Erewhon · Chapter
The Views of an Erewhonian Prophet Concerning the Rights of Vegetables explained
The narrator recounts the history of Erewhonian dietary laws, focusing on a philosopher who argued that plants and animals share a common ancestry and thus deserve equal moral consideration.
What happens
The narrator recounts the history of Erewhonian dietary laws, focusing on a philosopher who argued that plants and animals share a common ancestry and thus deserve equal moral consideration. He proposed that only naturally dead vegetables should be eaten, but an oracle's ambiguous response ultimately led to the repeal of meat prohibitions, restoring common sense. The chapter critiques the human tendency to follow prophets and faddists rather than think independently.
Themes in this chapter
Inversion of Morality
The philosopher inverts conventional morality by arguing that eating vegetables is as sinful as eating meat, leading to absurd dietary restrictions.
Machines and Evolution
The philosopher's argument that plants and animals share a common ancestry echoes evolutionary theory, linking all life through descent.
Religion and Hypocrisy
The oracle's response is manipulated by backstairs influence, and the Puritans' eventual acceptance of meat-eating reveals religious hypocrisy.
Characters to notice
- Narrator
The narrator recounts the history of Erewhonian dietary laws and the philosopher's arguments.
- Erewhonians
The Erewhonians are depicted as oscillating between strict Puritanism and absurd philosophical extremes, eventually returning to common sense.
- Professors of Unreason
The philosopher is a Professor of botany who uses logical arguments to push dietary laws to absurdity.
Key passages
“He who sins aught / Sins more than he ought; / But he who sins nought / Has much to be taught. / Beat or be beaten, / Eat or be eaten, / Be killed or kill; / Choose which you will.”
The oracle's response suggests that some sin is inevitable, and one must accept the cycle of life and death rather than striving for absolute purity.
This oracle resolves the dietary debate by endorsing a pragmatic acceptance of killing for food.
“so engrained in the human heart is the desire to believe that some people really do know what they say they know, and can thus save them from the trouble of thinking for themselves”
People are naturally inclined to trust authority figures who claim to have special knowledge, avoiding the effort of independent thought.
The narrator criticizes the Erewhonians' susceptibility to prophets and faddists, a recurring theme in the book.