working on a book of verse
    • 6. Gambles with Benjamin Eleazar (from whom he has won a blue-headed goat)
• III. Beast imagery
  • A. Pfard = “horse” in German
    • 1. Associated with the elements of FIRE and WATER, forces of both life and danger
    • 2. Closely associated with the realm of death
    • 3. The symbol of forces subdued by reason
  • B. Buzzards over the Mesa of Last Resort (they and the place name both signal imminent peril, even death)
  • C. The foreboding future is compared to a rattler, coiled and ready to strike.
  • D. The blue-headed goat that the Poet links to the scapegoat of Leviticus 16:7-25: “‘There’ll be need of a goat before it’s finished. You can be sure of that.’” (118)
• IV. About style:
  • A. Symbolism: Marcus Apollo lights a candle (enlightenment, knowledge) in the darkness (ignorance) during his private conversation with Thon Taddeo
  • B. Allusion
    • 1. “‘Sheba expects Solomon to come to her. Bearing gifts.’” (108)
    • 2. Ezekiel (used in a simile to describe Dom Paulo)
    • 3. Casablanca (in the scene where Dom Paulo asks to hear Marcus Apollo’s letter read again)
• V. About the plot
  • A. Marcus Apollo and Thon Taddeo engage in a verbal duel concerning the authenticity and accessibility of the Memorabilia against a backdrop of rising civilization and imminent war with the fate of all in the balance.
  • B. Dom Paulo wrestles with the imminent visit of Thon Taddeo, the conflict between tradition and new ideas in the abbey, and the unwanted presence of an apparent freeholder with a philosophical bent and apparent, ironic insight.
• VI. About the themes
  • A. Responsibility
    • 1. “‘In these times it’s hard to condemn any man for wanting to unite this butchered continent. Even by such means as – but no, I don’t mean that.’” (103)
    • 2. “‘How can a great and wise civilization have destroyed itself so completely?’” “‘Perhaps,’ said Apollo, ‘by being materially great and materially wise, and nothing else.’” (106)
    • 3. Evil is denial of good. (113)
  • B. Knowledge/Ignorance: “‘Because doubt is not denial. Doubt is a powerful tool, and should be applied to history.’” (113)
• VII. Points of interest:
  • A. Thon derives from the word prothonotary, which originally meant “scribe.” Compare to the history of the word clerk (which originally meant anyone who could read or write, then scholar, and finally one who works with figures).

Day 7: Chapters 14–15

• I. Setting
  • A. Time: years directly following a Dark Age of violent nomadic migration from the north (cf. Bayring to Bering) and militant schisms in the Church, including the reign of an antipope named Vissarion
  • B. Place: the vaulted basement built to protect the Memorabilia from the knight-friars of the Order of St. Pancratz and the invading nomads
    • 1. Laredo lies south of the nomads’ region
    • 2. Texarkana lies east of that region
  • C. Atmosphere/Milieu
    • 1. The abbey has had a printing press for one hundred years.
    • 2. The rarest books remain chained because the abbey has had to deal with thieves and because the villagers wish the abbey to stock their library for them.
    • 3. The villagers seized the school set up and run by the monks.
• II. About the characters
  • A. Dom Paulo
    • 1. “And this time … we’ll keep them reminded of who kept the spark burning while the world slept.”
    • 2. “Natural science is not my bent.”
    • 3. The conflict between Armbruster and Kornhoer knots his stomach.
    • 4. Though he permits Br. Kornhoer to proceed with his project in his own way, Dom Paulo feels “more sympathy for Br. Armbruster’s stand.”
    • 5. Unpleasantness incites the pain in his stomach.
    • 6. Likes Br. Fingo’s statue of St. Leibowitz; sees a mysteriously familiar smile in it.
  • B. Br. Armbruster
    • 1. Rector of the Memorabilia
    • 2. “[H]is arm tightly folded and his face grim”
    • 3. Calls Kornhoer’s efforts “Devil’s work”
    • 4. Has a “querulous disposition”
    • 5. “‘You’d make our Lord move over to make room for progress.’” (124)
  • C. Br. Kornhoer
    • 1. Able to make deductions based on knowledge only implied in the Memorabilia and on theories propounded by Thon Taddeo: a technical wizard
    • 2. Deeply respectful – almost reverential – in regard to Thon Taddeo
    • 3. Researches the technical elements of the Memorabilia thoroughly
  • D. Fr. Gault: A young priest
  • E. Hongan Os
    • 1. By the nomads’ standards a “just and kindly man”: he never mistreated horses
    • 2. Sees need to keep the fact that he has Laredan captives a secret from Thon Taddeo and his party
    • 3. He desires to keep his pact with Hannegan an absolute secret.
    • 4. Called “O Son of the Mighty” by his people
    • 5. Must deal with the young warriors who take the traditional attitude that any agreement with those of the civilized states is a source of dishonor
    • 6. He is motivated by greed.
    • 7. Proud of his own skills as a bargainer
      • a. He has agreed not to make war on Texarkana and to stop stealing cattle from their borders.
      • b. In exchange he gets arms and supplies for his people.
      • c. Meanwhile, he plans to use his advantages to fight one enemy at a time and eventually take back the grazing lands encroached upon by the civilized states.
    • 8. Regards Thon Taddeo as a madman and a witch
    • 9. Wears wolf robes
    • 10. Gained his name when as a young man he overcame a maddened bear with his bare hands.
  • F. Thon Taddeo
    • 1. Observes, asks questions about, and records everything he observes.
    • 2. Has gray eyes
    • 3. Speaks nomads’ language
    • 4. Plans to take the Memorabilia if it is real and use it, for he feels the monks do not appreciate what they have nor do they know how to use it: “We could take them if we had to.” (134)
    • 5. Cooperates with Hannegan to gain his patronage for the revival of learning, but he sees no responsibility to concern himself with Hannegan’s political goals or deceits
• III. Beast imagery:
  • A. “A fly was crawling across St. Leibowitz’s nose.” [Recalls a line from Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables]
  • B. The abbot refers to anyone who might dispose of the statue as a dog.
  • C. The abbot’s fan is made of buzzard feathers.
  • D. Hongan Os’s robes are made from the pelts of wolves.
  • E. The bear
    • a. In Northern Europe regarded as the king of beasts
    • b. Among the American Indians a symbol of power
    • c. In Christian symbolism, a type of the devil
• IV. About style: Allusion:
  • A. “The earliest brothers of the Leibowitzian Order had tried to press a sort of Veronica’s Veil to the face of a crucified civilization; it had come away marked with an image of the face of ancient grandeur, but the image was faintly printed, incomplete, and hard to understand.” (119)
    • 1. Veronica’s Veil: According to an extra-biblical tradition, a woman named Veronica took pity on Christ as He carried His cross toward Calvary and wiped his face with her kerchief. In return, she found the cloth bore the image of the face of Christ on it. Unfortunately, with time, the image faded though it never completely disappeared.
    • 2. Crucified world: All those who lost their lives to the Simpleton mobs – even the books and cultural artifacts they destroyed might be regarded as martyrs to the “humane side” of human nature. If they were crucified, they might still resurrect as did Christ.
    • 3. Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni: These words open Canto XXXIV of Dante’s Inferno, the point at which Dante and Virgil approach Satan himself, the arch-representative of traitors to lords and masters (God). That he thinks of this line as he thinks of Thon Taddeo’s imminent arrival suggests that he suspects Thon Taddeo of acting antagonistically at least. In fact, he may see the scholar as a spy for Hannegan.
• V. About continuity
  • A. The reference to Vestigiis Antecessarum Civitatum by the Venerable Boedullus provides another link to “Fiat Homo.” The fact that the subject of his work is the pre-Deluge civilization links to the theme of cycles.
  • B. He is referred to again when Dom Paulo recalls that Boedullus once said that at least half the Memorabilia should be called the Inscrutabilia.
• VI. About the plot
  • A. Br. Kornhoer successfully builds an arc light and electrical dynamo, creating a strain in the community and aggravating Dom Paulo’s gastric condition. The abbot recognizes his own imminent death and finds most troubling his sense of foreboding in regard to Thon Taddeo’s arrival and visit. Further, he supports Kornhoer’s efforts though he leans toward the traditional views of Br. Armbruster.
  • B. Hongan Os entertains and provides safe passage for Thon Taddeo’s party while keeping secret his agreement with Hannegan to conduct raids against Laredo in exchange for secretly supplied weapons from Texarkana.
• VII. About the themes
  • A. Knowledge: “There was objective meaning in the world, to be sure: the nonmoral logos or design of the Creator; but such meanings were God’s and not Man’s, until they found an imperfect incarnation, a dark reflection, within the mind and speech and culture of a given human society, which might ascribe values to the meanings so that they became valid in a human sense within the culture." (119)
  • B. Cycles/Knowledge:
    • 1. “For man was a culture-bearer as well as a soul-bearer, but his cultures were not immortal and they could die with a race or an age, and then human reflections of meaning and human portrayals of truth receded, and truth and meaning resided, unseen, only in the objective logos of Nature and the ineffable Logos of God. Truth could be crucified; but soon, perhaps, a resurrection.” (119)
    • 2. The Memorabilia serves as a guide to an evolving culture, not as the vessel of restoring an old culture.
  • C. Dual nature of man:
    • 1. “To survive the Church’s slow sifting of the arts, you have to have a surface that can please a righteous simpleton; and yet you need a depth beneath that surface to please a discerning sage.” (126)
    • 2. Food for the belly vs. food for the brain
    • 3. St. Maisie died laughing at herself.
    • 4. St. Leibowitz laughs for his executioner, while laughing at the Stultus Maximus (the Greatest Fool), Satan. The hangman acts in ignorance, believing that he can end his (and society’s) pain by killing a learned man. Satan acts in complete knowledge that he cannot overthrow God by attacking his creatures.
  • D. Responsibility
    • 1. “Pain is. Ergo sum.” (128) Pain reminds us of the reality of our existence. The foundation of that reality is responsibility to higher values than our personal comfort.
    • 2. Thon Taddeo does not apply his conscience to his cooperation with Hannegan in exchange for state financing of his collegium.
• VIII. Points of interest
  • A. Br. Fingo’s statue of St. Leibowitz (125)
    • 1. “The eyes of the saint seemed to be looking cross-eyed at the fly…”
    • 2. “Its face wore a curious smile…” unusual for a sacramental image.
    • 3. Smile “turned down at one corner”
    • 4. “[E]yebrows were pulled down in a faintly dubious frown”
    • 5. “[L]augh wrinkles at the corners of the eyes”
    • 6. “Hangman’s rope over one shoulder”
    • 7. Irregularities in the grain of the wood
  • B. Grass-eaters = humans who eat vegetables (especially grains) rather than meat; by implication, grass-eaters are farmers while the nomads are herders. Cf. “herb-men” and “farmer-things.”
  • C. Dark-robed ones = the Leibowitzian monks
  • D. The culture of the nomads parallels that of some American Indian tribes.
    • 1. They value their animals highly.
    • 2. Killing captives is womanly.
    • 3. They prefer telling their enemies what they will do.
  • E. The nomads believe that “water is for cattle and farmers, that milk is for children and blood for men.” (132)

Day 8: Chapters 16–18

• I. Setting
  • A. Time: Ch. 17 – August 26
  • B. Place
    • 1. Sanly Bowitts grew up over the ruins where Br. Francis found the fallout shelter
    • 2. The abbey occupies land in the Empire of Denver.
  • C. Atmosphere/Milieu
    • 1. The Mesa of Last Resort is more verdant (green) than the surrounding area though it has no visible source of water
    • 2. The Catholicism of Texarkana is a thin veneer. [Perhaps Miller feels the Christianity of the West has always been the same.] Only 20% of the citizens are Catholic.
• II. About the characters
  • A. Dom Paulo
    • 1. Pale and wasted
    • 2. Born 70-odd years ago
    • 3. Full name: Paulo of Pecos
    • 4. Sees the spine-crushing burden of human responsibility as too heavy for any one man to bear
    • 5. His hope to serve as a bridge between the last scientist of the twentieth century and the first of the thirty-second is dashed by the cold eyes of Thon Taddeo.
  • B. Benjamin Eleazar bar Joshua
    • 1. Physical
      • a. “[M]unched, muttered…chuckled”
      • b. Withered hide the color of old leather
      • c. Brushy beard, stained yellow at the chin
      • d. Wears a basket hat, a burlap loincloth, and sandals
      • e. Carries a goat-skin water bag
      • f. Moves like a cat
    • 2. Behavioral
      • a. Quotes the Old Testament frequently
      • b. Throws pebbles at novices
      • c. Chuckles wryly
      • d. Sarcastic
      • e. Abhors the abbey’s cooking
      • f. Goes through a ritual of investigation as he seeks the Messiah
      • g. Foretells the fate of the AOL passing into obscurity
      • h. Says “Olla allay!” as a greeting
    • 3. Psychological
      • a. Curmudgeonly friendly
      • b. Seems sane
      • c. A touch of divinity in his madness
      • d. Identifies himself with all Jews
      • e. Waiting for the Messiah; looking for the One who raised him
      • f. Identifies himself with Lazarus
    • 4. Advises Dom Paulo: “‘Let me counsel you against meddling in worldly swindles that don’t concern you.’” (135)
    • 5. He is not Leibowitz: “‘I’ll not be mistaken for that kinsman again, for he stopped being any kinsman of mine.’” (136) [Br. Francis—or, perhaps, his brother novices—may have thought he was.]
    • 6. In him Miller compounds the legend of the Wandering Jew with the New Testament figure Lazarus whom Christ raised from the dead.
      • a. The use of the term “called forth” recalls the Gospels’ description of Christ “calling forth” Lazarus from his tomb.
      • b. He refers to his old profession as “wanderer.”
      • c. He was told to wait.
      • d. He is looking for someone.
    • 7. Lazarus is the Greek form of Eleazar (which means “God has helped”)
    • 8. Benjamin means “son of my right hand.”
  • C. Thon Taddeo
    • 1. Icy eyes – cold and searching gray
    • 2. Skeptical, hungry, proud (just like the robber and his band)
    • 3. Concludes without investigation that the generator and arc lamp are preserved relics of the twentieth century kept hidden by the monks.
  • D. Br. Kornhoer: Offended by Thon Taddeo’s false conclusion
• III. Beast imagery:
  • A. Benjamin Eleazar wears a goat-skin bag.
  • B. Benjamin Eleazar says that the goat is St. John’s Beast (in the Book of Revelation) while simultaneously alluding to the scapegoat.
  • C. Mad Bear’s warrior/guides wear wolf skins.
• IV. About style:
  • A. Allusion

    • 1. The “Hear O Israel” passage continues with “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4–9)

    • 2. Benjamin Eleazar quotes Isaiah 9:6 where the prophet foretells the birth of the Messiah.

      “For unto us a Child is born,
      Unto us a Son is given;
      And the government will be upon His shoulder.
      And His name will be called
      Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
      Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

    • 3. He also alludes to Leviticus 11:3 where Moses establishes that clean animals must both chew the cud and have cloven hooves.

      “Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud—that you may eat.”

    • 4. Benjamin Eleazar lists Manasses, Cyrus, Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, Caesar, and Hannegan II, thereby alluding to world-conquering kings.

    • 5. He alludes to the ancient Jews’ request for a king (I Samuel 8:4–5), Samuel’s warning against kings (I Samuel 8:11–19), and his actually giving the Jews a king (I Samuel 9 & 10)

    • 6. “‘How neighborly of the lion to lie down with the lamb.’” The lion stands for the nomads, the lamb – ironically – for the “Christian” Texarkanans.

    • 7. The litany of the novices operating Br. Kornhoer’s generator and arc lamp quotes the first chapter of Genesis and connects to the title of this section.

  • B. Foreshadowing: The spine-crushing burden of responsibility upon which Dom Paulo meditates foreshadows the spine-crushing weight of the stones of the Church that crush Dom Zerchi.
  • C. Ambiguity
    • 1. Does Benjamin Eleazar wait for the Messiah whom the Jews believe has not yet come, or does he wait for the Second Coming of Christ as the legend of the Wandering Jew has it?
    • 2. The identity of “Name” and “Blackeneth” cannot be connected with any specific ruler or country, leaving open the idea that all the nuclear powers were responsible for the Flame Deluge.
    • 3. The expressionlessness of Br. Kornhoer’s face as he finishes up preparations for igniting his arc lamp leaves his ambition an unanswered question.
    • 4. The light of Br. Kornhoer’s arc lamp is described as “day” (the light of God) and as Hellish (the “light” of Hell).
  • D. Symbolism
    • 1. Benjamin Eleazar’s sign
      • a. “Tents Mended Here”
      • b. “Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
      • c. The wall toward which he faces the latter message represents the wall between the natural law and human comprehension
    • 2. Thon Taddeo represents the birth pains of a new generation of learning.
    • 3. Benjamin Eleazar identifies himself with all Jews.
    • 4. The word brink suggests an edge beyond which lies an unknown falling off – usually toward doom; it is an ending. A shore is an edge between two different regions (land and sea) – usually leading toward new discoveries; it is a beginning.
    • 5. The wind blows the dust raised by the horses of Thon Taddeo’s party to the north, indicating a wind from the south. The battle lies to the south in Laredan territory. The wind is the wind of war.
• V. About continuity: Benjamin Eleazar refers to seeing Br. Francis and to burying him. (He told New Rome where to find the body so that it could be transferred to the abbey.) Francis is now called “the Venerable,” which refers to a person who lived a life of heroic virtue. It is also the second major step in the canonization process.
• VI. About the plot
  • A. Dom Paulo has a long-overdue conversation with Benjamin Eleazar in which both men philosophize about the role of the individual and responsibility.
  • B. Thon Taddeo’s arrival proves an anticlimactic disappointment when he greets his hosts with cold skepticism.
  • C. The monks share one of the accounts of the Flame Deluge, but Thon Taddeo regards it with skepticism. Later, he automatically concludes that the generator is a relic concealed for centuries by the monks.
• VII. About the themes
  • A. Natural Law
    • 1. The back of Benjamin’s sign ties into the theme of Natural Law, because it refers to the law written on the heart.
    • 2. Br. Kornhoer waits in the Natural Theology alcove while he directs the monks and novices working on his arc light.
  • B. Responsibility:
    • 1. “‘I am a Christian monk and priest, and I am, therefore, accountable before God for the actions and deeds of every monk and priest who has breathed and walked the earth since Christ, as well as for the acts of my own.’” (142)
    • 2. “‘To sense the responsibility is wisdom, Benjamin. To think that you can carry it alone is folly.’” (142)
  • C. Cycles
    • 1. The children of the world are consistent.
    • 2. “‘The books you stored away…were written by children of the world, and they’ll be taken from you by children of the world, and you had no business meddling with them in the first place.’” (144)
    • 3. Hannegan’s plan for conquest which poses a threat to the Memorabilia echoes the destruction of Rome, the barbarities of the Nazis, and the Flame Deluge/Simplification itself.
  • D. Dual nature of humanity
    • 1. Original sin and ancestral glory
    • 2. One is an inherited burden, the other an inherited blessing.
    • 3. The account of the Flame Deluge portrays the bestial side of human nature in the Prince “Name” and his servant “Blackeneth,” the humane side in the responsibility-shouldering Leibowitz.
• VIII. Points of interest
  • A. The situation with Laredo parallels the plight of places like Poland and Czechoslovakia at the outset of World War II.
  • B. Hannegan pretends to support Laredo against the clans because Laredo faces another threat to its south: Chihuahua. In fact, Hannegan will move against Laredo once he gets his troops there, possibly getting Chihuahua as well if he allows the two southern countries to weaken each other. Then he will attack Denver.
  • C. Hannegan has advised Laredo to drive diseased cattle into the herds of the nomads in order to create a famine that will allow him to control the clans by offering them food. He will turn them into a barbarian legion under a puppet of his own creation, a legion that will attack Denver. The abbey is strategically located to receive the first onslaught of the attack.
  • D. The account of the Flame Deluge resembles the opening to the Book of Job which asks the question, “Why do the good suffer?”

Day 9: Chapters 19–20

• I. Setting
  • A. Time: the days following the thon’s arrival
  • B. Place: the abbey, especially the refectory
• II. About the characters
  • A. Dom Paulo
    • 1. Convinced the thon has been deeply offended on the most sensitive level of his ego
    • 2. Gives the military escort the benefit of the doubt: sees them as behaving according to their nature as soldiers
    • 3. Believes that the free exchange of ideas narrows the gap between points of view
    • 4. Makes a veiled plea for protection from Hannegan’s onslaught
    • 5. Senses a “faint current of resentment – or . . . suspicion” in the thon’s voice when he speaks of the Memorabilia
  • B. Benjamin Eleazar bar Joshua
    • 1. Agile
    • 2. Wears an "eternally knowing smirk” (cf. wry smile)
  • C. Thon Taddeo
    • 1. Apologizes for his spontaneous – and erroneous – judgment regarding the electrical generator
    • 2. Has a low opinion of the comprehension powers of laymen in general and of the religious in particular
    • 3. Cannot understand why Br. Kornhoer remains cooped up in the abbey
    • 4. Brings one assistant and three officers with him
    • 5. Regards the Poet as a court jester
    • 6. Is a swordsman (He threatens to duel the hot-tempered officer.)
    • 7. Astounded that the officers are making sketches
    • 8. Resentful of finding himself merely a rediscoverer
    • 9. Sometimes has a whimsical smile
    • 10. Believes the Memorabilia belong in more competent hands
    • 11. Knows Hannegan’s military plans
    • 12. Believes change comes only through violence
    • 13. Blames the AOL for the centuries of ignorance because they “kept the books hidden”
  • D. Br. Kornhoer: Impressed by researcher’s thoroughness
  • E. Fr. Gault
    • 1. Deduces that the abbey is strategically ideally located for the conquest of Denver
    • 2. Annoyed by the Poet’s presumptuousness
    • 3. Has a tendency to put his foot in his mouth
  • F. Br. Armbruster
    • 1. Not impressed by Thon Taddeo’s discoveries
    • 2. Disapproves of opening the casks and exposing the books to the elements
  • G. The Poet
    • 1. Takes an instant dislike to the thon
    • 2. Invites himself to the banquet
    • 3. Openly hostile to the thon
    • 4. Provokes one of the officers to pull out his sword
    • 5. Has an artificial eye
  • H. Hannegan: bald
• III. Beast imagery:
  • A. Dom Paulo implies a comparison between Thon Taddeo and a rooster
    • 1. The herald of the morning sun; hence, of new beginnings
    • 2. A fire symbol
    • 3. A symbol of resurrection
    • 4. A sign of Christ’s return on the Day of Judgment
    • 5. The victory of the light of Christ over the powers of darkness
    • 6. But also an allusion to Peter’s denial of Christ during his Lord’s trial
    • 7. A contemporary symbol of pride
  • B. The Poet asks the abbot if he has “cooked the goose” of the village mayor
  • C. The Poet says, “‘If you would but allow me to serve as your humble helper, m’Lord, you would never have to eat your own crow.’” (167)
  • D. The scapegoat once again appears in the references made by the Poet
  • E. Fr. Gault hisses.
• IV. About style:
  • A. Allusion: Dom Paulo refers to those who “wash their hands before the multitude,” a reference to Pontius Pilate who ritually washed his hands to symbolize his feeling that he bore no guilt for the conviction of Christ to crucifixion.
  • B. Ambiguity: Thon Taddeo’s every attitude is ambiguous in its commitment: “…evidence forces us to adopt the hypothesis that the documents are authentic.” (170)
  • C. Symbolism: The goat has a blue head.
    • 1. Blue symbolizes truth in the sense of clinging to the truth
    • 2. It is the color of the unreal and the fantastic.
• V. About the plot
  • A. Thon Taddeo’s researches and his host’s accommodation of his needs begin with mutual embarrassment.
  • B. Later, a scene between Br. Kornhoer and Thon Taddeo’s assistant establishes the reinstitution of the scientific method.
  • C. The Poet reveals that the thon’s military escort is making detailed sketches of the abbey’s fortifications.
  • D. The abbey opens its sealed kegs of original books to Thon Taddeo.
  • E. Dom Paulo invites Thon Taddeo to lecture.
  • F. At the lecture the Poet, Br. Armbruster, and Benjamin Eleazar each disrupt Thon Taddeo’s presentation, the first two challenging his motives and sense of responsibility, the last judging him not the Messiah.
• VI. About the themes
  • A. Natural Law: “‘Objective evidence is the ultimate authority. Recorders may lie, but Nature is incapable of it.’” (159)
  • B. Responsibility:
    • 1. “‘Patience, Lord, with a well-meaning fool…’” (164)
    • 2. “‘Nobody need apologize for himself – which is always so humiliating’” (166)
    • 3. “‘If there’s to be light, then somebody will have to be blamed for the darkness that’s past.’” (167)
    • 4. “‘No, no, no, no!’ objected the Poet. ‘You mistake my meaning, Your Brilliance. The goat is to be enshrined and honored, not blamed! Crown him with the crown Saint Leibowitz sent you, and thank him for the light that’s rising. Then blame Leibowitz, and drive him into the desert. That way you won’t have to wear the second crown. The one with thorns. Responsibility, it’s called.’” (168)
    • 5. Thon Taddeo may approve Hannegan’s plans, disapprove of them, or choose to view them as inevitable. The third choice avoids a moral choice.
  • C. Knowledge
    • 1. “More communication, not less, was probably the best therapy for easing any tension.” (164)
    • 2. Advanced sciences seem like the conclusions of a madman.

Day 10: Chapters 21–23

• I. Setting
  • A. Time: Ch. 22 opens between Nov. 2 and 7 (within the Octave of All Saints) and ends in late December; Ch. 23 ends in 3781
  • B. Place: the abbey
  • C. Atmosphere/Milieu
    • 1. “[A]n unprecedented torrent of rain, causing seed long dry to burst into bloom”
• II. About the characters
  • A. Br. Claret: tortured by Hannegan’s forces until he betrays Marcus Apollo
  • B. Hannegan:
    • 1. Splits with the Roman Catholic Church to declare his own
    • 2. Parallels Henry VIII and his schism with Rome
  • C. Dom Paulo
    • 1. Calls Thon Taddeo on thinking that seeks to evade responsibility
    • 2. Admits that even his own motives are not above question
    • 3. Accuses Thon Taddeo of dehumanizing the last civilization to avoid learning from its mistakes
    • 4. Speculates that Thon Taddeo cannot bear to be merely a rediscoverer.
    • 5. Offers Thon Taddeo political asylum
    • 6. Declares the Memorabilia open to all who wish to study it and offers the abbey as sanctuary to any persecuted for their thoughts
    • 7. Takes “a firm grip on [his] pain, not trying to dismiss it but only to control it as he would an unruly servant.” (194)
  • D. Thon Taddeo
    • 1. Finds it easier to develop abstract theory than to perform concrete experiments. Thon Taddeo is a physicist, not an engineer.
    • 2. “‘While we disagree on a few things, I can understand [the abbot’s] point of view.’” (187) [But, in truth, he does not.]
    • 3. Offers to pay the abbey 100 gold hannegans for Br. Kornhoer’s services at the collegium
    • 4. Compromises his principles to save the collegium
    • 5. Claims he knows someone who does need the Poet’s eyeball (Hannegan)
    • 6. Asserts that the monks are incompetent to hold the Memorabilia; then retracts the statement after he reads Hannegan’s edict (though he does not deny he meant it)
    • 7. Gives the abbot the officer’s sketches of the abbey’s fortifications
  • E. Br. Kornhoer:
    • 1. Finds it easier to develop experimental tests (concrete thought) than to deduce abstract theory. Br. Kornhoer is an engineer, not a physicist.
    • 2. Thon Taddeo’s offer of money offends his vow of poverty
  • F. Fr. Gault
    • 1. Asks a question of Thon Taddeo wryly
    • 2. Like many of the monks, feels Genesis is more or less allegorical
  • G. The Poet
    • 1. Accepts personal responsibility for his own plight
    • 2. Desired to be an observer rather than an actor in the world
    • 3. Had no interest or concern for religious or political tastes
    • 4. Futilely attacks cavalry officer for brutally hacking a female refugee
    • 5. Desires an audience to hear his quips
    • 6. Says the words of absolution over the cavalryman; then stabs him in the throat
• III. Beast imagery:
  • A. Hanging, quartering, and flaying of Marcus Apollo
  • B. Pieces thrown to the dogs
  • C. Buzzards
  • D. Cavalryman trapped under dead horse
  • E. The repeated hacking of the refugee
  • F. Wolves (that the buzzards wait on)
• IV. About style:
  • A. Allusion:
    • 1. To the Fall of Man episode in Genesis: “…there was still the serpent whispering: For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as God. The old father of lies was clever at telling half-truths: How shall you “know” good and evil, until you shall have sampled a little? Taste and be as Gods. But neither infinite power nor infinite wisdom could bestow godhood upon men. For that there would have to be infinite love as well.” (195)
    • 2. To Daniel 11:16: “It was the year a king came riding out of the east, to subdue the land and own it. It was the year of Man.” (196)
  • B. Ambiguity: The Poet says that his stabbing of the cavalry officer will be hard to explain (to God) “[i]f there’s really anything to explain.” (198)
  • C. Symbolism:
    • 1. The arc light has nearly blinded its operator
      • a. Knowledge (light) comes at a cost of pain (blindness)
      • b. The light of knowledge can blind us to its consequences
    • 2. The fragment on which Thon Taddeo bases his outlandish theory that the people of his era are the descendants of a created slave class comes from R.U.R., a play by Karel Čapek who coined the word robot in his play about android workers created from artificial protoplasm.
    • 3. The abbey = a fortress (of faith and of knowledge)
    • 4. The Poet’s eyeball = conscience
      • a. Seeing the truth creates pain
      • b. We can consciously remove ourselves from our consciences
    • 5. When Thon Taddeo reveals himself completely, Br. Kornhoer lets the light go out. Here the light = hope.
    • 6. Br. Kornhoer’s returning the crucifix to its place = Br. Kornhoer putting his priorities back in place.
    • 7. Leibowitz = Christ figure
      • a. Died to save humanity: “‘He died for our sake.’” (184)
      • b. Changes oil into wine, saying, “‘This is the very cup of My Blood.’”
  • D. Irony
    • 1. Though he had helped kill at least three priests, the cavalryman cries out for a priest to absolve him.
    • 2. The agnostic Poet administers the sacrament of confession by absolving the dying cavalryman.
    • 3. The Poet says the words of absolution over the cavalryman; then stabs him in the throat
• V. About the plot
  • A. Hannegan defeats Laredo and breaks from the Church.
  • B. The citizens of Sanly Bowitts seek refuge and a garrison in the abbey.
• VI. About continuity: The Venerable Boedullus’ De Inanibus (Of Foolish Things)
• VII. About the themes
  • A. Responsibility:
    • 1. “‘If you save wisdom until the world is wise, Father, the world will never have it.’” – Thon Taddeo (185)
    • 2. “‘Freedom to speculate is necessary…’” Thon Taddeo (191)
    • 3. “‘…to abuse the intellect for reasons of pride, vanity, or escape from responsibility, is the fruit of the same tree.’” Dom Paulo (192)
    • 4. “‘Why do you wish to discredit the past, even to dehumanizing the last civilization? So that you need not learn from their mistakes?’” Dom Paulo (192–3) [Taddeo’s theory that man was not created until shortly before the Flame Deluge avoids responsibility.]
    • 5. “‘Men must fumble awhile with error to separate it from truth, I think – as long as they don’t seize the error hungrily because it has a pleasanter taste.’” Dom Paulo (194)
    • 6. “…there was still the serpent whispering: For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as God. The old father of lies was clever at telling half-truths: How shall you “know” good and evil, until you shall have sampled a little? Taste and be as Gods. But neither infinite power nor infinite wisdom could bestow godhood upon men. For that there would have to be infinite love as well.” (195)
    • 7. The Poet accepts personal responsibility for his situation; then he adds, “‘That last bit [killing the cavalry officer to put him out of his misery] isn’t going to be as easy to explain…’”
  • B. Cycles
    • 1. “‘It never was any better, it never will be any better. It will only be richer or poorer, sadder but not wiser, until the very last day.’” (192)
    • 2. The life cycle of buzzards (repeated as it was at the end of Ch. 11)