Erewhon · Chapter
XX: What They Mean by It explained
The narrator reflects on the Erewhonian mythology of the unborn, noting that the Erewhonians do not fully believe their own grim portrayal of life but use it to justify punishing people for moral and physical ailments.
What happens
The narrator reflects on the Erewhonian mythology of the unborn, noting that the Erewhonians do not fully believe their own grim portrayal of life but use it to justify punishing people for moral and physical ailments. He observes that parent-child relations are less affectionate than in Europe, attributing this to the failure of parents to remember their own youth. He criticizes compulsory education as a fetish that burdens families and leads to infanticide, advocating instead for early earning and practical training. He also discusses the Erewhonian reverence for wealth as a symbol of duty and the radical proposal to alternate authority between old and young.
Themes in this chapter
Family and Parent-Child Relations
The narrator contrasts Erewhonian parent-child relations with European ones, noting less affection and attributing it to parental forgetfulness of youth.
Critique of Education
The narrator criticizes compulsory state-aided education as a fetish that burdens families and leads to infanticide, advocating early earning and practical training.
Wealth and Social Status
Erewhonians revere wealth as a symbol of duty and exempt the very rich from taxation; the narrator argues that money is a greater aid to culture than poverty.
Characters to notice
- Narrator
Reflects on Erewhonian mythology, parent-child relations, education, and wealth.
- Erewhonians
Their professed views on the unborn and their practical modifications; their attitudes toward children and wealth.
- Mr. Nosnibor
Mentioned as someone who would deny the narrator's observations about parent-child relations.
- The Nosnibors
Implied as a family with typical Erewhonian attitudes.
Key passages
“No Erewhonian believes that the world is as black as it has been here painted, but it is one of their peculiarities that they very often do not believe or mean things which they profess to regard as indisputable.”
Erewhonians often profess beliefs they do not actually hold, using them as convenient justifications.
Highlights the Erewhonian tendency toward hypocrisy and pragmatic self-deception.
“I firmly believe that the same thing would happen in nine families out of ten if the parents were merely to remember how they felt when they were young, and actually to behave towards their children as they would have had their own parents behave towards themselves.”
Most families would be happy if parents simply treated their children as they wished to be treated when young.
The narrator's prescription for improving parent-child relations.
“Money is the symbol of duty, it is the sacrament of having done for mankind that which mankind wanted.”
Wealth is a sacred sign that one has served society's needs.
Erewhonian reverence for wealth as a moral indicator.