Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Man Who Was Thursday, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Order, Chaos, and God
Identity
Tradition vs. Modernity
The Purpose of Art
Summary
Analysis
Sunday disarms Gogol, sits him down, and makes him pull a blue card out of his pocket. Syme realizes that it’s the same blue card that he received when he joined the police. Gogol sheds his fake Polish accent, removes his wig, and leaves—but not until Sunday promises him that he will be brutally murdered if he tells anyone about the conspiracy. Sunday declares that he has to go lead a charity meeting, but Saturday will finish putting together the group's assassination plans, and they will reconvene in a week for breakfast. Monday objects: he thinks the whole group should debate the plans together. But Sunday angrily points out that a spy could still be listening in, then storms out of the room. The other men don’t seem to understand Sunday’s comment, but Syme does, and he’s petrified. The men part ways.
In yet another case of mistaken identity, once again, things are not what they seem: Gogol looked out of place in the group not because he was an avowed anarchist who couldn’t pull off being disguised as an ordinary man, but rather because he was a spy trying too hard to look like an anarchist. It's telling that the notoriously brutal Sunday lets Gogol go free with merely a threat, then heads off to a charity meeting. It’s difficult to tell whether Chesterton is making fun of anarchists and philanthropists, foreshadowing later developments in the plot, or just playing with his readers’ expectations because he knows that he can. (Most likely, it’s all three.) Of course, when Sunday mentions other spies, this shows Syme that he isn’t necessarily off the hook.
Themes
Literary Devices
Syme walks through Leicester Square and it starts to snow. He sees a wax doll in a barbershop window, then notices the filthy, snow-covered Professor de Worms staring intently at it. He wonders whether the Professor is enamored with the doll, or simply stuck in some kind of trance. Syme goes to lunch a few blocks away, and he’s relieved to finally be free from the anarchists. But on his way out of the restaurant, he sees the Professor seated near the window, drinking milk. Syme dashes outside. He wonders if the Professor is following him, but takes relief in knowing that he can always outrun the old man.
The senile Professor seems not to fully understand what he’s doing—he may even mistakenly think that the doll is a real person. In fact, when the Professor stares at the doll, they momentarily resemble one another: both are motionless, empty shells of a human being. Further, when the Professor shows up at the restaurant, he appears not to even notice Syme. From Syme’s perspective, it’s unfathomable that someone as out of touch with the rest of humanity as the Professor could have power over the fate of society.
Themes
Literary Devices
Syme walks briskly to Fleet Street, about a mile, then pops into a tea shop for a coffee. The Professor staggers in right after him and orders milk. Syme drops his walking-stick in surprise, but the Professor doesn’t seem to notice. Syme leaves his coffee and sprints to the nearest bus. He boards, sits, and turns around—and then sees the Professor get on after him. Syme is baffled: the Professor can barely walk, so he couldn’t possibly have caught up to the bus, unless he bent the rules of space and time. Syme sprints off the bus and tries to get lost in the tangle of alleys near Fleet Street. But even after making dozens of random turns, he still hears the Professor following him close.
Beneath this chase scene lies Syme’s worry that the Professor might know that he’s a spy and be following him to kill or capture him. Yet the Professor’s actions are baffling because his behavior at the morning meeting made it clear that he’s capable of neither the physical nor cognitive challenges associated with following Syme around London. By this point, Chesterton has trained his readers to expect surprises—so clearly, the Professor is not really who he appears to be.
Themes
Syme pops out onto the main avenue near St. Paul’s Cathedral. He watches the muted sunset behind the snow-covered cathedral dome and decides to confront his pursuer. He turns around and watches the Professor hobble toward him—and then right past him, without acknowledging him or blinking an eye. Syme gesticulates and yells at the old man, then turns to run straight across the square. The Professor follows him. He continues speeding around central London for some time, until he reaches a dreary sailors’ bar by the river. The Professor walks in and orders milk.
Syme’s attempt to get the Professor’s attention fails—the Professor continues to follow him robotically, and Syme still has no idea how the Professor is physically capable of keeping up with him. It’s telling that their encounter happens in front of one of London’s most significant churches: the setting sun behind the dome is a metaphor for the decline of religion in European life. Of course, this chase represents Syme’s general feeling that an invisible, sinister force is pursuing him for reasons that he can’t fully understand. Chesterton closely associates this feeling with the modern world. This feeling also explains why Chesterton subtitled this novel A Nightmare.
Themes
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