That Hideous Strength: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

Mark goes to work at the N.I.C.E. and delivers his report on the village, only to learn that the man who requested it might not be his superior after all. Mark demands to know who he reports to and what his job is, but Wither obfuscates the question, and Miss Hardcastle firmly tells Mark to stop asking. She insists that Wither runs the N.I.C.E by refusing to “make things clear.” When Mark threatens to leave the N.I.C.E., Miss Hardcastle tells him he would rather be in the N.I.C.E. than out of it.

Miss Hardcastle tasks Mark to write a series of anonymous propaganda pieces portraying the recently executed Alcasan as a wrongfully accused martyr. She adds that he should write for both conservative and liberal sources and try to pit each party against the other. Mark resists at first but hesitates when he realizes that a return to Bracton would not mean a return to Curry’s clique.

The next day, Mark tells Wither that he plans to resign, but Wither’s long-winded and indirect way of speaking confuses Mark and leads him to once again put off leaving the N.I.C.E. Mark finds a letter from Curry revealing that Feverstone has already told the College that Mark is resigning from his position as Fellow. Curry adds that the N.I.C.E. police fired on a crowd of townspeople, which is what caused the chaos at the end of the previous chapter. Mark is alarmed. He writes an intentionally vague response to Curry assuring him that he isn’t leaving Bracton. Mark asks Feverstone to help ensure he is re-elected as a Fellow the following term, but Feverstone refuses and makes clear that if Mark leaves the N.I.C.E., he will also lose his Fellowship.

During this time, Jane’s mental state is deteriorating. She befriends Camilla, whom she met at Miss Ironwood’s home, and her husband Mr. Denniston. They tell Jane about Mr. Fisher-King, the leader of the society that they and Miss Ironwood belong to. Fisher-King was a great traveler, but he now has a wound on his foot that won’t heal. He inherited leadership of the society from a sister who told him that a seer would appear, and the society believes Jane to be that seer. Jane is reluctant to take sides in a conflict she doesn’t understand, and her frustration is piqued when Denniston suggests she needs Mark’s permission to join the society. She refuses to meet Fisher-King, but she agrees to tell Camilla if she has more prophetic visions.